Community Newsletter: Q&A: 6/2/06 Possible ways to watch TV on your PC
- 6/1/06 5:06 PM
6/2/06 Possible ways to watch TV on your PC
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 6/1/06 5:06 PM
Question:
I have been looking into TV-to-PC software to be able to watch TV from my PC. Some ads say "download now, no additional hardware needed," yet others say that a media card is needed, leaving me confused. Can anyone tell me the truth before I waste my money? Would I need additional hardware like an antenna, a media card, and so on? Or can I really
watch TV from my PC with just the software? What are the minimum requirements? How long will everything take to set up? The bottom line is that I would like to watch TV on my computer, so what are all the possible ways I can go about doing so? Thanks.
Submitted by: John B.
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Answer:
Regarding watching TV on a PC. There are several ways to accomplish the task of watching television on your PC:
1. Software-only solutions. It's hard to say without knowing exactly what service you're looking at, but it's important to keep something in mind: TV shows have to be broadcast from somewhere, somehow. Most software solutions are subscription or pay-as-you-watch services.
Since you usually download or stream the show to your computer, you need to have a broadband Internet connection. Beyond that, hardware requirements vary by service (each service should list the requirements), but I would imagine Windows 2000 or later, 256MB of RAM, and a decent video card (32MB to 64MB or so) would suffice.
Pros: No hardware to install, you can usually pay once and repeat a viewing as often as you wish, and video quality tends to be very high.
Cons: Quality can be spotty (depends on your Internet connection) and programming selection is currently limited as relatively few shows are available this way, although quite a few movies are available. Since video transmitted in this way is encoded to take up less space, your computer must decode it (meaning that you may encounter skips and stutters if you are watching a show while working with other programs).
2. External USB TV Tuners - imagine plugging a cable box into your computer and turning your computer into a combination television/DVR. External tuners pkug into a USB port and generally have a range of inputs, including the typical screw-on (F-type) coaxial cable. Some also have RCA and SVideo connectors, so you can attach a VCR or DVD player to capture video to your computer.
Pros: Pay once (no subscription except for your current cable television), uses your existing cable television service for programming, often these devices will have bells and whistles like capturing/saving video to your computer. Many ATI products (possibly others) also scan closed captioning for certain keywords you specify and start recording when these are encountered in a program.
Cons: Some people dislike external devices, requires existing television service and running a cable to the tuner box, quality will only be as good as what you'd see on a regular television equipped with cable (if your cable video quality is poor, the quality of video to your computer will also be poor).
3. Internal TV Tuner card - basically, this is the same thing as the device above, only in internal card form, and therefore has comparable pros and cons. These devices tend to be a bit less expensive than their external brethren. Since both types of devices have actual TV tuners, there is no video to "decode."
I personally have an older ATI All-In-Wonder internal tv tuner card and love it. Installation was a snap - open case, insert card, close case, turn on computer, install software.
I opted for an actual tv tuner because I wanted to watch the same programs I'd normally be watching if I was on the couch - basically giving me home office a TV like any other in my house. Subscription/software solutions don't necessarily do that, although the day will come when such on-demand services will surpass "regular" TV (especially after the selection improves).
Something else to consider is the HD TV equation. None of the tv tuners I'm aware of are HD-compatible.
One last thought - although it's a bit low-tech, you may want to consider buying a 13"-or-so REAL television for your home office. They take up little space and let you watch TV, DVDs, and so on without taking up any space on your computer screen. Get one with integrated DVD player and carry it to the bedroom, kitchen, or patio. And, there's absolutely nothing to install on your computer.
Submitted by: Andy F.
Honorable mentions
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 6/1/06 6:51 PM
In reply to: 6/2/06 Possible ways to watch TV on your PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Answer:
There are a number of ways to get your PC to play TV. Which way you go for depends on various things like how much you want to spend, whether you want digital tv included, how good a picture quality you want, whether you want to make your computer into a TIVO box, etc.
So let's have a look at a few solutions.
Firstly the software that says you can turn your PC into a TV without an additional card. Sounds too good to be true? well that's probably because most of the time it is. TV without a card usually uses one of two different methods. The first method is to sell you a similar service to RealPlayer. TV through the internet, this however has a number of problems. Firstly you have to pay a monthly subscription which is usually twice that what you pay for normal TV, secondly you use up a lot of your internet bandwidth so either other programs like file sharers will slow down or more commonly the video will jerk whilst playing, and thirdly your very limited to what you can watch, most of the time it's music videos or Big Brother.
The other method that some software tries is use a hole on your computer as an ariel, like an ethernet port, and try and receive the channels with that, then decode them all with a software decoder. This is open to many problems, the main one being interference, and the other being the amount of processing time it takes up. Software only TV reception is a poor solution and should be evaded.
So now we've covered the non-TV boards lets move onto the TV boards..
Getting a dedicated TV board is certainly the best option. From here on you need to be basing your decision on your requirements
Firstly in video card land for PC's there is one main manufacturer, Hauppauge, these are to video like what Creative are to soundcards. There are also a few other minor manufacturers as well.
One of the most important things to consider with TV cards is shielding. A good card should either be outside the computer case (USB) so it can be moved away from the electronic emissions in the PC or very well shielded, especially if you intend to take programs straight from RF (not through a satellite, cable or video), because if it's not very well shielded you wont get very much unless you move to the house next door to the transmitter. If you are using a video, satellite or cable box to plug into your PC for the best quality picture you will need to plug them in via an S-Video or RCA (Yellow phono) sockets. These are a lot less prone to interference than RF and produce a far better picture. If your satellite, cable or video box only has scart outputs you can easily get a cable to go scart to S-Video or RCA
After you've decided how your going to plug your box in you then have the fun choice of what you want it for.
If you want a card just to watch TV through RF, you should be fine with a very basic USB TV card, like Hauppauge's USB-TV:
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_usb.html
If you want to just watch TV through a satellite, cable or VCR box then you could also go for the USB-Live solution, which doesn't have any RF tuner in it, but just receives straight from s-video or RCA.
If you want to watch digital TV through your card without an extra box, you can get a TV card with DVB-T (Terrestrial Digital, Freeview in the UK) or DVB-S (Satellite Digital) built in, like the WinTV NOVA
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_novatpci.html
however as digital TV is really prone to interference and works on an all or nothing deal it most probably would work out better to get a separate digital box.
If you want to watch all your shows in surround sound, get an AV receiver, have all the sound from your computer and TV boxes going into that, and have the TV out going to a basic TV card using RCA sockets. Don't try WinTV Theatre, I've got one and it was my biggest waste of money. If you want to do TIVO features, ensure the card you buy has a hardware MPEG encoder, not software as this will enable you to record everything in real time, like the Hauppauge WinTV PVR series.
Also there is an important decision to be made regarding audio. Some TV cards out there say they are Mono and some say they are Stereo. This only really matters if you are connecting the TV up through RF and not RCA or S-Video. If you are connecting it up through RCA or S-Video you will also have two more phono cables (usually black & white, or red and black or red and white). To get stereo TV out of any card just get a phono to 3.5mm adapter (which will probably come with the TV-card anyway, if not there only about £1 in Maplins) and instead of plugging the audio cable into the TV card, plug it straight into the line-in socket on your soundcard (usually blue). If the soundcard also comes with a pass-through cable to go from the TV card to the sound card, this does not need to be used, unless you decide later to watch TV through RF.
