Monday, May 26, 2008

Watch TV On Your Computer

Watch TV on Your Computer

If you are looking for even more entertainment options for your computer, you can now add television to this mix. Television shows can now be seen either live or prerecorded with special internet services directly on your computer screen. This is great for people that either don't have room for a TV or are on the road often. If you are interested in watching television on your computer, here is how to do it.

There are two ways to watch TV on your computer, one is with the use of a television card, the other is by downloading it off the internet. If you prefer to watch cable TV on your computer, you can purchase a computer TV card and easily attach it to your computer. You can watch your cable programs directly on your computer screen. Many cards allow you to record the television shows similar to like a Tivo product.

If you would like to download television shows, there are a few companies that offer you legal downloads of television programs. Many downloads are free, while a few services require a subscription fee. Some services are inexpensive; under $40 for the year, other subscription services can be much more or depend on what programs are downloaded. If you download TV programs a high speed modem is necessary. Video files are much larger than music files many people are familiar with.

So if you would like to watch TV on your computer, check out some these services that send you TV on demand.

Jay is the web owner of http://www.dsl-in.com DSL, a website that provides information and resources on DSL, DSL Service, and DSL Service Providers. You can also visit his website at: http://www.dsl-service.us DSL Service

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1000 TV Channels on Your Computer??

I saw the ad. Oh boy, I thought. First of all, I'm cheap. Secondly I don't watch much TV. My rabbit ears get the major networks including Fox, plus two public TV stations. But it would would be nice to once in a while get the Discovery and the Disney channel and the like.

One time software purchase and no other fees. Well fortunately I did some checking around the internet. Sorry, no it is not the same as Cable TV. What you get is a directory of webcasts links from around the world with a bookmark system so you can find your favorite channels again.

Don't send money. Instead go to World Wide Internet TV www.wwitv.com . It is free (same type of channels as in the paid listings). As of today they have 1704 online TV stations listed. There are college broadcasts, local, government, religious stations, news, regional sports, music, cultural stations, and even watch NASA live. While the vast majority of the channels will be of the popular variety, you may find special interest broadcasts not otherwise available.

While some channels broadcast live, there are many that are "on demand". You can not only watch the news when you want, but can select which news items you want to see. Discovery has on demand webcasts that you can search through. Comedy Central Station is worth a look. Check out AFTV (USA) for 11 channels of old movies in various genres (but like TV you get whatever happens to be on).

No it is not the same as Satellite TV. But if you want news from New Orleans - you got it. If you have relatives in New Zealand or are planning to visit there, you can find out what's happening. Want to brush up on your Russian. Japanese, Vietnamese or whatever? There are stations from around the world.

Oh and yes, it is free.

Hilma Volk writes the "Free Stuff and other Cool Stuff" Blog, searching the internet for deals. http://get-the-goods.blogspot.com

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Monday, April 14, 2008

How To Watch Satellite TV For Free On PC

You can watch satellite tv for free on PC in recent years all thanks to advancements in technology. School going kids and the younger tech-savvy generation are downloading live streaming video of satellite TV channels like never before. We will learn why it is a great idea to watch satellite TV on PC or computer and explore two methods to watch satellite tv for free on PC. Why Is Everyone Switching To Watch Satellite TV On PC?

Just some years back, we could only watch satellite TV using our television sets and satellite dish setup. All of us know that the installation of a satellite TV dish system can be tedious and not everybody enjoys. Rather, most people try to avoid if they can. Satellite dishes can be gigantic monster fixtures as huge as a few meters and make our homes ugly and look like a TV station. If you watch satellite TV on PC, it does not require the installation of a satellite dish before you can watch satellite tv for free.

Ok, those who hate to set up satellite dish then go to the satellite TV service providers to install their proprietary satellite dish. They work better and are neater than those ugly DIY jumbo satellite dishes. And they are free if you sign up for a long term contract with these service providers for one or two years depending on their contract terms. But problem is you are tied to the contract and have to pay monthly subscriptions for the entire contract period. If you wish to terminate the contract, be prepared to cough up a tidy sum of payment. You can watch satellite tv for free on PC without being restricted to any contract because there is none at all. There are no monthly charges for watching satellite TV as well.

