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5 Ways to Watch TV on the Computer
Author: Jason Kohrs
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Source: Geeks.com
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5 Ways to Watch TV on the Computer
August 01, 2006

Network Attached TV Tuners:

The SlingBox is the prime example of this type of device, which I feel will eventually become more refined and extremely popular. Computer Geeks often has the SlingBox in stock.


The basic principal of the SlingBox is that you connect the device to your television cable (and perhaps other video sources), as well as your wired local area network (RJ-45 connection). The SlingBox is then able to share cable TV over your network, and when properly configured, over the Internet. You can share the audio/video to your desktop PC wired to your local area network, your WiFi-enabled laptop, or even to your work computer whether it is 10 miles away or on the other side of the world.

The device is controlled from any computer with the software installed and proper login credentials. You can then not only watch TV, but you can also control it; change channels, video sources, and more. Special IR adapters included with the SlingBox allow you to control other items, such as DVD players and personal video recorders just like the cable TV function.

The biggest upside to a device such as the SlingBox is that you can share your home audio/video and television with any computer on your local area network or anywhere in the world with a broadband connection.

One downside is that video quality isn't the greatest due to the restrictions of bandwidth, and it only gets worse when you go from local to Internet viewing. Another issue is that the present design only allows one computer to broadcast the SlingBox content at a time. You cannot set up the device to share a program and allow all of your friends to watch, so just forget about starting your own pay-per-view company with one of these devices!

Digital Cable Box:

This may seem like an unlikely source for TV on your computer, but have you taken a look at the back of some of the digital cable boxes on the market today?

There are plenty of connections that make it look like a computer all on its own: Serial, USB, FireWire, S/PDIF, Ethernet, DVI, and more may all be found on the back side of the device you use with your traditional television. Scientific Atlanta is just one manufacturer with products designed to do far more than the typical cable box.

Although some of these familiar “PC” connections may not do anything for your computer, you could easily get TV on your PC in one way or another. Some cable boxes allow the streaming of raw data from the box to your computer's hard drive via FireWire. You could then have an HD (High Definition) recording to play back or burn to DVD, sent straight from the cable box to your PC.

In addition to the various data connections, the video connections could be connected to either your computer or directly to your monitor. Connections such as component outputs on the cable box could be used to send video to a capture card or graphics card with VIVO (Video In / Video Out) support in the PC for watching and/or recording. The DVI connection could be used to go straight to your monitor.

The main upside of this method of getting television on to your computer is that the signal may be of the highest quality and look superb on screen and in recordings.

The main downsides are that it may not be particularly convenient and compatibility features will vary from one cable box to another. Also, while some equipment provides these connections for "future use", in many cases their use is not currently documented or supported by providers.

Final Words on Watching TV On a Computer:

Computers definitely aren't all business any more, and have been key contributors to personal entertainment for years. The ability to use a computer to watch and record television in a variety of ways has helped reduce the divide between work and play greatly. There are a variety of ways to get television (and other video sources) onto your computer monitor and the five categories discussed cover your best bets for merging the two technologies.

Please drop by the Bigbruin.com Forum and feel free to post any comments or questions.

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