Hope this helps.
Submitted by: Jim S.
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Answer:
There are two varieties of program in this category. The ones that say they don't require some sort of hardware interface are a waste of time and I do believe I read something not too long ago about that bit of software being loaded chock full of spyware and/or adware and being more dangerous than beneficial. Additionally, these programs that operate without locally installed TV hardware quite probably could run afoul of the MPAA mainly because they frown heavily on people having copies of their content. Just the other day, the MPAA was suing a cable company because they were rolling out a new Tivo free, on demand video service that stored shows on the cable company's servers.
The bottom line, you'll have to get some sort of hardware to get TV to show up on your computer.
The first thing to consider, then, is what sort of cable service (or dish service) you've got installed and how you plan on using it... You could use an antenna - pretty much any normal TV antenna would do, but you would be limited to broadcast TV channels. An external one is generally better than an internal antenna. Or you could simply get cable or dish service and have more channels available.
If you've got regular, plain analog cable, chances are you will only need to have the cable people come by and install a splitter and an additional line that leads to where you plan on having your computer set up. Unless you're an expert on cable hookups and such, it's best to have them do it for you. That way, should anything not work properly after the fact, they will need to come out and fix it.
Analog cable and digital cable, both requiring a box, will be about as complicated - though this will usually require adding a new cable box to the mix. Unless you're replacing an existing TV hookup, or are planning to use the computer as a Tivo like gadget, you'll need an additional cable box to convert the signal into something the tuner inside the computer will be able to handle - the same way your existing TV's tuner works. Be sure to look for a card that has what's known as an IR Blaster - basically, it's a feature that allows the PC and the TV software to control the cable box/dish's tuner. This is an essential feature!
And speaking of PC based tuners... There are a number of them available. My choice would be the Hauppauge WinTV500 MCE. While designed to work with Windows Media Center, it can be made to work with any version of Windows 2000 or XP. The reasoning behind getting this card instead of most of the others on the market - this one has two built in MPG processors and TWO tuners that requires only one cable drop. Of course, this is only of any value if you've got a direct connection to the cable feed (i.e. no cable box). With this kind of setup, you can easily record two different shows on two different networks or record one channel while watching another. With a more modern cable/dish hookup requiring a cable box, however, this card will only be as effective if you're recording two programs that are on the same channel. For a cable box/dish setup, you'd be just as well off with a WinTV 150 with only a single channel but it has the onboard MPEG processor.
You really do want a card with the onboard MPEG processor - the main reason behind this would be that it doesn't eat up CPU resources while you're recording. The encoding into MPEG is handled on the fly by the card instead of slowing your computer down unnecessarily.
If you've only got a laptop and want to record TV, there are a few USB options available. I would recommend the Hauppauge PVR-USB2 for this sort of project. It also has an onboard MPEG processor to encode your shows on the fly. This device requires a USB 2.0 port to make it effective.
Now then, on the software side of the equation, you've got a few options. Many of the cards on the market these days come with some sort of TV application that allows you to control the channels and which, if any, shows get recorded. Most of them are adequate for the task. My personal favorite would be Beyond TV. As far as features go, Beyond TV does pretty much anything and everything you could possibly need to watch and record your favorite shows. The above mentioned Hauppague USB device comes with a copy of BeyondTV as well.
As far as hardware requirements go... Pretty much any computer made in the last few years should be able to handle TV. Any computer with a 1 GHz or faster processor will do the trick provided you've got plenty of RAM installed. By "plenty" I mean at least 512 MB.
Should you start doing a lot of recording, you WILL need a rather large hard drive. The computer I use for this sort of thing has a pair of 250 GB drives. Typically recorded shows at the "better" setting, generally take up about 1.25 GB per 30 minute show. An hour long show will take about 2.5 or so. Also note, the drive MUST be formatted to NTFS. The old FAT32 file format will NOT support files over 4 GB. Really long programs - such as say, the opening or closing Olympics ceremonies - can take up to 10 - 11 GB disk space.
One side note - your computer will need to be left up and running should you be away from home and have a recording scheduled. None of the solutions out there have the ability to boot the computer on it's own before a scheduled recording.
Turning your PC into a PVR isn't as complicated as it may seem. It does require some additional hardware and a LOT of free disk space, but it's not hard to set one up make it work. I've had mine up for over a year now and it's been well worth the effort.
Submitted by: Rod T.
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Answer:
John, I would suggest that if you wish to watch TV on your PC, that you use a "tuner" card and hook up cable, satellite, or a regular antenna to do so. There are a number of excellent tuner cards that you can choose from, along with a number of video cards that have tuner capabilities. There are everything from USB tuner systems to PCI video/tuner cards, along with PCMCIA tuner cards for laptops, with prices from $29.99 to $109.99 and up, it all depends on what you are looking for. Some of them come with the software and capability to record your video to your hard drive. Some of the manufactures are: ATI Technologies; Hauppauge; Pinnacle Systems; Diamond Multimedia; and Plextor to name but a few. These types of adapters give you actual TV type input and viewing capabilities.
I would suggest that you avoid all the “software only” TV options, as all that I have researched on the internet have turned out to be “junk” applications that don’t actually work the way that they are advertised to. Most offer the ability to get 1000’s of programs and radio and all without any “extra” hardware. Sound too good to be true……everything that I’ve seen so far says YES….too good to be true. From looking on “feedback” and “review” sites, more than half the people that have tried those applications (by several different names, but all the same type of software) have not even been able to get them to work, and most of the rest who have managed to get the software to work have not been able to see any programming that can’t be found on the internet for free, without the software. Most of the “programming” that people have been able to find with the software are “prerecorded” old shows (not US TV programming), home style video, and foreign language videos. I have not found anyone who has found any current programming available by using these software packages. Also, the biggest complaint of these users have been that when they try to get the “guaranteed refunds” from the sellers of the software applications, they are ignored and never receive their money back.
All in all, it would seem to me that the “hardware” avenue is the best way to go, and that after researching, is the way I chose to go. I went with a Hauppauge WinTV card, and I love it. I can do anything from using my PC as a digital VCR (can pause live TV too! just like TiVo), it comes with a remote control, and I can watch from a variable sized window to full screen, and even pre-program the shows to watch during the day.
I hope this helps answer your question, good luck and good viewing.
Submitted by: Robert K.
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Answer:
There are multiple things that can be considered "watching TV on your PC".
The two most common I've encountered are downloading television shows off of the internet from various websites, and then simply viewing them in a media player such as Windows Media Player (software); or using a TV Tuner Card (hardware).
On the software side, there are many websites on the internet that you can find which will offer episodes of television shows at discount prices, many of them easily found on google by searching "Download Television Shows". Even google features television shows for download on http://video.google.com. Also popular is the iTunes video service at http://www.apple.com/itunes/videos. With certain shows, even peer to peer file sharing networks may hold the answer, although you should always be wary of downloading things off these for a number of reasons.
On the hardware side, there exists many components allowing you plug coaxiel cables (either from satellite/cable TV/ Antenna) or A/V Cables into your computer, and then installing software which comes with the components to view the video.
