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PC-TV TUNER CARDS
(Continued....)
And you can turn your TV-tuner-equipped multimedia entertainment computer into an entertainment, internet, communications center by using the regular 56K modem that you should already have installed on your PC or you can attach a cable modem or a DSL modem for super-fast internet connections. Note, that for cable modems, you may need to get a highpass filter (contact your cable provider to get one) to use on the TV tuner in addition to a splitter when connecting the cable to both the cable modem and to the TV tuner card to prevent the TV tuner from sending any electrical interference back up the data upstream which could affect and interfere with your cable modem and with the other cable modems in your neighborhood -- so you should ask your cable company about getting a correct type of highpass filter that would work on your particular cable line. This is a problem that can also occur with regular TV sets when splitting a cable connection between the TV and a cable modem. Also don't confuse cable modems with TV Tuner cards: You need an actual TV Tuner (such as a Tuner in a TV set or in a TV card) to watch TV whether or not you receive the actual TV signals from a cable TV line, TV antenna, or satellite TV dish. (Also see footnote for more comments about cable modems, "Digital Cable" versus "Digital TV," and another cable modem question regarding getting TV via the Internet1.)
Watch TV in a resizeable window on your PC
or expand the TV to full-screen on the monitor.
(TV window shows TV news story about PCs.)
I personally put these Entertainment PCs under the label of "Power PC-TV Boxes" when compared to the set-top boxes such as the MSNTV-WebTV, AOLTV, UltimateTV, TiVo, the digital interactive cable and satellite set-top boxes, and the various "entertainment gateway" boxes that are coming out for non-PC users who will be primarily using those boxes for TV watching, music, entertainment, TV-related interactivity such as enhanced interactive program guides, and maybe some internet surfing. (In terms of hardware, set-top boxes are becoming just as powerful as PCs in order to handle more interactive television capabilities but that does NOT necessarily mean set-top boxes will become full-blown PCs with desktop PC functions.)
RUNNING TWO OR MORE
TV TUNER CARDS AT
THE SAME TIME ON
ONE PC-TV SYSTEM
Those all-in-one "entertainment gateway" set-top boxes have paved the way by introducing or enhancing some ideas for interesting TV-watching capabilites. For instance, various models of the TiVo and UltimateTV personal television PVR set-top boxes have dual TV Tuner cards that allow the user to watch one live TV show on one channel while recording another TV show on another different channel at the same time. Well, wiith the right set-up, you too can do the same thing by installing two or more TV Tuner cards on your PC-TV system.
Watching three TV channels at the same time using three
TV Tuner cards on a PC. You can resize the TV windows
and move the TV windows around the screen. Here, from
left to right are TV windows for the Creative Video Blaster
Digital VCR card, the WinTV-GO card, and also the ATI TV
Wonder card. Go to next page to see a picture-in-picture.
(Continued: CLICK HERE to Read More About
Running Two or More TV Tuner Cards....)
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PC-TV TUNER CARDS
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1 Re: cable TV and cable modems. If you pay for both cable TV and cable internet, then you don't have to worry about the issues discussed in this first paragraph of this footnote. But if you are one of those people who don't want to pay for cable TV: Don't bother asking me how to hack your cable line or your cable modem to illegally tap into the cable TV signal. I would NOT know how to do any such illegal cable TV hacking. You have to keep in mind that the cable TV companies routinely conduct cable line audits to easily find out if people are doing illegal cable TV taps on the cable lines going into their homes. Once they find out it's happening, they put a trap on the line, and then the cable TV police will be knocking on your door asking you to pay up for the unpaid illegally accessed cable TV service. Folks, if you want cable TV, then you should pay to get cable TV. You have to keep in mind that the cable TV companies have this all figured out already -- they want the subscriber to pay for each service (cable internet, cable TV, any premium cable TV service, etc.) as separate charges on the subscriber's cable bill. People get too hung up on this issue because they don't want to pay for the premium cable TV services.
As I have stated elsewhere on this website, "I would ... kindly suggest that free-to-air broadcast TV with a rabbit ears antenna is still good television if you don't want to pay or if you don't have anyone else to pay for you getting cable or satellite TV."
