Community weekly poll: Do you mix TV with your PC?
- 6/1/06 10:39 AM
Do you mix TV with your PC?
by Marc Bennett - 6/1/06 10:39 AM
Do you mix TV with your PC?
Never, they're separate machines, separate activities (tell us why)
Sort of, I surf the Web while I watch TV
Yes, I watch TV on my computer (how?)
Maybe later, I expect both will be tightly integrated (tell us why)
Other (tell us what)
Being an Information Glutton, of course I do
by robertk2 - 6/2/06 1:10 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Yes, I watch TV and surf the web, I have one of my PCs setup with a Hauppauge TV Tuner card which makes it so much easier to do.
By being online while watching TV, it makes it a simple and quick matter to lookup details and in-depth information on items and subjects that are shown/discussed on TV. Most of my TV watching is PBS, Discovery, History Channel, Travel, FoodTV, DIY, etc. so there are many opportunities for further information to be had and concurrent web surfing fields this well.
Watch TV on computer
by jejtprjejtpr - 6/2/06 1:40 AM In reply to: Being an Information Glutton, of course I do by robertk2I run dual flat screen monitors. I imput the video from a Liteon and a Gateway Video player to each monitor. The results are excellent. I can use picture in picture on each. One the computer output; the other the TV. I can watch 2 TV channels at the same time with sound.
You can.. but....
by Improviz - 6/2/06 8:23 AM In reply to: Being an Information Glutton, of course I do by robertk2I don't get it. Why do I need to surf the web while I watch TV? Why do I need to watch 2 TV shows at once?
So I can only remember 1/4 of what I saw on either one?
Sure, you CAN multitask, but the effectiveness of any task you do will be diminished proportionally by the amount of focus that you are draining away with some other distraction, like watching TV on your PC or surfing the web while you watch TV. I guess I'm old fashioned, since I don't see the need for an iPod to cut me off from the outside world wherever I go and isolate me even more from the rest of society. My life is rich and full, and does NOT need a constant sound track. I'm not a luddite, either, I have a hot pc rig at home with dual monitors that I use for audio and video production, and, when I'm not working, for online gaming. I overhauled my old Dell and turned it into a DVR (no PinP and I don't watch 2 shows at once).
What are you afraid you're going to miss out on? 99.9% of what's on TV is crap anyway. And the web is heading in that direction, too. Is this the same crowd that sits around me in a movie theater, with 1 iPod earbud in their left ear, listening to music while they watch the movie and text to their friends on their cell phones? How can you really enjoy anything when you are constantly trying to cram more and more input into a finite set of receptors and processors? Sigh. Well, I guess I'm officially a curmudgeon. But if I see you on the road with your DVD playing and your iPod on while you're texting and driving with your knees, I may honk at you. ;-D Of course, you won't hear me, you'll be too busy multitasking to pay attention to the road......
Well said
by thetomcat - 6/2/06 9:28 AM In reply to: You can.. but.... by ImprovizThanks for saying it better than I ever could.
In defense...
by ddubb - 6/2/06 7:14 PM In reply to: Well said by thetomcatI'm similar to you in many ways. 99% of TV is crap. No need for a permanent earbud implant in one ear for the iPod with a blue tooth hanging off the other, etc. No need to watch tv on my computer or vice versa, simply because I can. I don't have to have cutting edge just for the sake of it.
Now here's the defense. When I get off work I do want to multi-task, within reason. I think what I do is fairly reasonable. Let's start with your assertion that 99% of tv is crap. True. About all I want to see of tv is news, financial shows and political discussions... you know, learning stuff about current events. But since so much of tv is wasted time, I don't want to sit and stare at news stories I'm not interested in, or idly gawk tons of commercials.
At the same time, I have my favorite websites that I want to visit; things to research; email to check, etc. So in the past, I'd turn the tv on and have it playing in the background while I surf the net. For about 5 minutes out of every 15-30 minutes, my ear picks up something worthwhile on the tv. That's when I turn from my computer and watch the tv until its stupid again, then back to the computer.
But with the ability to display tv content on my pc, here's how I do it now. I keep the tv set turned off, and display tv content displayed on my computer monitor. But its usually displayed not in full screen mode, but instead sized way down to a tiny little box, sometimes even minimized. I work nights and want to keep the house quiet so I put on some headphones. Then I work on my computer and surf the net. When something interesting comes on tv, I maximize the tv display on the computer monitor and watch what's interesting. When they break for 5 minutes of commercials or waste time talking about nonsense, I minimize the tv display, turn the volume down, and surf until something interesting comes back on.
There are other advantages to being able to display tv on computer and vice versa. Most commonly, its a way to share the view of the computer display with others, without being huddled around a 17" monitor. I display it on my tv. This can be fun at family gatherings with viral videos, or family photo slideshows, etc.