The two major hardware components you can use for these are internal PCI Cards that you would install into your computer, or external TV Boxs that you would use with either USB for a Firewire Connection. The first one I used was an internal PCI card, WinTV ( http://www.hauppauge.com/) which has both internal and external boxes. Since I've got my laptop, I almost exclusively use my MSI Vox card, which comes bundled with MSIPVS software, as well as software for capturing video and creating DVD's or VCD's. Videomate, LeadTek, are also companies making video/television peripheral, some examples can be found here: http://www.thewebbeach.com/products.asp?id=132
Submitted by: Jason D.
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Answer:
To watch tv on your pc, the types of options available are few - which can be a good thing. You essentially need one of two things; either a tv-tuner card of some sort or a video card which can capture output over S-Video, RCA, or whatever format your tv/vcr/cablebox/etc supports.
A tv-tuner card essentially decodes the analog signals (either over a regular antenna or the output of your receiver box or directly from your cable connection) and converts it to an mpeg or avi format on the fly. This is streamed to a media player on your machine which usually can act as a DVR box, recording the shows as you watch and allowing you to pause, rewind, or fastforward. Of course, this means you can also record entire shows. There are a variety of tuner cards available. There are PCI, USB, PCMCIA, Compact Flash, and probably a few more interface options which I'm not intimately acquainted. Since these devices usually do the video decoding themselves, the main bottleneck would be the method used to connect your tuner to your machine. For example, if you use a USB option and only have USB1.0 ports available, expect to see lower resolution video as the tuner card attempts to adjust for the available bandwidth.
Video capture cards (or just video cards with capture features) essentially work the same way as your VCR. They can grab video from a compatible source and display it on screen. These would usually be faster since your video card tends to have premium access to memory and processing power.
Other options include devices such as the slingbox. This nifty item makes your tv (or video device) available to you over the internet. Unlike the other devices where you can only watch tv from a nearby source, with the slingbox, you could watch your home tv programming even if you were in a hotel room five states away.
The offers you saw online which claimed to require no extra hardware are probably not true tv-to-pc. They're more like internet radio - they either generate their own content, or contract with content providers to create or make available internet broadcasts. While this is also something you may want to look into, from your question, it think you're more interested in watching "real" tv.
Submitted by: zboot
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Answer:
If you are looking to watch live TV on your PC, I would suggest getting a hardware solution. Software solutions are typically portals to free Internet feeds that you probably don't really want to see or care to see. There are many manufacturers that make TV boards for the PC. These boards range in price from as little as $29 to as much as $499 or more. The hardest thing in deciding is how much you are willing to spend for the features the boards offer.
If you want the ability to JUST watch TV, then the lower end boards will typically serve your purpose. All the boards come with software to tune the TV and watch shows based on the type of antennae feed you provide. However, if you would like the ability for High Definition, Digital output, video capturing, live pause, fast forward, etc., then you will start to get into the higher end products.
A quality solution, which is a little more feature rich than what you are asking, would be to buy a TV Tuner card from Hauppauge. I personally have been using a Win-TV-PVR-500MCE for over a year and have had little problems and excellent performance. You do NOT need Windows XP Media Edition for this product to work as with some other solutions. The great thing about this product is with one antennae feed, cable, satellite, or free air, you get dual tuners. This provides you with the ability to watch one program and record another or simultaneously record two programs while not watching television.
Pair this board with the BeyondTV software product from Snapstream
(http://www.snapstream.com) and you have created yourself a PC/TiVo solution. Snapstream provides its customers a viewing guide which recording selections can be made without the cost of a subscription like a TiVo. You can also manually schedule times to record shows with great flexibility. Best of all this solution can be networked with other PC's in the house or connected to your home television and provide you with an excellent multimedia solution that enhances your overall television viewing experience. You can also watch your recorded shows and live TV on another PC or laptop without a TV tuner board installed.
For the cost of the Hauppauge board and software, your investment will be roughly $200. If you have a video card that supports dual output, then adding a second monitor to your system may provide you with additional convenience as you can place the television screen on one monitor and work on the other.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Submitted by: Ralph D.
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Answer:
There may be a little "poetic license" in the software only solutions for watching TV on your PC.
To watch TV, you need three things, the input broadcast signal, a suitable tuner and an appropriate display setup. You may also need a decoder if you want to watch premium TV channels.
The signal can come from a number of sources, terrestrial aerial, cable, satellite, VCR/DVD player or streamed from the internet. The first three will require an external connection of some kind, aerial (antenna for the US guys) cable interface box or satellite dish. These sources, and VCR players usually supply the signal through a TV Coax cable, so you are going to require some kind of unit in or attached to your PC to accommodate the coax connection. Note these are not the same as coax network connections.
In principle, once you get the signal into your PC, you could use a software package to handle the tuning and decoding (if necessary). This can impose a fairly heavy load on the PC, which may degrade any other applications you happen to be running.
A better solution is to invest in a TV card, which will provide the tuning and decode functions and supply the required TV aerial connection and a software package to display the picture on the PC screen and handle the extras, such as teletext, where available. These days, most come with a remote control. If you have a desktop, you can get a PCI card to install inside the PC or USB versions are available for notebooks or PCs without an available slot.
I've been using a Hauppage Win TV USB unit for a few years to view analogue TV but I've just ordered a Freecom terrestrial digital (UK) USB unit. The Hauppage unit simply plugs into a USB port and supports the TV coax from either a terrestrial aerial or a cable box (not supplied). It comes with a software pack that allows the size and position of the picture to be set and includes a TV to hard disk recorder (saves as an MPEG file). This particular one doesn't have a remote, it displays a channel selector on the screen. The Freecom unit comes with the USB dongle, a fairly comprehensive software pack, a portable single stick aerial and a remote. These are both suitable for Windows XP or MCE and it's not too hard to make them work with Linux.
Current costs here in the UK, range from around £20 to £80 ($36 - $150
US) for mainstream units, then up to several hundred pounds for the more sophisticated models that can rival and exceed the capabilities of a Tivo box.
One thing to watch - read the minimum machine requirements carefully, especially the graphics card and screen - most of the TV cards will require DirectX 9 and a reasonable graphics memory.
Your other option is streamed video from the internet. You won't need anything more than comes with your Windows PC, for Linux, you need to ensure you have installed a suitable player. Many of the major TV stations provide streamed "broadcasts" through the internet and you can simply select the stream you want to view. Try http://www.bbc.co.uk if you can't locate a suitable site - they detect your connection speed (fast is above 256Kb/sec) and will play with either RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. You can certainly try this for free before you shell out any cash for the TV card solution, though in most cases, you won't get the full programme set.
A couple of reservations - the pictures from these streamed sources are usually not full screen, so if you want to watch the golf, for instance, the 3-4 inch window likely won't be good enough! Also it does chew up a fair amount of bandwidth - and if you are on a download capped broadband contract, you can soon hit some of the lowish limits (certainly in the UK). By contrast, the TV card solution is free of any restrictions, once you have bought the card.
Have fun!
Submitted by: Sav. M. of the United Kingdom
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Answer:
TV on the PC
This could actually be a very lengthy discussion; however, I will attempt to sum up the highlights.
