Ashtech

Did you know that thousands of movies, videos and TV shows can be accessed through your computer? Your laptop can be used as a portable television allowing TV viewing wherever you have Internet access.

By Marc Sandford

Did you know that thousands of movies, videos and TV shows can be accessed through your computer? Your laptop can be used as a portable television allowing TV viewing wherever you have Internet access.

Now imagine the mobility of your TV set if you had a wireless connection. These are just a few of the perks of being able to watch TV on the computer and this article will discuss four ways of doing this.

1) Did you know that there is a ton of free movie classics, old TV shows and documentaries available for your viewing in the public domain? The public domain contains content with expired copyrights and is totally free for your consumption.

Try looking for this material on a search engine using phrases containing ‘public domain’ plus ‘film’ or ‘video’, etc. With just a bit of persistence, some real gems can be uncovered.

2) If you wish to view the shows that your television receives on your monitor, then you may want to purchase and install a TV tuner card in your PC. Many tuner cards will also record television programs into your computer’s hard drive for later viewing.

Note that this method does not involve using the Internet since your PC is getting video signals directly off the ‘air waves’. A quality tuner card can cost you anywhere from $100 to $200 although plenty of cheaper cards exist.

3) How do you get a DVD quality image when viewing a movie on your PC? Answer: insert a DVD into your CD-ROM drive! In order to do this, you need to download the appropriate media player with this capability.

Get one free at Realplayer.com. Click on the yellow ‘Get it free’ button and follow the instructions. When you’ve installed the player, start it up, open the ‘Play’ menu at the top and click on ‘Play CD or DVD’.

4) One of the more popular ways to watch TV on the computer involves the use of software that allows you to watch satellite TV over the Internet. Since the TV shows come over the Internet, no satellite dishes or other hardware is required. All that you need is a PC and an Internet connection.

With this software, you will typically have access to more than 3000 channels all over the world . The software prices are between $40 to $100. This is a one time purchase that will set you up for life with no other recurring fees or payments.

Hopefully this article has given you an idea of what’s available to you through your PC and its connection to the Internet. The good news is that there is no end in sight to the explosion of Internet TV and video.

You really won’t know what you are missing until you take the time to check out Internet TV for yourself.

Marc Sandford is a writer and Internet TV enthusiast. More specifics on how to get TV on your PC can be found at http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-get-tv-on-your-pc/.

Article republished from Copy & Paste Articles