Watching HD TV on your computer is easier than you might think. There are two ways to go about it. Your first option is either by the use of an adaptor that acts as a TV receiver to decode the signals and display them on your screen. The other method is by viewing TV broadcasts which are streamed over the internet.
To turn you computer into a television you will required to spend some money on hardware. You will need a PC TV tuner card, they can either come with USB or PCI interfaces. You can use the PCI version with a desktop PC, the USB versions can be used with a laptop or desktop (as long as you have a free USB port). The adaptor is used to decode the TV signal and display it on you desktop or notebook.
HDTV adaptors come in a multitude of shapes and sizes. They have different capabilities and features, the most important thing is to make sure they are capable for use with the TV signal that you will be using (ie satellite, cable, RF etc). Some have features which you may find useful like ? live pause, recording timer and radio tuning.
Some TV tuner adaptors have inbuilt aerials and/or a connector for an external aerial that comes supplied. For the best result you might want to check if the adaptor has the right type of connectors to connect to your satellite or set-top box if that?s your chosen method of viewing. They normally come with software to tune the adaptor into the TV channels and allow you to perform other functions like recording and pausing TV channels.
TV tuner cards are not expensive, there is a big choice to consider though. Your best option might be to look at a comparison websites to compare prices features and read others people?s reviews.
The next option available to enable viewing television on your computer is via websites that stream TV channels over the web. The choice or providers is wide and there are over 3000 channels available online.
If you already have a desktop or laptop with an internet connection, then the chances are you already have everything you need to get going. The main thing is that that you have a reasonably fast internet connection, 2 mega bits / sec should be ok.
If you do a quick search on Google for ?watch HDTV online? you should be provided with a host of results for providers of internet TV. You will have to research which is the best for you. Are you prepared to pay for a service? If so the quality of pictures and number of channels available will be better. There are however sites which are totally free to use.
If you are happy to watch TV online you could find yourself ditching the expensive subscription services that you pay your satellite or cable provider. You don?t need to purchase any hardware either, as opposed to splashing out $1000 or more on a high definition TV. - 29968
To turn you computer into a television you will required to spend some money on hardware. You will need a PC TV tuner card, they can either come with USB or PCI interfaces. You can use the PCI version with a desktop PC, the USB versions can be used with a laptop or desktop (as long as you have a free USB port). The adaptor is used to decode the TV signal and display it on you desktop or notebook.
HDTV adaptors come in a multitude of shapes and sizes. They have different capabilities and features, the most important thing is to make sure they are capable for use with the TV signal that you will be using (ie satellite, cable, RF etc). Some have features which you may find useful like ? live pause, recording timer and radio tuning.
Some TV tuner adaptors have inbuilt aerials and/or a connector for an external aerial that comes supplied. For the best result you might want to check if the adaptor has the right type of connectors to connect to your satellite or set-top box if that?s your chosen method of viewing. They normally come with software to tune the adaptor into the TV channels and allow you to perform other functions like recording and pausing TV channels.
TV tuner cards are not expensive, there is a big choice to consider though. Your best option might be to look at a comparison websites to compare prices features and read others people?s reviews.
The next option available to enable viewing television on your computer is via websites that stream TV channels over the web. The choice or providers is wide and there are over 3000 channels available online.
If you already have a desktop or laptop with an internet connection, then the chances are you already have everything you need to get going. The main thing is that that you have a reasonably fast internet connection, 2 mega bits / sec should be ok.
If you do a quick search on Google for ?watch HDTV online? you should be provided with a host of results for providers of internet TV. You will have to research which is the best for you. Are you prepared to pay for a service? If so the quality of pictures and number of channels available will be better. There are however sites which are totally free to use.
If you are happy to watch TV online you could find yourself ditching the expensive subscription services that you pay your satellite or cable provider. You don?t need to purchase any hardware either, as opposed to splashing out $1000 or more on a high definition TV. - 29968