This is also very handy when I'm sharing something with my wife. For example, a while ago we refinanced our mortgage. I researched many options at different websites and gathered different proposals. While my wife layed back on the couch, on the opposite side of the room away from the computer, she watched the computer displayed on the tv while I showed her everything I had gathered.
For a long time, our only dvd player was on our computer, so we put a dvd disc in there and viewed it on the television.
Before we got our dvr we did record tv shows onto the hard drive of our computer.
Years before media center pc's were being sold, I saw the potential of using the pc as hub for your home entertainment center. Before iPods were invented I was ripping hundreds of cd's worth of music to my hard drive just for the convenience of cueing up playlists without having multiple disks laying around.
All I have is a fairly typical desktop pc: 4 yr old; AMD Athlon 1.9GH with 60gb hd. The two key components that make it work well as a media pc are: an additional 200gb hd; and the Radeon 7500 video sound card with dvr capabilities. That card cost $150 4 years ago.
All that and some cabling and I have a media pc, internet pc, desktop pc, all hooked up to our cable box, our tv, and a Harmon Kardon amplifier with 5.1 surround sound, which is pushing some pretty OK kenwood speakers. So my "computer speakers" are really my full sized stereo systems speakers.
I'm not sure why this is taking long to catch on.
Since Windows NT4.0
by Elaine - 6/2/06 1:40 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Been watching TV on PC since 1995, first through an external TV tuner attached to video in port of video card and now through an internal TV tuner card (HD capable). I do not have a separate TV, in order to cut down on electricity costs. The setup also saves my having to shift attention from PC monitor to TV monitor and back again.
Great setup that works well
by MikeG55 - 6/2/06 2:18 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I have a Dell Dimension 9100 (Twin Hard drives giving 1Terabyte of storage) plus V-Gear internal TV card hooked to a Satellite dish/decoder in my den. The whole system is hooked through Linksys SRX Wireless Router to Linksys Media Center in Family room connecting sound system and Plasma TV.
Everything operates perfectly...... I can stream music, TV, DVD, to family room through my Wireless LAN and/or watch TV picture in picture while I work at my PC.
I know many people dislike Linksys equipment, but perseverance in the setup really paid off for me. I run 4 computers throughout my house using wireless print server and range extenders. So far everything is rock solid.
Do you mix TV with your PC?
by rward101 - 6/2/06 2:54 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
pinnacle pctv pro
TV and computing
by summer sam - 6/2/06 3:21 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Since there really is so little on TV truly worth watching, why bother!!!
Yes all the time, I just go to www.MIPBS.com it was FREE!
by Bobob4 - 6/2/06 3:28 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I often listen to the news while working, I go to http://www.MIPBS.com/FreeTV where a small player pops
up over my work. When I'm real busy I just minimize it unless I hear something of interest then I pop it back up. I also purchased a new gadget from www.NexIpod.com which allows me to download programs and watch them when I travel pretty cool device.
Not yet but I keep hoping!
by theneuron - 6/2/06 3:55 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Some Day...
I'll hook my incoming TV signal to my computer and get schedule and programing screens like my DVR has now (or better ;)).
I'll be able to record shows on whatever size hard drive I want and can afford. And I'll be able to put them on a DVD's that are Hi-Def and watch them later in Hi-Def or share them with friends.
I'll be able to watch these shows on my Hi-Def BIG screen, not my 'big' monitor while I sit in my Backsaver recliner, not my 'ergonomic' desk chair. I'll still control it all with a handheld RF remote.
Yes someday I'll mix TV and PC but that day isn't here. When it comes I'll have a good reason to do it, not just so I can say I do or because I can't leave my PC without going into withdrawal.
Yup ....
by vern7777 - 6/2/06 4:48 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Self built Media Center (microsoft) PC in the basement entertainment room on a xVGA projector. Dual DirecTV inputs, wireless keyboard with built in mouse, and a Logitech Remote. Plus the standard Flight Stick and GamePad for non-TV activities 
Wired Network throughout the house, plus 802.11g for the laptops (going to extend into the yard this year).
The old Xbox acts as a Media Center extender into the living room and gives me access to the most of the Media Center PC functions. I'll eventually move to the Xbox 360.
I retired my old DirecTV with DVR to my sons playroom since he is a GameCube kinda guy. But will put the Xbox in their when I go to the 360.
It works amazingly well, my wife was skeptical, as I will put up with a lot of frustration when doing things like this, but after a couple of days of tweaking, it's as reliable as our old DVR and she loves having access to our MP3s without having to use the tinny little laptop speakers.
As support for Media Center is only available from OEMs, most people should probably buy from Dell, HP, Sony or Gateway instead of building their own or buying from smaller providers
Tv on PC
by huttoca - 6/2/06 5:14 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I have /use ATI ALL-IN WONDER video card--cable hook up--however no digital channels --just regualr cable channels
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