Torn between PC, TV? Bring broadcasts to your desktop
PHILLIP ROBINSON
Knight Ridder News Service
I can't figure out why so few personal computers have TV tuners.
When I got one in a Packard Bell PC a few years ago, complete with a
remote control, I was thrilled. When I realized an Apple Macintosh
Performa circa 1995 had a tuner built-in, again with remote control,
I used it all the time.
A TV tuner inside your computer enables you to watch television right
on the computer's screen. You hook up an antenna, cable TV line or
VCR, and watch sports, comedies, movies, news, weather, whatever, in
an on-screen window.
Most tuners come with software that lets you move, enlarge, or shrink
that window. So you can tuck a show up into a corner of your
computer screen, as a picture-in-picture.
Because the video multitasks with your other computer software, you
can be working hard on a spreadsheet or typing in an Internet window
while your TV show plays in the corner. Then, when you notice a
touchdown run or tomorrow's weather forecast, you can switch to and
enlarge the TV window.
'Freeze' frames
In most cases, TV tuner software will also let you capture or
"freeze" a frame of video to save on disk. Most also let you record
a stretch of moving video.
Captured still frames aren't photograph-beautiful. In fact their low
resolution reminds you how far TV has fallen behind computer graphics
and could stoke your interest in getting digital TV some day.
Recorded video often skips and burps, missing two seconds here and 10
seconds there. Plus, the movie files can be huge, megabytes for just
a minute of a show.
But it's sure a lot of fun to snag something from the video stream,
either for your own collection or to share with friends and
colleagues.
And just as color graphics in personal computers moved from "mere
fun" in the early 1980s to "practical business requirement" in the
1990s, I'm convinced video support will eventually become an expected
feature of personal computers.
You can use it to keep tabs on news or sports, watch a surveillance
camera's view, even connect your Nintendo or other video game
console.
Televised data
Another use that I haven't yet explored is data reception. Services
such as Intercast and WaveTop send data through regular television
broadcasts -- sneaking it into the unused patches called the vertical
blanking interval, or VBI, between the pictures you actually see.
This data can be anything, although both services for now are
focusing on World Wide Web-style information pages.
Finally there's the simple advantage of not needing double desk space
for a separate TV set and computer monitor.
When I work late, I prefer TV on my computer to attempting to program
my VCR for subsequent viewing.
With all of that in mind, I was just sure TV tuners would be in all
computers by, oh, 1992 or so. Wrong.
But maybe I just muddled the date.
Until now, the few TV tuner cards you could plug inside your computer
had to come with their own software.
Windows 98 adds support for on-screen TV, with features called "Web
TV for Windows," though only for one particular make and model of TV
tuner card at present: ATI's All-in-Wonder.
Is this a clue to a trend?
If so, I wonder why TV tuner support isn't in the new iMac from Apple
Computer Inc.
Anyway, if you want to watch TV on the screen of your PC, what should
you look for in a TV tuner?
[] Slot compatibility. The latest cards plug into PCI slots, found
in newer PCs. Some older cards plug into the ISA slots of older PCs.
I did find one card that plugged into the special PCMCIA slot of a
notebook PC.
[] TV format compatibility. You're not likely to have trouble with
this if you shop at a store in your area, but make sure any card you
order from far away comes in the NTSC format that's standard in the
United States. In Europe or Japan, you'll want the PAL or SECAM
formats.
[] Software compatibility. The card has to work with your operating
system. For example, I can't watch TV on my Macintosh PowerBook
screen even though it has a PC Card slot. That PC Card tuner's
software is only compatible with Windows. Most tuners are compatible
with Windows 95 or the Mac OS 7.5. Some also handle Windows 3.1,
Windows 98, Windows NT or DOS 5.0.
[] Viewing flexibility. Make sure the software lets you size and
position the viewing window however you like. Old tuners required
the computer to be set at one resolution -- 640 x 480 -- and then
"toggled" between a full-screen computing view or a full-screen TV
view.
[] Surfing ease. Most tuner software enables you to see miniature
views of several channels at once. Four channels at once is nice, 16
is better. Best of all is a feature letting you program in your
favorite channels for easy browsing.
[] Transcripts and "hot words." This feature alone could make TV
tuners practical. It lets them record the entire written transcripts
of Closed Captioned TV shows. "Hot words," a feature I love, enables
you to list things to watch for. When one of those words comes
through the closed captioning, the software can start to record the
transcript and alert you. Talk about intelligent assistance!
[] Adjustment ease. The software ought to make it simple to change
contrast, brightness, tint, saturation, volume, tone and to mute the
volume.
[] Video capture. My first practical use of a tuner, after all the
late-night viewing while kind of working, was to capture some TV ads.
I used these in video editing experiments and you could use them in
presentations. A card with full 30-frames-per-second video capture
ability and the software for editing video is a step up from mere
"ballgame in the background." Making editing easy with a VCR-style
graphic control panel is good; adding "instant replay" at any time,
for whatever you just noticed from the corner of your eye, is better.
[] Video inputs. Nearly all tuner cards let you connect to a TV
cable, a VCR, a camcorder or other video sources. You're equipped
for most anything if the tuner has cable TV, VHF, UHF, Composite, and
S-Video inputs.
[] Stereo. If you're watching for pleasure, make sure the tuner puts
out stereo. This will probably require a sound card in your
computer.
[] FM. As long as we're putting TV into your computer, maybe we
should put radio in, too? Some tuner cards also receive and play FM
radio stations, complete with a little on-screen control program with
up to 99 preset stations.
[] Data. If your tuner is ready for the Intercast or WaveTop
services, that's a plus.
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