Watching Television on computer

[Enorats]

Hi, I hope this is the right place to ask this question. I currently have my laptop hooked up to my new LCD HD television via a VGA cable. I have it set so the TV is the primary monitor and the notebook screen is the secondary. It's running in extended desktop mode.

Now my question is this, I've seen people hook their laptop's up to a television and do what I am doing... but I've also seen them do just the opposite and watch television on their computer screen (full screen, window, and even half-transparent.. allowing you to work on other things while it plays). I was wondering how that is done. I have normal cable through a coaxial cable right now.. I'm in a dorm, so no frills unfortunetely.

[guns1inger]

You need to have either a capture card or a tuner card for your laptop. This would be either a USB peripheral, or possibly a PCMCIA type card if your laptop is an older model. I don't know of any laptops that ship with a VIVO type graphics card.