Get Broadcast TV on your PC
With the addition of a TV tuner and a TV signal, you can use Windows Media Center to watch and record broadcast TV on your laptop or PC.
This overview explores the following:
Before you can access broadcast TV content in Windows Media Center, you must:
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Have a TV tuner installed and configured
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Have a TV signal connected to your PC or laptop
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Have completed set up and downloaded your TV Programming Guide
A tuner lets you connect a TV signal to your PC. Available for purchase from various manufacturers, many TV tuners come with a Windows Media Center remote. There are three basic types of TV tuners:
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An internal TV tuner card is a video card that can receive television signals, usually through an antenna or cable connection, which you install inside your computer.
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An external TV tuner that can be plugged into an available USB port on your PC.
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Or the external kind that connect to a CardBus slot or ExpressCard slot on your laptop.
With one TV tuner connected: you can watch or record live TV on one channel at a time.
With two TV tuners or a dual-tuner device, you can:
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Watch live TV on one channel while recording a show on a different channel.
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Record two different TV shows that are on two different channels at the same time.
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Watch a previously recorded show while recording live shows on two different channels at once.
Learn more:
How to install and configure a TV tuner
Cable, Satellite, and Digital TV Signals: Once your TV tuner is installed, you are ready to receive a television signal – whether you have a cable box, a satellite receiver, or a digital cable box.
A TV Signal wizard steps you through the setup process when you open Windows Media Center.
Learn more:
How to set up a TV signal
When you run Windows Media Setup, you will download a schedule of broadcast TV program listings. The “all-in-one” Guide displays all your favorite broadcast TV shows, movies, and series alongside available Internet TV content.
Search by keyword, title, actor, or director to find what you want to watch. And simply click to record a live show. You can record entire series and schedule recordings up to two weeks in advance.
Learn more:
Setting up Guide listings
or
Using your Guide