Features to look for in a TV tuner for your PC

Watching TV programs on your computer monitor has become easier and cheaper than ever. The price of tuners has fallen considerably; besides, the hardware and software that make it possible have also improved a lot.

So, if your work involves monitoring the daily news, do not buy a large TV set, which will disturb everyone else at your workplace. Just install one of those tuner cards or tuner boxes in your PC, and use your headphones to listen to the programs. However, please refrain from inviting everyone else to share the luxury. A TV tuner is there to let you do your work, not to entertain all the people in your office.

Of course, a TV tuner can be added to your home PC as well. If you want to be able to watch TV on your notebook, you just need to buy a USB-based tuner box. However, home theater buffs should choose a more expensive tuner, such as the latest Radeon-based ATI All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro, which has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of US$499.

A TV tuner works like the real thing. It receives input from the antenna or cable network, and shows it on the screen. It is different from WebTV, which has been trademarked by Microsoft. A WebTV is a box that connects your TV to the Internet without the help of a PC. If you have WebTV, you can download your e-mail and try to read it on the TV screen (TV monitors are not meant to display fine text characters like the computer monitor can).

First of all, a good TV tuner should come with some video capture capability. This allows you to capture videos from various sources: the TV, camcorders, VCRs and others. Therefore it should at least have the miniDIN S-Video and RCA composite video input ports. Normally, the audio output of the tuner goes into the audio input of the PC's sound card, so that you can listen to the TV program on your PC's speakers. You should be able to adjust display parameters, such as brightness, contrast, hue and saturation.

The tuner should also enable you to send video mail with the help of a webcam and a microphone. Then there are the traditional features, such as support for PAL, NTSC and SECAM TV broadcast standards, teletext, resizable TV windows, automatic scanning of channels, stereo simulation, still image capture capability and a remote control. Some reasonably priced TV tuners, such as Prolink's PixelView Play TV Pro, also include an FM tuner, which allows you to tune into your favorite radio stations when you are not watching the TV.

If your eyes are focused far into the future, you should also consider features such as the HDTV-ready and Dolby Digital receiver. However, the most important thing of all to have is a high-quality graphics card in your PC. Some, like the expensive ATI All-in-Wonder package, already come with a high-end graphics processor. Without a good and compatible graphics card, you will have to suffer grainy and blurry images. If you do not have a graphics card that supports DirectX, you will only get low- quality images.

Besides Prolink and ATI, there are other TV tuners from LeadTek, Hauppage, AverMedia and Matrox. Check the box or ask the store owner for the card's requirements, and make sure your PC meets all of them. Finally, make sure that the box contains all the necessary adapters, connectors and audio/video cables. -- Zatni Arbi