TV on your PC

[oldagerocker]

Hi, im cheap and im off to Uni soon...

For my birthday i want a 20gb mp3 player instead of a TV, so im wondering (as im getting a new pc with other money) if i can get TV through my PC, and what products i'd need to do this.

If anyone has any links to sites that'd help or the products they have, i'd be very greatful.

Thanks

 

[bosox188]

Do you play games? If you do then you should get an ATI All-in-Wonder card, they're great. You can watch TV, record your shows, and you basically get TIVO features too. I don't know how much you have to spend though. Here's a link to all the all-in-wonder cards.

http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/sea...s=Update+Results&popup6_attr_id[]=360&sortby=

Wow long link, it's cause I had to search. If you just want TV and aren't gonna play games I think their are things called TV Wonder or something I dunno check on ati.com they'll have something like that and they're only like $50.

 

[Asus]

Yeah, the TV Wonder series is great. A TV Tuner PCI Card with pretty neat software (TV Guide Plus I think).
Either version will work for just watching TV but if you every want to record then grab the Pro with remote because it records at a higher resolution.

 

[Goobers]

You can get a card that gives you freeview- so you can get all of those free digital channels- thats what i was thinking about doing when I go to uni- some of the better ones support FM and DAB radio- a good idea if space is an issue I think.

I found a random site, but this is the kind of thing you get:
http://www.tv-cards.com/digitvpci.php

I'm sure there are better cards out there with more features, but its only a matter of looking

 

[FictiousWill]

You don't need an AIW, a TV card works fine and is a bit cheaper. Plus it's easier to resell the two (gfx card and tv card) separately. I have a decent tv card, it's a 'pvr plus' or something. It works very well.

The only downside to tv on a computer monitor is that the image seems really blurry. It's the same on a regular TV, you just never notice it because tv's have such horrible resolution to begin with. The upshot is that if you use your computer monitor to watch tv, I'd suggest sitting a distance away from the monitor, not up close like you would a computer game or dvd.

The benefits of a computer tv solution outweigh most of the downsides, however. Timed recording and tivo-like usage is very easy. Not to mention you save the space of that TV. Very helpful in a dorm.

 

[Asus]

ATI is releasing their HDTV card soon. 200$ :O

 

[Vigilante]

Yeah..I have an ATi TV Tuner card...but i use it to play my video game consoles thru my monitor. I dont have a cable line in my room =(.