Technology is advancing so fast that now one can watch satellite TV or hear radio on a home PC. All you need is special hardware known as PCTV cards that are of two kinds. One kind needs to be installed in the PC while the other kind is an external box that plugs into the PC’s USB port.
There are cards that use the PC’s infrastructure to decode satellite signals and allow users to enjoy free-to-air digital television and radio programs. There are cards that have built-in processors that allow TV viewing in a separate window while the PC runs other programs. Both kinds of cards can be utilized to receive Broadband Internet via Satellite. Requests are made using a telephone line but data is received at 40MB per second via the satellite dish.
To view satellite TV on your PC you would require a minimum processor that is Pentium II 333 MHz, an operating system like Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, as well as hardware consisting of sound card, spare USB slot, and a CD Rom drive. If you are a computer geek you could in addition to the cards have a Windows media player, real player, or quick time player all of which will take you to the next level of viewership.
The options are many. The PC can be directly connected to a satellite dish by using a product like Hauppauge 3000 or through the Internet cable; or via the satellite box (run an aerial lead from the RF output socket of the Shy Digibox to the input aerial socket on a standard PC TV card or USB TV adapter). Direct TV and Dish TV both recommend using a connection via their proprietary satellite TV receiver box as ideal.
With a PC-TV-Radio one can simultaneously or alternately watch regular TV, a movie, or sports, and enjoy crystal clear music while writing, checking mail, telewebbing, or surfing the Internet. The options are astounding one can download and record favorite programs, record music, and be creative.
Seven decades on, and the TV is still going great guns. Nowadays, it's no longer a luxury or recreational household item anymore and practically every home has one. The modern edition of the TV set has also covered substantial engineering ground. HDTV and plasma displays are hardly recognizable from the CRTs of
the pioneering era.
The function of TV has also diversified. It has become a key telecommunication medium for everything from politics through sports, news and so forth to entertainment. There's a whole lot more programming variety available too and viewers are also more selective in the way they watch TV.
Programming can be delivered by on-demand, pay-per-view, conventional broadcast or time-based subscription. Because of the hold that TV has on people in general, TV companies invariably get away with overcharging. There are also different platforms namely cable, satellite, antennae and more recently IPTV.
Given the advancement of the internet infrastructure and performance standards, IPTV looks poised to surpass the other technologies. What used to be a major obstacle in transmission speed is now a thing of the past with broadband internet coupled with the higher speed and power of accompanying electronic processors.
Out of the overall technology advancement, an ingenious kind of free TV on PC has been innovated. Unlike IPTV in general, this strain is actually internet in nature. The TV programming streams are mainly FTA broadcasts over the internet and accessed in the normal manner through PCs.
Why pay when you can watch free satellite TV on PC? If you have the time and know-how, you can definitely watch TV on Computer free. Otherwise, you can still turn to commercial membership service providers and access TV programming on the internet with their proprietary software which enables you to bypass all the fuss.
Millions are already watching free TV PC. It's hard to disregard this form of TV with all its advantages such as PC convenience, thousands of channels, complete genres, no additional hardware or retrofit and so forth. There are many good providers but there are also many scams so research thoroughly before deciding on your pick.
