It's a lifestyle slogan for the new century: A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, and a PC in every room. In fact, the PC has done more than simply replace the television as the gathering point in many homes--for many people (including me), it
Let me explain. Three years ago when we moved into our home, I had a nutty idea: Abolish TVs from the entire first floor of the house and consign our viewing to a rec room in the basement. Everything worked great, until I realized I couldn't watch football games if I had to work in the kitchen. Oh, my wife had a PC in kitchen, where she could manage her schedule, send e-mails, and even look up recipes on the Web. But I couldn't watch football while making grilled cheese sandwiches. Outrage!
So I decided to upgrade the humdrum graphics card in my wife's Compaq Presario desktop with an ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder card. This little marvel is a graphics card, TV tuner, and video center all rolled into one. I installed the card, hooked up the monitor, and plugged the fortuitously located coaxial TV cable from the kitchen wall into the card. Fifteen minutes later, I was watching
That little experience kicked off a frightful media binge in my home. Today, I have three PCs humming away in different rooms all over the house, and all three double nicely as TVs. I've even used the PCs to make digital recordings of shows--a real lifesaver when our 10-year-old VCR died last fall.
So what does it take, really, to get an old PC to learn some new TV tricks? Not that much. Here's what you'll need:
First things first: You need a way to get that TV signal into your PC. Unfortunately, most PCs lack the hardware to do this. The best way to pipe TV into your computer is by installing an add-in card, but there are other approaches as well.
Here are the three main options you can choose from to turn your PC into a TV.
One other option is a flat-panel monitor with a built-in TV tuner--essentially a combination TV and computer monitor. Products like the $700 17-inch Sharp LL-M17W1 LCD TV Monitor are probably the easiest (and most expensive) way to get quality TV output on your PC. But a combo flat panel can't record video to your hard disk, since the PC plays no role in television viewing.
For most of us, the combo card is the best route, especially if you're already considering a graphics card upgrade to boost video performance. You end up with just one board in your PC and one set of drivers for controlling the new hardware. You can pay top dollar for a powerful TV-savvy graphics card--the high-end ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro costs nearly $400, but offers the best graphics around plus extras like a remote control. If game-busting graphics aren't a must, consider ATI's lower-priced options.
Whether you go with a combo card or a PCI-based TV tuner board, make sure you consider products with a remote control. Otherwise you'll have to walk over to the PC's keyboard to change channels and adjust the volume. The process of getting hooked up is similar. You install the new board, and then follow the product directions for loading drivers and software--some combo cards also include a cable that connects directly to your sound card to enable audio. In all cases, you'll see that the tuner card has a round, silver coaxial port sticking out the back. Just screw the coax TV cable running from your wall into this port, and then fire up the bundled viewing software.
Tuning InOkay, so you've got the new card installed and working. Before you start refining those couch potato techniques, there's work to do. All TV tuner cards come with bundled software that lets you do things like change channels, adjust volume, and record video to your hard drive. To launch the TV viewing software, find the new application in the Windows Start Menu and click the appropriate icon. You'll see a window with the TV display appear on the monitor. A smaller control interface window will typically appear below this window.
The first time you start, you'll need to set up shop. The software will likely prompt you to have the card click through all 125 of its channels so it can detect which channels produce a signal. You may also be asked to identify your cable service provider and confirm audio settings.
Once that's done, you get to explore. The software makes it a snap to watch TV full screen or to play video in a resizable window. Among the most useful applications is Internet-connected scheduling software, like the Gemstar Guide Plus application that comes with ATI All-in-Wonder cards. You can search for every instance of a specific TV show across every channel and then select the episodes you want the TV tuner to automatically record. Want to build the definitive library of
This software also performs TiVo-like "time shifting," so you can pause the action on screen even as the computer records the incoming video feed. When you start the action again, the software displays the recorded content from the point you left off, even as it continues to record in real time in the background. Now you can take that phone call without missing portions of your favorite show.
Third-party software like BeyondTV 3 from SnapStream can do the same things. This nifty application offers a nicely polished interface and a few additional features. For example, it lets you stream recorded shows over a network, so any connected PC can access the shows you record on your Beyond TV 3-equipped computer. Beyond TV 3's extra features will cost you, though: At $70, the packaged version of the software is no bargain (a download-only version costs $60).
There's more to PC-TVs than TV. Any PC equipped with a DVD drive has the potential to serve as a DVD player. If you've installed a TV tuner card, chances are it may already have the bundled software that will recognize a DVD disc and automatically launch an application to view it. Just drop the disc in the drive and go.
Other PCs will need a third-party application to play DVD movies. InterVideo WinDVD 5 Gold ($50) and CyberLink PowerDVD 5 ($40) are the most popular such programs. The software includes an on-screen interface with the usual Play, Fast Forward, Rewind, Pause, and Stop controls. You can also do things like jump to a specific chapter in the disc and display subtitles and select language options.
Notebook users, in particular, can get a lot of mileage out of DVD player software. Why put up with the edited dreck that passes for in-flight entertainment, when you can pop your favorite DVD into a laptop and don a pair of earphones? If you don't own a laptop--or you'd rather not run down your laptop's battery to watch a full-length movie--consider that a portable DVD player with a 7-inch LCD screen can cost less than $300 and weigh in at a fraction of the heft of a typical notebook PC.
Online services like Netflix let you really take advantage of this capability. Starting at $20 a month, the service lets you rent three DVDs--you can keep them as long as you like and you're not saddled with late fees. Just build a list of the DVDs you want to see, and Netflix will send the first three movies to you in the mail. Once you finish a disc, send it back in the enclosed (postage-paid) envelope. Two or three days later, you can look forward to the next title on the list showing up at your door.
The fact is, there are so many options available that you may have a hard time choosing among them. But really, the questions are few: Do you want to upgrade your system's graphics capability at the same time you add the TV tuner and video ports? Once you decide that, you can shop based on price and features. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some grilled cheese sandwiches to make.
Michael Desmond