TV Into the PC
This can be done a variety of ways, most of which will require additional hardware. You mention some say none needed, but its very hard to be specific about them without letting us know which software you are looking for. I am sure there are options out there that can let you stream some media off the net, but most are going to require additional hardware to get your local channels into the PC. If you want to get your local channels into your PC then you will need additional hardware. You will need a tuner and capture card, typically this is a single card of which I will mention below. You have two options here. You can run your cable directly to the card and it will decode the standard free channels, just as if you were to connect the cable from your wall to your TV. You can also connect your Cable Box via S-Video and RCA to the capture card. You will also need an IR blaster like the USB-UIRT to allow the PC to change the channels on your cable box. This option will give you access to all channels you pay for and the ability to record them.
SDTV
The more popular choices for Standard definition TV capture are the Hauppauge devices, and my recommendation is the PVR500 or PVR150. Both of these devices are hardware encoders, which means they capture the TV signal and convert it to MPEG 2 format. This takes a lot of work off the CPU, and leads to a more enjoyable experience.
HDTV
If you are looking to capture HDTV then you are among many; however, with the lack of HD content in most areas and a lot of cable company’s desires to prevent us from recording this material, the ability to do so has been slow in coming. You have a few options. A lot of cable boxes have firewire outputs for video, this can be used with certain software to capture HD content at full HD quality; however, this isn’t the easiest process and isn’t totally automated and user friendly. The next best bet is an OTA HD Tuner card like the DVICO Fusion HDTV5. Basically this card will capture Over The Air HD signals, and as this implies you will need an HDTV antenna. There are indoor and outdoor options for HDTV Antenna’s. To find out about OTA HD channels available to you, check out sites like http://www.TitanTV.com
Software
The next major step is deciding on the software you want to use to manage, record and play back your shows. There are quite a few; however, the 3 I would recommend are Snapstream’s Beyond TV, SageTV and Microsoft’s Media Center Edition OS. They are all similar in their core functionality with regard to TV capture, but all have some unique features that will help decide on your preference. I would suggest checking out their sites and see which one captures your attention. If you purchase the hardware first you can always download the Trial versions of Beyond TV and SageTV and see for yourself.
http://www.snapstream.com
http://www.sagetv.com
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx
For more in depth information definitely check out http://www.htpcnews.com. They have a lot of reviews about the different pieces of hardware and software, and the community is generally extremely helpful. The AVS forums are also a very good place for the more technically oriented users who want some really good reads.
Submitted by: Christopher M.
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Answer:
I ran into this exact scenario when I tried to create an HTPC (Home Theater PC) for myself a while ago. The answer depends on what he is going to use to display the video (the PC and its monitor or a standard television or an LCD or Plasma set) and what kind of signal he intends to feed his system (cable, air, broadband).
His best bet, to simply watch TV on his PC using the monitor and from cable (you *can* use an antenna, but the quality of the picture will suffer), is to use a simple PCTV card, like the ATI-TV Wonder. A second option that allows him to use his PC as a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) would be to us a Hauppauge PVR-150 and cable (see antenna note). The advantage of the Hauppauge PVR series has is that it has *hardware* MPEG2 encoding and will even function on a 300MHz PII machine <g>.
On the other hand, if he wishes to use a large screen TV to watch video, is to see if he is using a TV that can handle “Progressive Scan” video. Most newer sets, and all LCD and Plasma sets, can handle this natively, whereas sets more than 8 years old may not. If he is unsure he will have to try it and see with a video card with an S-Video output. An ATI of the Radeon family or an Nvidea of almost any type usually has one of these and some *try* to output a signal that an older set can handle, though not always successfully.
Best bet then, is to use (Maximum System – true Home Theater):
An ATI Radeon, ATI X800, Nvidea 5000 or 6000 and/or any decent video card with a “DVI” connector (or, at minimum, an S-Video or “Component” connector).
A Hauppauge PVR or PVR-HD card.
An LCD or Plasma set (or any decent set with a DVI, S-Video or “Component” connector).
Cable television service, especially one offering HD.
Note: If the set is also going to share duty as the monitor for the PC, use an LCD as burn-in is not an issue with those.
Second best bet is to use (Medium Quality – PC monitor used as display):
A Hauppauge PVR or PVR-HD card.
Cable television service, especially one offering HD.
Lowest bid then, is to use (Minimal System – television used as display):
An ATI Radeon, ATI X800, Nvidea 5000 or 6000 and/or any decent video card with an S-Video or “Component” connector.
A Hauppauge PVR or PVR-HD card.
A standard television with an S-Video or “Component” connector.
Cable television service.
The key to all of these combinations is to get a TV Tuner card or a PVR card for the PC he plans to use.
I, personally, recommend the Hauppauge series of PVR cards as I have used them in 8 different machines since they first became available and the quality of the video has always been superb. Added to this is the use of *hardware* MPG2 encoding, which relieves the burden of encoding the video from the CPU (which never does a good enough job no matter how fast due to interruptions and pauses for “critical services” at random). Also, a PVR-150 can record at super DVD bitrates (12mb/s) and the HD version can record at 30mb/s. Cost is also less than $100.
Best of Luck to John B.
PS: Native, or true NTSC, is 15734Hz H, 29.97Hz V, 14.31818MHz P (640 pixel), 525 interlaced (aka 480i). Progressive scan is 31468Hz H, 29.97Hz V, 14.31818MHz P (640 pixel), 525 non-interlaced (aka 480p).
Submitted by: Joseph P.
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There are two principle ways of watching TV on your PC.
1. Via a cable link to a website such as a TV station that sends TV programmes down the line. Broadband ADSL, ISDN or if you are really lucky a T1 (the best and fastest) link is preferable, because using a 56K modem is slow and often jittery, I have done it, but it depends on the amount of other network traffic there is. Also having your internet link fine tuned, using specific s/w tools to do it and test it, though M/s 2000 & XP are supposed to reduce this necessity.
For this method you need S/w only ( e.g. 'RealPlay') to view the T.V.
images, plus your link to the Web. If you are on cable you have as good a solution as the T1 connection, providing you are getting a web service from your Cable supplier and not just a TV signal.
2. Via a TV signal (via aerial) link, for this you need an aerial or a link to your existing house aerial plus either an internal TV card to plug into your motherboard. or an external TV card in a box, that you can plug into one of your USB sockets on your PC. The TV aerial plugs into the card or the external box. The internal verses external question is the same as with modems. It is simply a case of: do you have spare slots on your motherboard? If not go for External. Do you have more than one computer? If yes then at some point you might want to watch TV on the other computer in which case go for external. External is usually a little more expensive than internal. I have both for an entirely different set of reasons, and both work equally well.
You also need to decide whether you want Analogue or Digital, again Digital will give you the next generation T.V., as well as far more channels. Again I have both and the analogue I use with my Laptop when traveling for where there is no digital signal. With an external digital box you can also use it with your laptop. If you can get access to an aerial, you will be okay ( In a hotel use the one plugged into the T.V.; the number of a Hotel's T.V. channels are often limited), but if not, you just need to have a portable aerial as well, plus a spare bit of coax cable (with M/Fm T.V. sockets) so you can position your laptop somewhere more convenient. Be aware that the signal when traveling, may be too weak, in which case you will also need a signal amplifier box for the aerial connection, These are sold in three different amplification strengths, I recommend you buy the strongest. At home if your digital signal from your aerial fluctuates (the images breaks up or the sound goes), then you will need an aerial amplifier to improve that also (so your amplifier can be used for both occasions).
