Satellite TV - Use Your PC To Watch Digital TV
Not so long ago the idea of watching TV on your PC was pure science fictionI can remember a time when computers were no more than novelty toys. They had tiny memories, snail-like processing speed, used audiocassette tape for long-term memory and you needed to hook it up to your TV to use as a display monitor. The very concept of digital TV was way beyond our capabilities and watching digital video on our computers was only possible in science fiction.
How technology has changed in just a few short years. We don't even use audiocassettes for audio anymore let alone computer memory. Computers have been getting more and more powerful as time has gone by and they are now capable of displaying full motion video from DVD's or even digitally streamed down your broadband connection, sattelite or terrestrial television signal.
It's become a way of life for many to use computers as a means of researching information and performing all manner of tasks to help in our day to day activities at work and at home. Now you can use your computer as a viable form of entertainment because it will do everything that your television set will do and more.
The days of the standalone TV receiver are numbered?
If you are able to watch TV and DVD's on your computer then what do you need a TV set for? I guess that the only reason that I can think of is that standalone TV sets tend to have bigger screens. Can you see that distinction existing for much longer? No, neither can I.
It won't be very long before computers are more common in the home than standalone TV sets are, I already know many people who have more computers in their home than TV sets. I'm one of them. You can do so much more with a computer than you can with a TV and the price isn't that different anymore either.
The logical conclusion is that multi functional computers will replace standalone TV sets at some time in the near future and it might be sooner than you think.
How to use your PC to view satellite digital TV?
Lets make no mistake about this, displaying full motion digital video is a very demanding task for a computer and only recently have affordable PC's gotten to the point where they are powerful enough to do it. When the first digital TV solutions became available they were supplied in the form of an add-in card that you installed in your PC. This was not very convenient if you have a notebook PC.
PC technology has evolved and notebook PC's have become popular. Perhaps the most important aspect of modern computers is the inclusion of the universal serial bus (USB) to allow all kinds of peripherals including video capture and TV cards to be added by simply plugging them in.
Notebook PC's with fast USB 2 interfaces are now available at very affordable prices. USB 2 is fast enough to accept the data rate required to for digital TV and that, together with fast processing speeds are what make it all possible.
Satellite TV through the USB 2 interface
If you want to watch digital sattelite television on your computer then you should be looking at some of the many solutions available that receive, decode and stream digital TV signals into your PC via the USB 2 interface. This type of equipment is popular and is bound to become more so because it is so simple to use. Just install some software once on your computer then plug in the adapter.
There are many USB 2 adapters available that use one or more of the 3 basic standards for digital television. DVB-C for cable, DVB-T for terrestrial, and DVB-S for satellite TV.
See the article Watch Sattelite TV on PC Using USB for more details on how to build a sattelite TV for PC system.
Are there any disadvantages with using a USB digital television adapter?
While USB sattelite TV adapters are great for watching free to air digital broadcasts they may not be suitable for receiving encrypted pay to view channels that require special decoding equipment. You may find that the only way to receive encrypted channels is to use decoding equipment supplied by the broadcaster.
The work around to this problem is to use a USB adapter capable of capturing the analogue television video signals that are produced by the broadcasters decoding equipment.
The only other disadvantage is the size of the monitor and I'm sure that there will be convenient solutions to that problem available very soon.
The future of TV is digital
As television sets become more like computers and computers provide more convenient facilities for watching TV there will come a time when the conventional television set as we know it is obsolete. This may not happen for a little while yet but it might come sooner than you imagine.