Also, as for TV-via-broadband, you have to keep in mind that just because there is a broadcast TV channel, that doesn't mean there is a corresponding exactly-the-same broadband TV channel on the internet -- at least not yet. Also, other than the freebie video and sampler stuff you may find out on the internet, you should expect that any possible FULL broadband TV line-up of channels via cable internet to be by paid subscriptions or in paid packaged selections. You may find various TV networks and channels beginning to provide video from their TV shows on the internet, but DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH for a FULLY free transplanting of complete line-ups of television channels to be completely moved from the broadcast / cable television world to the broadband internet world to happen right away. Instead expect several daring computer companies, TV networks, cable TV companies, and cable channels to provide selected TV shows, or edited portions of TV shows, on the internet and also expect broadband video-on-demand subscription services, such as the
Apple iTunes or
Mediazone or
MovieLink or
Intertainer
services, which would mirror similar cable video-on-demand and pay-per-view services.
Apple iTunes has individual current and past TV shows for sale.
If you want to see something along the lines of a "broadband television" IPTV service that looks more like cable TV, you will have to wait to see if YOUR cable TV company provides such a service for cable modems for PCs like Time Warner is testing, but you have to be a paid subscriber of the company's cable TV service as well as their cable modem service -- in other words, DON'T expect any full line up of channels to be completely free and DON'T expect it to be open to anyone on the internet. And also take a look over on the telco-DSL side of the broadband world where the telephone companies are providing "cable TV" service via DSL set-top boxes but the subscriber has to get the set-top box to receive the service and also has pay for the service. Another alternative is to get the SLINGBOX which is a $250 device that you hook up to both your home's TV / VCR / DVR / TiVo connection and also hook up to your cable modem (or DSL) and where you can use your other internet-connected computer elsewhere to watch what you have on the TV at home. Otherwise for PCs accessing the internet via a cable modem or a DSL modem, expect on-demand downloading of legal DRM-protected video files and streaming video in the growing broadband internet environment for PC-type devices.
Another cable modem question I've received is whether you can use a cable modem to enhance the WATCHING of a VCD, CVD, or DVD movie on a TV set such as getting a better picture from the video disc movie (you can click here for another discussion on VCD, SVCD, CVD, and DVD). Modems are for computers and not for a TV unless the TV is also a computer. So, modems are for transmitting data and not necessarily for directly enhancing the WATCHING of VCD, CVD, SVCD, DVD movies. HOWEVER, on the other hand, you would need the modem for accessing any internet links that may possibly be encoded into a movie, such as you may find elsewhere with interactive links for "enhanced TV" for WebTV Plus, AOLTV, etc., or for accessing links included with computer software that may be included on a DVD (for any possible computer software on disc, you would need a PC or your TV has to also be a PC to access the computer software).
On the TV watching side of cable service, and as for different cable TV subscription services, one cable TV subscription package you can get on cable may be called "Digital Cable" but that means you are getting more channels since more channels can be "digitally" sent down the cable pipe for watching on regular TV sets (you also get an interactive program guide, aka IPG, and that browse-flip information banner at the bottom of the screen that you can access for whenever you want some info on the show or channel you are watching). This is different from "Digital TV" which in a generic sense covers everything including both HDTV and SDTV as broadcast over-the-air to digital TV antennas at your house. To quote TVAuthority, it boils down to this: "Digital TV" means improved picture and sound while "Digital Cable" simply means more channels. Typically, there is the standard regular cable TV subscription package of 90+ channels and then there is the "Digital Cable" premium subscription package (usually requiring a digital set-top box for use with your regular analog TV set) for access to several hundred channels. You can still use a regular TV Tuner card to watch cable TV (or satellite TV) subscribing to those type of subscription packages -- just hook up the cable or the set-top box to your card as you normally would to a regular TV set. Just remember that if you can hook something up to a regular television set, then you should be able to hook it up to your TV Tuner card using the same connections and wires -- it's just like hooking up a regular TV set. But note, for when connecting a set-top box to your TV Tuner card, that just like if you are hooking up a digital cable TV set-top box (or a digital satellite TV set-top box) to a regular TV set, that you are still controlling the changing of channels etc. with the remote control that came with the set-top box (however, if you are using regular cable TV with only the 90+ channels without the set-top box, then you don't have to worry about any of that).
NOTICE: Ruel provides many free links seen on these pages. If you buy anything, your purchases would be from a linked third-party website(s). The links are for your convenience since everyone asks for suggestions about products. The products should come with their own guarantees and warranties. As for return policies, the various online vendors who are linked should have return policies -- look at the specific vendor information carefully and decide for yourself what card, device, or other product you may want to get.
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