Monday, October 18, 2010

An exciting new frontier in Entertainment

The exciting thing about our new faster internet is the ability to watch video in real-time. What I mean by real-time is that it doesn't have to "buffer" or doesn't stop in the middle of viewing to "catch up."

With this development, many television studios and channels have begun offering entire episodes of their current shows to view for free from their websites. This is wonderful for the person who accidentally forgot to record desired program, or doesn't have a recording device for their cable service. This is even MORE convenient for the person who chooses to not have a cable service at all in their home.

The problem is that viewing television shows from a computer in an office is not as relaxing as a living room. Well, why not connect your computer to your television screen?

Most mid-level HDtvs come with inputs for PC video and PC audio. It's only a matter of connection. With a PC connected to your television and a wireless keyboard and mouse, you can use websites like HULU, TV.COM, ABC.COM, NBC.COM, CBS.COM, FOX.COM and many others to catch your favorite television shows. For those of you who need your cable news fix, but don't want to pay for the cost of cable, CNN, FOX NEWS and MSNBC have many of their daily and weekly shows online for viewing, as well.

Now, granted, most television shows aren't usually able to be seen until the day or week after being aired, but if you're like me and don't usually end up watching your shows on the day they air, this is a great cheap way of getting a basic cable experience for the cost of a computer you have lying around. All you need extra is a wireless keyboard and mouse.

In the coming posts, I'll let you in on a few secrets to getting the full experience out of a PC television or a Home Theater PC (HTPC).

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