For Digital, your old aerial may need updating and redirecting to a stronger transmitter signal, also the old aerial cable (if at any point, it is outside the building) will need replacing, because any atmospheric moisture that has got inside the existing cable over the years (and it usually does) will degrade the signal quite considerably, and although an amplifier will help, it will not in this instance be satisfactory.
Submitted by: Anton
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Watching TV on your computer will require a TV tuner and appropriate software (which would be included with the device). It can either come as an expansion card that you install inside the computer, or it can come as a USB device which you connect to your USB port. Both needs to be connected to an antenna or a cable outlet to receive TV signals.
Those so-called "no additional hardware needed" software are NOT true TV receivers. What they do is they actually direct you to TV stations that have a website that offers some streaming video for free. In that regard, it's really no different from Google Video or Youtube and such video hosts. While there are thousands of stations that do offer video over the Internet, it's not really TV, and it probably does not have the channel that YOU want to see, not to mention that such video's quality is not even close to TV standard.
If you feel comfortable opening up your PC, then definitely get the expansion card type TV tuner card. It will have a big COAX plug out the back and some other audio plugs and such. The COAX plug will be linked to the antenna or cable outlet via the normal coax antenna cable. There is probably also an audio cable you need to link from the tuner card to your sound card's "Line In" plug. So plug the card in (with the PC off, of course), connect all the wires, boot up the PC, and install the software as per included instructions, and you should be ready to watch TV! I've done it in my old Win98 PC, and it's really as simple as that.
I haven't installed a USB TV tuner before, but it can only be SIMPLER, not harder, than the internal version. Though it's best to make sure you have USB2 ports, not the older and slower USB 1.1 ports.
Almost any common PC nowadays can support a TV tuner. I've gotten a TV tuner to work in my old Celeron 400 running Win98, and your PC can hardly be older than mine. So you should have no problem meeting the hardware requirements.
Another option, if you are also looking into upgrade your video card, is to buy a "combo" device, such as ATI's "All-in-wonder" series cards. Such cards includes a TV tuner, a video card, a video capture card, and other media-center functionalities into a single package. However, if you are happy with your existing video card, then you can forget this option. As with all integrated devices, if one function breaks down, the entire item must be replaced.
I hope this answers your question, and you'd be watching TV on your PC soon!
Submitted by: Kasey C. of San Francisco, California
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Both are True to an extent. Although many ads are just ad-ware, spyware, etc. I have seen a few programs (that cost to download) that allows you to watch TV over the internet with out any external hardware, although be warned the channels you get are often times not the same ones that you get through your TV set, i.e. foreien channels, from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Britain, non-network U.S channels, even some channels from the days of when satillite TV ment you had a 8 foot dish in your back yard that cost maybe $1000 bucks. ( my Father had one of those).
Some good programs even have a monthy cost to be able to get any programing.
Plus the picture will come out sigificanlly smaller than on that 20" TV, thats because the resolution is quite a bit smaller (320x240 or 640x480) as vs your moniter 1024x768. That being said they also take up a nice chunk of bandwith to run for a decient size picture.
Hardware, is the other option, more specifically a TV tuner card. And while they usually cost more to start, $40-110 you can just screw your coax cable in to the card, install the program / drivers needed, and done TV on your computer, some can record TV shows via a VCR like timer, your own TIVO service for free. ATI even has a TV tuner card for HD broadcasts, http://www.ati.com/products/hdtvwonder/index.html
The picture sizes will also magifiy to a certian degree, without any distorsion.
So the right option is basically up to what you can afford, what you want it to do, and what you have availlible to you. Broadband internet vs Dial up
Submitted by: Michael A.
TV viewing through your computer
by uni52 - 6/2/06 7:10 AM In reply to: Honorable mentions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Just a word of advice: If you connect to the internet via a cable modem do not attempt to split the incoming line to connect the TV tuner card to the cable since this will affect your PC connection by deteriorating the incoming signal as well as slowing down your speed. Instead, connect the tuner card to another cable jack and leave the cable modem on its own dedicated line. This advice was given to me by a senior TV cable technician in response to my efforts to connect both to the same incoming jack. Good luck.
Mine works fine
by lucky76 - 6/3/06 9:28 PM In reply to: TV viewing through your computer by uni52I disagree about not connecting your tuner card to the same cable as your cable modem. I have under my desk a cable modem, an ATI All In Wondera TV Tuner card, Toshiba VCR, and a Sharp 13" TV all connected. Everything works fine. Charter was out a few weeks ago to fix a bad leadin wire from the street and tested my signal at my computer and it was fine.
The key to this is to first split the signal in the attic with a 2/way splitter with one side going to the cable modem/computer/vcr/tv and the other side going to another splitter (4 way in my case) to other outlets in my house. Everything works fine.
TV via PC
by Hampster - 6/6/06 5:51 PM In reply to: Mine works fine by lucky761. Can this be done thru DSL or do I need cable?
2. Can you receive premium channels like HBO, SHO, TCM, etc.?
satellite tv
by p0ck3taces - 9/17/09 10:41 PM In reply to: TV viewing through your computer by uni52Hey guys,
Almost all of the satellite tv for pc programs are sold through clickbank and clickbank has a no questions asked money back return policy. I have gotten my money back from them every time I have asked, which has been quite a few times (for other products). Honestly, all these programs with "satellite tv for pc" or "streaming satellite" "digital tv for pc", anything like that in the title, are scams... I have bought some and so have my friends. They are all scams... I havn't personally tried isoftwaretv as mentioned previously, but a friend has and he said it was no good... be wary.
That being said, I have found a program/producer I do trust and use. The program is called John Q TV and if you're interested you can look at the review that sold me over on, I believe they call these pages lenses?, http://www.squidoo.com/satellite-tv-for-pc--. There is about 55 four to five star ratings and 8 pages of reviews and comments on the page from other squidoo members... I really do love the program and it actually does work like a satellite tv, so I would recommend giving that a look if you have been scammed in the past or are looking for something that can get you satellite channels on your pc.
Good luck guys,
Ben
Decoding Satilite signal with a video card?
by mcgil123 - 6/3/06 1:28 PM In reply to: Honorable mentions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Several of the answers discuss recieving video signals from satalite. Isn't it necessary for that signal to first go through the prescribed tuner/decoder for that satalite company (Dish or Direct)? Is the "box" they are referring to the respective tuner?
watching tv on my pc
by THE CUSTOM AQUARIUMS - 6/7/06 11:04 AM In reply to: Decoding Satilite signal with a video card? by mcgil123I dont know if it goes through my new nic card.
6/2/06 Possible ways to watch TV on your PC
by yanks_1 - 6/5/06 7:21 AM In reply to: Honorable mentions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I would like to ask about this site: http://www.medinalia.com, it offers channels pf programing from different countries. Is it a site to avoid or (even thought it has poor transmission quality) is it safe to use ?
Windows 2000 professional, Broadband connection, Dell Computer.
Other suggestions from our members
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 6/1/06 6:59 PM
In reply to: 6/2/06 Possible ways to watch TV on your PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Answer:
As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Invariably you do need some way of getting the TV signal into your computer; this takes hardware. Now there are some monitors that have both digital (for your PC) and analog (like TV, VCR, etc.) inputs.
