How to Get TV on Your PC

There's a new revolutionary method that's rapidly emerging as the number 1 way to watch TV on your computer. It involves downloading TV shows directly from the Internet. With an easy software download, you will get access to internet television. All you need is an Internet connection (a high speed connection is best). No additional hardware is needed.

You can expect a full screen video with a high quality sound. The video image quality can vary depending on which channel you are viewing (this is surely the case when you watch ordinary TV). But there are plenty of quality channels to make it a good viewing experience.

It's greatest strength is simply the tremendous number of stations that you get. More than 6,000 internet TV shows and video podcasts are available.

There are no subscriptions or recurring charges. It all comes down to a software download that won't cost you a thing. The software is open source and freely available.

Take a look here. To get an idea of the programming available check out their Miro Guide.

There is a problem though: this IS addictive stuff. I use my laptop at work and the temptation to stop what I am doing to watch a movie or a favorite TV show can be overpowering. My personal productivity has taken a hit with this software. It also spoils you with so many choices. After a while you just take it all for granted.

Another way to get TV on your PC is a hardware change where you install a TV tuner card into your PC. Your computer will receive and display television signals on your PC once the card has been installed. A quality tuner card can average anywhere from $100 to $200 and installation time can vary depending on your experience.

Your PC monitor is basically turned into a television screen with this method. Naturally, this set up will limit your PC to receiving the same local stations that your trusty old TV would get.

I'm going to talk about some of the basics that you'll need to learn before watching TV on your computer. If your computer was bought recently (a couple of years) then you only have to be concerned about three things. These are having a quick Internet connection, getting a some of the common media players set up on your computer, and knowing where to look on the Internet.

1) Fast Internet connection - a few of you may be wondering whether a dial up connection will work. The answer is yes, but your viewing experience will not be a good one. What usually happens is that the video will play a bit then freeze while it buffers up and then play a little more. This will repeat itself in cycles till the video is finished.

A broadband connection will save you this aggravation and you will never want to go back to dial up again.

2) Media players - Software that receives and processes audio and video streams are called media players. The software has an interface with start, stop and pause buttons that allow you to simply click on a video link to watch a TV show. Most computers will already have one or two media players installed but the occasion may arise where you may need to install another one.

Four very common media players in use today are:

The Windows Media Player at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia
The Real Player at http://www.real.com
The Quicktime PLayer for the Apple operating system at http://www.apple.com/quicktime
The Adobe Shockwave Player at http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download

Make sure to get only the free versions of the above players because that is all you will need.

3) Where to get free movies and TV shows on the web - You could start at the web sites of the major networks. They'll generally have a video on demand set up where you'll be able to watch a few of the more popular TV episodes. You can also hit the search engines for public domain videos.

Yet another way to get TV shows and movies on your computer is to download them off of peer-to-peer (p2p) networks. In a p2p network, several computers (including yours) will be simultaneously sharing files. Bits and pieces of the movie download are passed around to the various computers on the network until everybody has a complete movie.

I do not recommend that you go this route since it is very risky and the downloads will take a long time to complete. You're essentially downloading files from total strangers who don't need to worry about accountability. That downloaded file could have a virus or spy ware. There are a number of other safety issues that are beyond the scope of this article.