How do I watch tv on my computer?

[DavidLaw]

Hi,

I'm trying to avoid buying another tv and vcr for my office room and wondered if it were possible to use my big, new computer screen instead? In the past I have had my tv/vcr and sky digital system connected to a second television in another room via a single cable from the vcr, and wondered if the same set-up is possible with a computer?

I've got a very new, powerful computer with a big, Samsung, LCD screen. In my ideal world I'd like to be able to connect the VCR to the computer and therefore be able to also watch Sky satellite and normal tv on the video channel through the computer screen.

Do you know if that's possible.

Many thanks in advance.

[mats.hogberg]

A TV tuner card might help! They come pretty cheap these days, if you don't care for hardware encoding and fancy stuff...

/Mats

[DavidLaw]

Thanks a lot. Do you just whack it in the back of the computer then? Is there usually a dedicated slot for it?

[Duchess]

Hmmmm! You're obviously not a very experienced computer user so it may be better for you to take a look at the external TV tuners that plug in via a USB connection. It will save you having to open up the 'pooter to plug in a card.

However if you do feel brave a TV card plugs into almost any slot inside the PC. In fact the shape of the card will make it fairly obvious where it goes as there will only be one set of sockets that will accept it.

If you have any aspirations towards capturing TV progs and generating DVD's or VCD/SVCD's then it may be worth doing a little investigating by clicking on "Capture Cards" to the left of this message.

[DavidLaw]

Thanks, and you're right, I'm not overly knowledgable!

If I go for the USB jobby, does that enable me to connect to my actual video recorder, or would I just be tuning the computer into a tv arial?

[§kipTracer65]

connecting the vcr should be the same as the tv signal, though u may not be able to do both at once, looping tv through the video may let you do this

[DavidLaw]

Right, thanks, so if I understand this correctly, I should be able to buy a USB tv tuner, connect one cable to it from my video recorder (which is already connected to my Sky digital receiver and television arial) and I'll be able to see my video tapes, sky tv and terrestrial tv through my computer?

What USB tv tuner would you advise, and what's the difference (apart from the connection) to one that you would install internally?

[Duchess]

I'll be able to see my video tapes, sky tv and terrestrial tv through my computer?

Yes!

What USB tv tuner would you advise, and what's the difference (apart from the connection) to one that you would install internally?

I can't say which tuner to use as my system uses an internal capture card and I've never used a USB unit, but take a look at the info on Capture Cards on this site plus the comments. As for the difference between internal and external units, if all you are doing is watching television then I don't think there will be much difference (assuming you get goodish ones). However, if you want to more than watch I suspect there may well be quite a difference with the internal being the better of the two options.