So let's take a step back. First we need to consider what your computer configuration is like. I am presuming that you currently do not have a multi-media PC (they have built-in TV reception video cards. So almost invariably you will need to "install" either an internal TV card (into an available PCI slot) or an external USB TV card to an available USB port.
Next, your PC needs to have a certain amount of processing power; check the specifications of the video card before you buy it be sure your computer will support the card. In ballpark numbers, you will need about 700 MHz in your processor, at least 128 MB RAM (depending on the operating system) and a certain amount of hard disk space to install the software (video driver, etc.). If you also want to record the TV on your hard disk, you will need about 2 GBytes of space for each hour of video. You may want to get, if you don't already have one, a DVD writer for your PC - it saves a lot of hard disk space.
Then you need to connect your computer to your TV source. Besides the distance for running the cable, you should consider if you will need an additional tuner box (for cable, digital cable and satellite), and how long the run is if you need to install an extension cable for the signal.
After that, connect the dots and, as always
Submitted by: M. T.
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While I don't know all the DL of getting TV on the PC, I can say that I seriously doubt, unless John bought a pretty high end machine, that he can watch actual TV with just software. There would need to be some sort of tuner apparatus and converter to translate the signal to enable the computer to use it. I have an older ATI Radion All-In-Wonder 7800 board that has served me well. I can grab frames from broadcasts, save clips and use my hard drive as a digital recorder. It also brought out 3-D rendering I never knew existed on a screensaver I bought!
The All-In-Wonders come with a remote and wireless receiver to allow you to control
the functions. I am also able to capture input signals from digital or analog (my old 8mm Sony Handicam) with their supplied dongle and record to dvd. It has RCA and Digital pin jacks.
The only hard part was figuring out how to externally rig the audio output on the TV card into my sound card mic input and go into my volume (sound) control program panel on XP to enable the right option.
Now my computer is rigged with an internal jumper from TV card to Sound card. Without doing that The support line for ATI is really helpful (they are in Canada) so, you won't be left out in the cold. (no pun intended). Hope this helps!
Submitted by: Taylor S.
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I had the same desire and found it very easy to make it happen. You need a high speed Internet connection for satisfactory TV reception. In my case, I used a gold plated splitter and connector cables to share my Cox cable input. One cable link goes to your modem as before, and the other connects to the TV card you will need to purchase. Based on various write-ups on the Web, I purchased a relatively inexpensive WinPVR card. It fit right into an empty PCI slot on the mother board. As I am running Windows XP Professional as my operating system, it was a simple plug and play installation. However, you also need to run the CD that carries the software for the tuner interface. The CD software bundle is included with the WinPVR card. Viewing results are best with a cathode ray tube monitor, but a flat panel liquid crystal display will work fine if it has a response time/refresh rate comparable to a CRT monitor. You should have at least 512 MB of RAM and a Pentium 4/Athlon processor of 1 Gig or better. An AGP video card or onboard video with 256 MB of memory is also recommended. You can get by with less, but viewing quality may suffer. My setup uses an Athlon 2800 MHz processor and 1.5 Gigabytes of DDR RAM. The hardware and software installation was without problem. The whole thing took less than an hour, including cutting the Cox cable input and making the connections to the splitter. An added benefit of the WinPVR and most other TV cards, is that you can download and record a program to a DVD. Most of the software programs provide the means for setting the calendar and clock so that recording can be done even if you are not watching TV on your PC.
Submitted by: Franklyn S.
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Regarding TV to PC, I've used two types of hardware:
AVERTV CARD BUS using a PCMCIA card into my laptop. It also has video in capability and an FM radio tuner. I bought if right after it came out from an Australian company. As a result it came with a European CATV plug but adapters are available at Radio Shack. You get an FM antenna but if you want to watch TV on a train or bus or in the park, you better have a rabbit ears antenna that can be moved around.
If you are in a guest bedroom with a cable TV outlet but no TV set, you can plug into the cable TV outlet and use the remote that comes with the package to change channels. The image can fill the screen and only plays regular TV.
http://www.aver.com/
SNAPSTREAM/VBOX UDB HDTV TUNER - I bought this before getting a real HDTV set for my cable service. The tuner is external and about the size of an external hard drive. You either get a digital TV signal or you don't. No "snow" like analog. So you must get enough signal which means line-of-sight is best. So when I set up a simple rabbit ears antenna on my terrace - which was completely surrounded by tall buildings - I never expected to get a signal. But..with some rotation and adjustments I received excellent HDTV signals from the local broadcast channels which I was able to record and playback with the
SnapStream BeyondTV4 software. When I show people some HDTV shows from my laptop they really go bonkers - - thinking I have a new HDTV DVD. Of course, digital HDTV files are HUUUUUUUUUGE.
http://www.vboxcomm.com/ and http://www.snapstream.com
Submitted by: Paul L.
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I had some of the same questions you had for a few years until i decided that I was going to figure it out. Yes, you need a TV tuner card. I have tried three cards and finally have a working solution. First, I bought a card from ebay (not one of my better decisions) that cost $1. That card came from China and it had a strange translation from Chinese (I assume) of the slogan, "Easy TV, Easy your life." Well, that card worked for about a month and then just died. After that I still hadn't given up my quest for a TV tuner. I went to CompUSA and bought a Hauppauge TV tuner card that absolutely did not work. I brought it back for store credit and bought the ATI TV Wonder Pro, which works with a few bugs in it.
They are:
(1) Scheduling recording works about every other time.
(2) When I record TV it automatically saves as a .vcr file. When I play it back in the ATI file player, all it shows is fuzz. I can use the ATI Media Library program to convert it to mpeg-2 or mpeg-4, and after that the file will play.
(3) The ATI file player is almost worthless. It displays a frame about every 4 seconds, and the sound has huge gaps. I suggest VLC (Video Lan Client) which supports tons of codecs and plays my TV recordings most awesomely.
Most TV cards are PCI cards, so obviously you need an open PCI slot in your PC. I have seen some USB tv tuners in stores, but that's about it.
For my TV card, the system requirements are:
* Intel® Pentium® 4/III/II, Celeron™, AMD-K6® or compatible
* Available PCI slot
* Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
* Sound card and speakers
* Cable TV signal or amplified antenna
You can be running Windows back to 98. You can use Linux, but I've found it's harder to set up. With SUSE linux, some TV recording programs come along with it.
I also bought a new graphics card with a TV output, so I can watch my TV shows back on my TV. It's like Tivo without the monthly fee.
It took me about 20 minutes to set everything up with the new TV card and the new graphics card. It may take you longer or maybe even less time.
I hope you get this up and running. If you do, it'll be worth it. I worked it out, and with the lowest monthly fee of Tivo ($16.95 per month), my computer with everything else I have added: TV card, Graphics Card, 1 gb ram, media reader, my computer will pay for itself in 2.4 years.
Good Luck
Submitted by: Dan M.
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John, TV on PC falls into two categories:
The software solution depends on shows being available for download or streaming over the Internet. For this you really need a high-speed Internet connection. Do a search and you'll find web sites that will link you to web sites that offer this for free, such as World Wide Internet TV . The free solutions require that Windows Media Player, Real Player, and sometimes, QuickTime be installed on your computer.
The software being sold may not have the programs you're looking for. They can be great for watching news from Britain, but won't have, say, American Idol.
