Thus the ever-expanding popularity of laptops and notebooks there’s obviously people who want to watch TV from their portable computers. TV cards for PC’s have been around some years but they weren’t compatible with laptops. But since the USB TV cards came around you have every possibility to watch TV in your laptop. It’s considered one of the best add-ons you can buy for your laptop. Because laptop TV card is incredibly easy to set up and use. It will turn your beloved portable computer into by far the cheapest HDTV and DVR (digital video recorder) you will find. They are usually priced around 60 dollars. Plugging this little piece of technology into USB port gives you an opportunity to watch live TV from cable, satellite or over the air antenna as well as record TV shows to watch later.
How can you use it?
You are able to watch TV on your laptop in full screen mode, in a minimized window or just listen to it in the background. Besides the fact you are maximizing the value from cable or satellite subscription it’s really convinient. You can watch your recorded TV shows while you’re on a trip or just keeping yourself updated via CNN or other new’s channels while you work.
What type of cards are there?
Since you want to use your tuner with a laptop be sure to choose a laptop TV card that plugs into a USB port opposing to a card which must be installed in a PCI slpot inside of desktop computer. Also be wary of the fact there’s some cards which require an USB 2.0 port and don’t work with an USB 1.1 port. So before purchasing you should find out what version of USB ports you have in your laptop.
Usually USB tuners look like USB memory sticks with some extra weight on it. Some of them have built in antennas but they’re not reliable receiving weak signals. Therefore it’s advised to buy external antenna which you can screw to your TV card. But not every USB tuner is small and fits in your pocket. There book-sized tuners which have more capabilities than their smaller brothers. They have usually more connections (S-Video, composite), sometimes a FM tuner and built-in signal decoder which means decoding won’t affect your computer’s performance.
Is it compatible with your OS?
Because of the fact that TV cards have their own software therefore not every tuner is compatible with all operating systems (Win XP, Win Vista, Linux, OS X) and each of them has minimum system requirements for processor speed, vide card memory and free space on hard drive. So be sure to read through system requirements before buying yourself an TV card.
How to install it?
In most cases installing USB tuner for laptop is fast and easy. You have to plug the card into an USB port, install software which came with your card and then screw your cable to TV card. Then you have answers some questions about the type of signal and that should be about it.
Better than DVR?
One of the best thing about using an USB tuner for laptop is the recording functionality because you have portable DVR always with you. Also hard disks on laptops are usually bigger than DVR-s. You can burn recorded shows to DVD’s or even upload to internet.
Conclusion
There are lots of things to consider before buying laptop TV card, so you should do your research thoroughly then you should be on the good side. For about 60 dollars you’ll get live TV and a full-blown DVR to your laptop and add some neat features to your laptop.
Laptop TV cards
Why TV card for laptop?
Thus the ever-expanding popularity of laptops and notebooks there’s obviously people who want to watch TV from their portable computers. TV cards for PC’s have been around some years but they weren’t compatible with laptops.
But since the USB TV cards came around you have every possibility to watch TV in your laptop. It’s considered one of the best add-ons you can buy for your laptop. Because laptop TV card is incredibly easy to set up and use. It will turn your beloved portable computer into by far the cheapest HDTV and DVR (digital video recorder) you will find. They are usually priced around 60 dollars. Plugging this little piece of technology into USB port gives you an opportunity to watch live TV from cable, satellite or over the air antenna as well as record TV shows to watch later.
How can you use it?
You are able to watch TV on your laptop in full screen mode, in a minimized window or just listen to it in the background. Besides the fact you are maximizing the value from cable or satellite subscription it’s really convinient. You can watch your recorded TV shows while you’re on a trip or just keeping yourself updated via CNN or other new’s channels while you work.
What type of cards are there?
Usually USB tuners look like USB memory sticks with some extra weight on it. Some of them have built in antennas but they’re not reliable receiving weak signals. Therefore it’s advised to buy external antenna which you can screw to your TV card. But not every USB tuner is small and fits in your pocket. There book-sized tuners which have more capabilities than their smaller brothers. They have usually more connections (S-Video, composite), sometimes a FM tuner and built-in signal decoder which means decoding won’t affect your computer’s performance.
Is it compatible with your OS?
Because of the fact that TV cards have their own software therefore not every tuner is compatible with all operating systems (Win XP, Win Vista, Linux, OS X) and each of them has minimum system requirements for processor speed, vide card memory and free space on hard drive. So be sure to read through system requirements before buying yourself an TV card.
How to install it?
Better than DVR?
One of the best thing about using an USB tuner for laptop is the recording functionality because you have portable DVR always with you. Also hard disks on laptops are usually bigger than DVR-s. You can burn recorded shows to DVD’s or even upload to internet.
Conclusion
There are lots of things to consider before buying laptop TV card, so you should do your research thoroughly then you should be on the good side. For about 60 dollars you’ll get live TV and a full-blown DVR to your laptop and add some neat features to your laptop.