Watching TV on Computer

[curious_george_43545]

Say I have a computer and an outlet for cable, but no television. Is it possible to buy a cord or w/e and watch television on my computer monitor with no tv set in the area. If it is possible, is the quality any different? I'm an idiot with technology so thank you in advance.

[DbacksRback]

i heard theres this new company thats about to go public that is doing exactly that but u not only can watch it on your computer but use that as your actual provider on your TV as well instead of going through like comcast or other companies. Ill try and get the name for you and post it as soon as possible

[Tavish]

Yes, you just need a tuner card with the right inputs. With a good card and monitor the quality is no different than a similar definition TV.

[curious_george_43545]

Yes, you just need a tuner card with the right inputs. With a good card and monitor the quality is no different than a similar definition TV.

From just browsing some tuner cards, noticed the price is pretty varied, any reccomendations if I just want to watch real time television not record or anything and quality isn't the biggest deal as long as it's not bad.

[Tavish]

Do you know what type of open card slots you have to work with? If not what is the model of your PC?

You may not want to record right now, but the price isn't all that different for the PVR cards and once you get going on it it makes an amazing difference in the experience.

[curious_george_43545]

Do you know what type of open card slots you have to work with? If not what is the model of your PC?

You may not want to record right now, but the price isn't all that different for the PVR cards and once you get going on it it makes an amazing difference in the experience.

Well I am gonna buy a computer soon, but I haven't decided what model yet. Does it matter any if it's a PC or Mac Laptop?

[Tavish]

Not really, even if you go the laptop route and don't have the ability to install a new video card you can get a USB tuner.

[BitterDodgerFan]

analog TV sucks on PC via tv tuner. however there are already digital signals for many stations and TV tuners with digital receiver can show these. it's still tricky to tune to these channels right now because they don't automatically detect the digital signals. i wouldn't buy a TV tuner right now, cableCard will be the standard and tuners based on that will come out since digital will be the standard starting 2009.

remember, regular TV will always look crappy on your PC monitor. i think there's only about 500 lines of resolution for standard TV but your monitor is probably at least 1024 meaning you're blowing up something small to big. same for DVDs too. i tried watching DVDs on a 24" LCD with 1900x1200 resolution and it was the crappiest image ever. now watching 720p was better, 1080i and 1080p content is excellent on a large PC monitor.

[jfg]

If you just want to watch TV on your computer you don't need a tuner. Most shows are online legally. You gotta wait an extra day but it's free on network sites and Hulu.

[Jivedude]

I use a Hauppauge WinTV Go tuner card. I think I paid $20 - $30 for it.