Hardware solutions are more involved. They range from tuners that plug into a USB port up to dual tuner cards that plug into a PCI or PCI-Express slot inside your computer. Some cards include hardware encoding that uses less of your CPU, a good thing if you're watching television while working or surfing. There are also combination tuner and video cards. Those are a poor choice for someone who upgrades his/her video card, because you may not be able to get the graphics chip you want. A tuner requires a cable or antenna connection, but allow you to not only watch, but also record TV. The dual tuner cards will let you watch one program while recording another, or record two shows simultaneously. I have a Hauppage PVR-250, and the software installed a link to TitanTV. TitanTV shows me a show listing grid and I can click on a show, and it will schedule a recording for me, similar to what a TiVO does.
A tuner requires software setup. You have to tell the software what kind of signal you're receiving (NTSC is the standard here in America) and if it's cable or antenna, then wait for the software to scan for available channels. Of course, an internal card requires that you unplug the power from your computer and remove the cover.
If you have a DVD burner in your computer, you can even record shows to a DVD. The best way I've found is with a program like Nero. You can even hook a VCR up to a tuner, and convert video tapes to DVD.
Submitted by: Dennis S.
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Hi, I've been enjoy the wonders of watching (cable) TV on my PC for some time, and although i have heard about down loading software to watch TV on your PC i prefer the true and tried method of using a TV / Media card, the most resent one i purchased, ATI TV/ Video Capture Card works great and is easy to install and setup. I can record my favorite shows, capture images, listen to radio, among a few things
you can watch local TV using either an in-door and out-door antenna (the choice is yours), some come with a remote and you can buy it from your favorite PC store for around $40 - $200 (i paid $65 for mine) or online at http://www.tigerdirect.com (my choice PC store).
it's well worth the $$$, I don’t have to watch what the rest of the family is watching and there's no fighting over the remote.
Submitted by: R. M.
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Hey Jon, first off there are many ways of watching television on your pc. First off, you can buy what's called a tv-tuner card. You have to crack open your case to install this, but it will give you the best picture quality there is (remember price is a good indicator of quality and they range from $20- even $200 sometimes). If you also want to record tv shows you might want to invest into a larger hard drive. I recommend at least a good 100gb chunk dedicated just to recordings. As you mentioned in your question, you have also seen adds that claim that you can watch tv through your PC without any extra hardware. You still have to install software though because they are most likely a subscription-based client that stream "TV' to your PC over the internet. Before going making your decision, make sure to do some research first. I'm assuming that you live in the States where you can look up prices online. I forgot one thing. I recommend the minimum specs for a multimedia hub PC to be at least a 2.4GhZ processor (CPU), 512 RAM (the more the better) and at least a decent 128mb or 256mb AGP or PCI-Express videocard. To find out what kind of video card you have, consult your motherboard's manual.
I hope that helps to answer your question,
Submitted by: Andrei A.
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I have been "watching TV", piping my Comcast cable connection, into my pc since Windows for Workgroups 3.11. At that time I was using a Reveal TV500 ISA Tuner card in a 386 processor ...It worked great, as I upgraded my OSs and hardware, so did my tuner card. Presently I have XP Pro, and use a WinTV GO PCI tuner card w/DVR from Hauppauge, in a MSI motherboard w/AMD 2600 Athalon XP+. I have used Hauppauge's USB product on my laptop, a PIII and now a Pentium 4 ...I would recommend their products.
The "software only" version you are referring to ...needs a Broadband connection, but no other "hardware". BUT .... I understand the PC resources are sucked dry, as is the broadband bandwidth.
I personally would chose to stay with a "tuner card" method ...most today, come with their own (DVR) Digital Video Recorder, no need to get "tivo", and their are some that are compatible with HDTV signal. I will be upgrading soon to a HDTV model soon, and thinking of going with windows xp media center.
Submitted by: D. W. S.
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This info is from a humble user who doesn’t know much about computers….If your absolute bottom-line is desiring to watch TV on your computer you may want to invest in a product like Samsung’s SyncMaster 170MP monitor or one of it’s updated brothers or sisters. It provides PIP with variable positions, menu for color control etc. and full screen viewing. Like any other monitor it plugs into your PC, there is audio cable and I do use a small desk size antenna. I love it and found it fairly cheap at a Sam’s Club.
Submitted by: Kathie
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I've found great success with ATI's All-In-Wonder line of video cards. They provide the services of a graphics adapter, a TV tuner, AND a Video capture card. I've used several in different computers and found them to be an adequate card for general purpose use and occassional gaming. I wasn't happy with the picture quality of the AGP All-In-Wonder I purchased in 1999, but the All-In-Wonder 2006 Version, which is PCI-E with 256 MB of video memory, gives good TV quality, decent graphics performance, and even includes an FM radio tuner! If you're not equipped with PCI-E capabilities, an AGP version is also available. Cost of the card is about $180 depending on where you purchase.
In order to watch TV, you'll have to provide an antenna connection. I haven't tried the tuner on-air, but can verify it works well with cable. The software is easy to set up and run. The package includes a dipole FM radio antenna and RCA-style cable connection capabilities for connecting external A/V sources and displays. One added capability here is display to an external "Composite" or S-VGA (if memory serves) display. In fact, I utilized this card to display PowerPoint presentations over a closed-circuit TV system, was able to connect the card direct to the video mixer console and go to town.
If you don't need high-end performance, just want to have a TV display in the corner of your monitor so you can watch Jerry Springer while you crunch numbers on your spreadsheet, I don't think there's a better solution.
The ATI All-In-Wonder card is widely available. Definitely not hard to find. I bought mine at Tiger Direct.
Submitted by: Raymond S.
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I bought the WinTv PVR150 tuner card. I love it, you can watch, record, pause live tv right on your computer. You are able to hook up your cable or satellite to it plus can hook up your video camera too. It comes with a remote control and works great. This is all I needed to watch tv on my computer. I would stay away from the ads that want you to download cause you still will need the tuner card.
Submitted by: Renee R. of Rimrock, Arizona
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i have sony vaio PCV-series, on which TV setup programming is automatically included, along with GigaPocket and some other pr5ograms... not being a computer whiz, i do however manage to figure some of these marvels out by myself (ta da!!) and have been able to watch TV thru my monitor, both as full-screen and as separate window, simply by hooking up TV antenna for "local" channels (altho we don't really have many of those as i live close to Big Sur area) or better yet, installing one of my extra satellite receivers. with the sat rcvr i am able to pre-program shows that i want to record for later viewing as well as utilize all the featires the receiver offers when hooked directly to "real" tv. overall, i must say that if i can figure it out, anyone with half a brain can also, as i am not only physically disabled but have brain tumor as well, and most definitely would NOT be considered a computer geek - but since figuring out how to turn my computers into TVs i no longer have to suffer thru missing my favorite shows when laid up any more!
BY THE WAY, IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO HAVE THE SONY VAIO PC or MEDIA PACK TO ENJOY THESE FEATURES; FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, ONE NEEDS ONLY TO HAVE BAREST MINIMUMS IN PC TO UTILIZE SAID PROGRAMMING.