Two Methods To Watch Satellite TV For Free On PC

There are two popular methods to watch satellite tv for free on PC. One is using a PCTV card and the other using a PC satellite TV software.

PCTV Cards are TV capture cards that come in two types of installation. One is internal which must be installed inside your computer and the other is external which are break-out boxes (BoBs) that are attached to your PC using a USB port and cable. Internal PCTV cards are cheaper than external cards. But no matter which one you use, be prepared to fork out anything between $100 and $300 for a quality card from ATI TV, Plextor, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, IO Magic PC and other established brands.

PC satellite TV software is a hugely popular way to capture satellite TV on PC. Since it is a software application, it can be downloaded online and installed directly onto the computer without any external hardware. This PC application allows you to get more than 3000 free satellite TV channels from across the globe. The variety of programs range from LIVE sports, TV news, entertainment, documentaries, movies to kids channels. This software is a steal at $50.

Read up for more information at my satellite TV blog on this amazing software to watch satellite TV for free.

Davion is a successful webmaster, author and fan of TV shows. Discover how you can instantly watch satellite TV on PC, tuning into hundreds of LIVE world channels of news, movies, music and kids program at http://Watch-Satellite-TV-On-PC.blogspot.com.

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Friday, November 23, 2007

Watching Satellite TV on PC Is Easier Than You Think

Plug your satellite TV receiver into your PC

Did you know that watching satellite TV on your PC could be as simple as plugging a lead from a satellite receiver into a socket on your PC? Yes it's as simple as that.

If you've bought a PC or even a notebook PC in the last few years the chances are that it's already satellite TV ready. You may not even have noticed the strange rectangular sockets on your computer that are your incredibly useful Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports. USB is what makes your PC satellite TV ready.

USB isn't just for Satellite TV

USB wasn't developed just for watching satellite television, it's an incredibly versatile interface capable of connecting to all kind of computer peripherals like monitors, audio speakers, cameras, keyboards, mice and a thousand other things, many of which haven't been invented yet.

There are two versions of USB in service at the time of writing. The oldest and slowest standard is version 1.0 (and 1.1) but it's version 2 that is the real performer. It's 40 times faster than version 1 and powerful enough to handle even high definition TV (HDTV). Some plug-in satellite receivers will work with USB 1 but you should try to use version 2 wherever you can. The vast majority of PC's manufactured in the last few years support USB 2.

What do you need to watch satellite TV for PC?

You need a computer with modest specification by today's standards, to take advantage of satellite TV on your PC. If you are interested in HDTV then your computer will need to be slightly more powerful. The following minimum specification should serve you well in all cases:

  • Microsoft? Windows? XP
  • Microsoft? Windows? Media Player 9.0 or later
  • Microsoft? DirectX9.0C or later
  • VGA card with at least 32MB memory
  • P4 2G MHZ CPU or above
  • 256MB RAM or above
  • One free USB 2.0 port
  • Sound card or on board sound chip

You will also need a satellite dish and LNB and a USB satellite TV receiver with DVB-S (Digital Video Broadcast for Satellite). You should get the dish and LNB installed by a professional.

How to connect the satellite receiver to your PC

When your satellite dish and LNB have been installed you can connect the cable from the dish to your USB satellite TV receiver. Then you should install the software that came with your satellite receiver onto your computer. When you have done that you can connect your satellite TV receiver to your PC using the USB cable that should come with your USB enabled receiver. You can plug the cable into any USB socket on your PC but try to make sure that it's a USB 2 socket. Some PC's have a mixture of USB 1 and 2 sockets so it's worth making sure.

Now start the software and start enjoying satellite TV on PC.

There is more information on watching satellite TV for PC in the article Watch Satellite TV on PC using USB

Steve is an engineer who has been interested in digital video for many years. For more information on sattelite TV please visit Use Your PC To Watch Digital TV at http://www.sattelite-television.thegrandfatherclock.com

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