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Is this the end of the TV receiver, as we know it? For decades the world has been buying and watching standalone TV sets. They have faithfully entertained us and provided up to date information. Well as up to date as was possible in between the adverts. Things are now radically changing. The world you live in is very different from the world of past years, this is a world where digital communications, computers, digital TV, Satellite TV and the Internet are everywhere you look. The computer is now as common in your home as the TV set ever was and I know of many people that have more computers in their home than they have standalone television 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. Is a standalone TV no longer required? That's a very good question. Until recently the computer that you might typically use in your home hasn't had the power or capacity to perform the same functions as your TV set but this is no longer the case. Even the most humble of modern notebook PC is now capable of receiving and playing digital TV from sources such as terrestrial, cable or satellite digital TV. You can even watch analogue TV transmissions until they are phased out. How to watch satellite digital TV on your PC? Not very long ago in the early days of PC TV it was necessary to install a TV capture card inside your computer in order to watch television broadcasts without using a standalone television. This was not a difficult task but it wasn't simple or elegant either. It also made it unsuitable for use with notebook PC's which limited the appeal somewhat. Notebooks were also less common and more expensive a few years ago so there was no incentive to develop such systems. Affordable, powerful and cheap notebooks with USB 2 arrived At the time of writing, the cost of a conservatively powered, but "powerful enough", notebook is comparable to the cost of a good TV set. In fact I paid half as much for my last notebook as I did for my TV set. They all support USB 2 interfaces and are fast enough to accept a digital video stream in real time. With this combination your notebook PC or your desktop PC is well able to perform as well if not better than your average TV set. USB satellite TV It turns out that there are many products available that are designed to receive and decode digital TV signals and deliver them to your PC through its USB 2 interface. Installation couldn't be simpler, just install some software and plug the device into your PC. 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. Disadvantages of using a USB digital TV adapter 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. Digital PC TV is the future Computers aren't going away anytime soon and neither is digital TV and video. Computers are only going to get more powerful at the same time as they get cheaper and digital TV is capable of far more than is being used right now. It won't be too long before the standalone TV set is a thing of the past.
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Steve is a software engineer and writes for www.sattelite-television.thegrandfatherclock.com Digital TV on your home computer
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