Submitted by: Shelly
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I've just added a USB 2.0 tv tuner to my p.c.. The first thing required is a cable input to provide the signal...The second thing required is patience. I've reinstalled the drivers about 6 times. With 'multiple' users its all to easy for someone to click on 'safely remove hardware'
(xp task bar) ... Other than xp requiring a reinstall on occasion I'm happy with this unit...I've even had my daughters 'Game cube' plugged into the component connections for some game play on the monitor.....Other options for T.V. are : Video cards with t.v. tuners built in, stand alone t.v. tuner cards & units that have a 'pass through for your monitor allowing t.v. watching without starting your p.c. & no 'driver' installation. Prices vary from 15-300$ so shop wisely...& if you have any trouble don't be afraid to use tech. support.
Submitted by: Jim L.
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Yes John, you can watch TV on a PC, not that it is the best place to do it, but it can be done. There are 3 free media center types of programs, Freevo, Orb, and one from Yahoo who makes a TV viewing PVR type of application that can be downloaded and installed for free. And then there is the bulky, costly Windows Media Center 2005 edition which is not free.
You will need a TV tuner PCI card with a Coax, or Composite video input connector to attach the PC to a Cable box, or Satellite tuner or TV antenna, this is where the input signal comes into the PC. Hauppage, and ATI both make TV tuner cards that are compatible with the programs above. You can also try to find a used TV video PCI card on eBay.
Note that Macintosh systems can also watch TV, they use software from El Gato Eye-TV, and come in several versions, all of which require an external box that houses the TV inputs and Tuner, this box attaches to the Mac with a USB or Firewire cable. Currently Eye-TV is a Mac only product but there are rumors it will soon support PCs.
You can find the free video software located in PC and Mac Utilites section of this website:
http://www.itvelociti.com/services.html#Utilities
Submitted by: Jonathan O.
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I have tried several solutions. The only one that has worked for me is the ViewSonic NextVision N4 VIDEO PROCESSOR/TUNER. It is easy to install and give you full screen TV on your monitor. I think it is worth the $100 it costs do have full featured TV instead of some software based solution. I am completely satisfied with this product.
Submitted by: Winton W.
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When I looked into this there were a few cards with HD tuner and currently, there are more available. So, how could you watch TV w/o a signal processed by a tuner or frequency modulator? I think maybe the software only options are probably processing a signal that comes from a tuner, freq. modulator, VCR, DVDR w/ tuner, etc. You could use such a device as a tuner if you can figure out a set of interface cables and only the tuner section of the device would need to be operational (e.g. an old vcr that won’t run tapes, where the tuner still works). Here’s a couple web sites. Good luck!
Warm regards,
http://ruel.net/pc/tv.tuner.converter.htm
bhphotovideo.com
http://glinden.blogspot.com/2004/05/i-want-my-pc-tv.html
Submitted by: Walter H.
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Although I am using a Mac, I'd think that the same company markets a similar setup for PeeCees. It is called EyeTV and is marketed by Elgato, http://www.elgato.com. Comprised of hardware and software, it functions beautifully and provides not only television signal but also functions as a PVR.
And I might add that Elgato is an outstanding company with really good support (I have no interests in the company other than as a very satisfied customer.)
Hope this helps.
Submitted by: Murray K.
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Answer:
I encountered the same problem myself about a year ago. I wanted to be able to watch cable on my computer as I did not have a TV however I did have a computer with a, to me, very nice video card and a decent 17" CRT monitor. So what I did was I went to Google and typed in "watch tv on my computer", and I must say the first solution that it provided me with has done me well over the past year and it has allowed me to convert my old Hi8 and my newer MiniDv tapes onto my computer.
That's right, I went and bought myself an ATI Remote Wonder Pro, thankfully my video card was an ATI Radeon Pro 9700 so there were no compatibility issues. Ever since then I have never looked back, I paid about $60 for a brand-new card at Future Shop, took it home, installation, for me, was a breeze and I have been enjoying TV for the past year. Plus the money it has saved me by not needing to take my old movies into a conversion specialist, they charge an arm and a leg to convert your old tapes to DVD.
Hope this Helps!
Submitted by: Christopher M.
Want Free TV Over Internet?
by eye2fun - 6/2/06 11:42 AM In reply to: Other suggestions from our members by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Don't get sucked into the pay for programs that don't give anything more than what you can get without them!
This site lists 1000's of channels you can get just using your browser.
http://www.wwitv.com/
Expecting your usual channel lineup only available on cable, satelite, or local antenna? Forget about it!
You'll need a TV Tunner card! Expect to get HD channels over that analog card on cable? Forget about it!
Not available yet! Wait until the next line of cards coming out with Vista!
I have the ADS HDTV Tunner Card and yes I can get HD stations, but not the ones available on cable! Only the ones available using an HD Antenna! Even with the analog stations available on this card the quality is still sub par performance compared to your normal TV so just get yourself a small Tv to place near your monitor if you must watch TV while working on your computer! Same Price better quality until the next generation tunner cards come out! ;D
Not quite live, but...
by Norseman - 6/3/06 1:15 PM In reply to: Other suggestions from our members by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I haven't read all the posts here, but the way I watch TV on my laptop (which I do very rarely, actually) is to record a program on my DVD recorder, then pop the DVD into the optical drive on my laptop. Personally, it seems like all the screwing around you have to do to be able to watch/record live TV on a PC just plain ain't worth it. It's a fun science project, but dedicated video devices sure work well and make more sense to me.
Use Pinnacle PCTV 60e
by cajuncartfan - 6/2/06 4:40 AM In reply to: 6/2/06 Possible ways to watch TV on your PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi, I just bought Pinnacle PCTV 60e to my laptop HP nx7010 and it really works superb. I connect the tuner (which is very small) to the USB and I installed a software (which is included on a CD), and then I had a TV! Included is, also, a remote control. I can also record the programs. I highly recommend Pinnacle PCTV 60e! It has no problems in finding channels and the broadcasting is bright and clear! It will find the channels in your area. It is really fantastic! I do not think that only a software will do it. You will need, also, a tuner like in this system."This system will produce an ordinary TV"!
Best Regards, Bjorn Lundahl, Gothenburg, Sweden
Troubles with Pinnacle
by URTido - 6/2/06 5:45 AM In reply to: Use Pinnacle PCTV 60e by cajuncartfanI have an older external Pinnacle PCTV unit that gave me problems from the start. When I initially bought the unit everything worked fine. Then as time went on the TV program became unstable and crashed regularly on me. Then the remote stopped controlling the tuner.
I'd stay away from Pinnacle from my own experiences.
Also, check to see what programs are out there. I tried to use my tuner with other independent tuning programs and found that no Pinnacle devices were supported.
Lastly, there are a few HD tuners out there, but they're more expensive and I'm not sure if they support anything more than broadcast HD-TV (ie. you won't be able to access all the channels that you can on your Cable box).
Good luck.
Pinnacle Card Tuner
by sloflyer - 6/2/06 5:32 PM In reply to: Troubles with Pinnacle by URTidoI've been using a Pinnacle in-Pc tuner for a couple of years and haven't had any problems. I love it. I also have a Mercury tuner installed and am not as enthused about it. They both have their good points. One thing I like about the Pinnacle is the ability to step ahead through the commercials. One thing I haven't seen mentioned about using a tuner is something I've been doing for years with my regular TV: I run the signal through a VCR so I can also record on it at the same time that I record directly to the hard drive. Usually separate programs but sometimes the same program program in case the PCTV messes up. It has saved my bacon more than once.
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