Satellite TV Trends Watch Digital TV on Your PC
Is this the end of the TV receiver, as we know it?
Ever since the 1930s we have purchased and used standalone TV sets for entertainment and up to date information but now things are changing. We live in a world that is very different from what it was only a few years ago, a world where digital TV, Satellite TV, computers and the Internet are all around us. Today the computer is as common in the home as the TV set is. I know of many households that actually have more computers than they have TV sets.
Your television used to be the best and in some instances the only way to get up to date information about current affairs and news. This is no longer the case now that we have computers in the home connected to a planet-sized library of information called the Internet. You can get up to date information about literally any topic instantly by browsing the Internet whenever you feel the need.
So why do we need a standalone TV set?
Good question. Computers used to lack the processing power to provide the functionality that your TV set has. This is surprisingly no longer the case. It's surprising because in the early days, it was inconceivable that computers could ever evolve into a product with such capabilities. Today almost all, if not all, modern notebook PCs and desktops are more than capable of receiving, decoding and playing digital TV from sattelite, cable or terrestrial digital TV. While they last you can even watch analogue TV broadcasts.
How to use your PC to watch digital television
When PC TV products first became available a TV or video capture card had to be installed inside your computer box to watch television broadcasts. You were told that anyone could do it but it seemed pretty 'techy' to me. It wasn't suitable for use with notebook PC's because very few notebooks were designed for customisation. Of course notebooks were less common then and they were a lot more expensive so this wasn't such an issue.
Here come cheap powerful notebooks with USB 2 interfaces
You can now get good notebook PCs for prices comparable with television sets. They are equipped as standard with USB 2 interfaces which are fast enough to cope with a digital TV data stream from an external receiver. This means that modern desktop and notebook PCs are capable of transforming themselves into digital TV sets provided that you can find a source of digital TV data.
USB 2 and satellite television
The USB 2 standard PC interface is one of the best advances in computer technology for a long time. It's versatile and fast enough to cope with a variety of different applications including streamed real time digital video. Manufacturers of computer peripherals have jumped on this opportunity to bring you a mountain of products that enhance your computer by simply plugging them into the USB socket.
There are USB digital TV units available for terrestrial, cable and satellite TV so you should have plenty of choice. All these devices conform to the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) standards in 3 basic versions. DVB-T for terrestrial TV, DVB-C for cable TV and DVB-S for satellite TV.
What are the disadvantages to using digital television USB adapters?
By adding a USB adapter for digital TV to your desktop or notebook PC you can easily and cheaply turn your computer into a high specification television. However if you want to watch encrypted pay for view channels then you will have to go with the decoder box supplied for the service. The output of the decoder box can still be fed to your PC via a USB 2 analogue video adapter.
Your TV is a computer - Your computer is a TV
As computers become more and more like TV's the need for a standalone TV set will diminish and ultimately vanish. I don't know when this will happen but it might be sooner than you think.
Steve is webmaster at www.sattelite-television.thegrandfatherclock.com
Sattelite TV - What you need to know when buying a digital TV
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