Telewebbing essentially means you are watching TV and surfing the web at the same time or you may be responding to something you saw on the TV set where you turn on the PC to go to a corresponding website on the internet. For instance, you may be watching a TV show that tells you to go to that show's website. An elaborate example would be if you are watching "Monday Night Football" or you are watching "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and you go to ABC.com to click on the "Enhanced TV" icon to go to a synchronized website where you get information, play trivia, and play along with the TV show while surfing on the synchronized website and watching the TV at the same time. Another example would be watching the Oscar awards show and again going to ABC.com to participate in the synchronized "Enhanced TV" website for guessing who's going to win each award on the show while you are watching the show on TV.

And there are other forms of telewebbing. For instance, you and friends of yours could all be watching the same TV show, but you are all also on the internet at the same time using instant messaging and chatting about the same TV show that all of you are currently watching. For PCs, you can have one TV window on the screen while another windows has your instant messenger software. Eventually, Personal Video Recording software for PCs could have more elegant transparent overlay versions of instant messengers that could pop up over the TV picture on the PC-TV like was available for AOLTV internet set-top boxes.

And still yet another example would be checking TV listings at TVGuide.com and then turning on the TV to watch a show you saw listed at TVGuide.com. Or you could merely be surfing the internet while the TV is simply on in the "background" (or resized as a small window in a corner of the screen) -- just like having the radio on as "background noise." You can do this with "two screens" with the PC and a TV set. Or you can do it on one screen such as with a PC-TV where you have a TV Tuner card installed on a PC (or with an internet-enabled set-top box connected to a TV set). Since many people do multitask their activities, in my humble opinion I think it's all very convenient to have it all on one screen.

INTERACTIVE TV VIA PC-TV

PC-TV is one form of interactive television but delivered via the PC and anyone can have it now. Interactive Television has been talked about and dreamed about for years. Although it is taking some time to bring interactive television in the form of "entertainment gateway" boxes and other set-top boxes to the mainstream for the non-technical non-computer public, interactive television is here now with TV Tuner cards on PCs. On a past version of this page, I previously wrote, "Dare I say that we will someday *SOON* see television sets with the "Intel Inside" logo." And then sure enough the big-screen Mobius PC-TV Home Entertainment/Computer System came out -- the folks at the Mobius Trading Group sent in an email message stating that their company makes "these monitors and systems and you called it ***they say Intel Inside!!!!***"   It took the internet and the computer to bring interactive television to reality where the internet and the computer are being adapted to and inserted into the bigger television world. For the PC user, you can have it all now by inserting a TV Tuner card into your computer. Connect a rabbit ears antenna, or hook up to cable or satellite, run the set-up for the channels, and you're watching TV on your PC.

These are exciting times for watching TV as computers, television, and the internet converge to provide a new form of entertainment and communications media. In due time, all TV watchers will be watching some form of interactive television whether that be on a PC-TV or on a TV set enhanced by a fancy high-tech digital box of some sort in the future.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy PC-TV Watching!
Ruel

P.S. If you are still unsure about "building" your own PC-TV system -- you are really at minimum installing a single TV Tuner card in your PC -- then you can click here for more of Ruel's comments about building your own PC-TV system.

P.S.S. If you are really into PC-TV, you may want to get a subscription to the Smart TV & Sound print magazine. It is a good magazine that is about interactive television, new media, etc. and you may want to get it -- they've covered setting up PC-TV systems in past issues. I read the magazine and I like it. And I think you will like it also. You can click here to get a subscription.

P.S.S.S. What? Windows not detecting the right software for your card and now you are asking about specific software drivers for using a TV Tuner card with Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP? If the appropriate software drivers are not on your instatllation CD, then you may want to go to the manufacturer's website of the TV Tuner card you are using and you may most likely find the WinNT, Win2000, and WinXP drivers that you need over there. Please note that WinXP is really too new so you may have to wait for the manufacturer to develop any appropriate WinXP drivers. If you still can't find any software at all because your TV Tuner card's manufacturer provides no support or is out-of-business, then you may want to look at some generic software. If you still can't find any software at all and the generic software doesn't work for you, then click here and consider getting a new featured TV Tuner card.

P.S.S.S.S. Getting Pink / Purple / Magenta Screen after trying to install your TV Tuner card? Well, don't get too frustrated. First, check to see if you have DirectX installed on your PC. Most TV card software programs require that you have DirectX installed on your PC. So, you may want to install the latest version of DirectX. Second, you want to make sure that your TV Tuner card is pushed ALL THE WAY into the PCI / ISA / AGP slot on your motherboard. I've had that problem with the Pink / Purple / Magenta Screen happen to me also when I'm installing and removing cards. This is a common mistake when the card is not pushed all the way into the slot. Sometimes, the PCI / ISA / AGP slot can be very tight and you may have to be careful when you are pushing the card into the slot to make sure that it is all the way in. If you don't push the card all the way in, then the motherboard may not detect your card. Also, try using another slot if the card doesn't work in the first slot that you try. So, don't panic. Check that you have DirectX installed and if it still doesn't work then turn off your PC, remove the card, then reinsert the card ALL THE WAY into the slot, and give it another try.
      For those of you with Geforce cards, you can click here for a USENET post about a possible registry fix for Geforce pink screens. And you can click here for another USENET post about the perhaps simplier fix by clicking the setting for the Fog Table Emulation in the settings for a Geforce card.
      You may also want to make sure that you have your TV software set to receive TV signals if you want to watch live television. If you want to watch live TV, then be sure the TV software is not set to Video In: If you have the software set for Video In, then you will get the blank screen unless if you are going to hook up to a VCR or a DVD player to play a movie. Also, if you have the TV software set for antenna when you have cable TV, then you may get a blank screen. And you may not want to run any other video software like Windows Media Player, Real Player, or QuickTime Player at the same time which may possibly result in a faded or blank screen when you are trying to watch TV -- if you get a faded TV screen, then reboot to clear the video conflict.
      So, give it another try when installing your card to try to get it to work. You can click here for more tips on installing your TV Tuner card.

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.