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Watching television on my Macbook
Organichu
poopspeesRegistered User regular
poopspeesRegistered User regular
So, I don't have a TV. Usually I get along fine but sometimes not so much. Talk to me like an idiot here- I literally have no idea about the options. I hear the most common solution for a laptop is a USB tuner card. Are these easy to find on Mac? How do they work? Do they display HD? If they do will my 2.4 ghz, 2gb RAM, Nvidia 9400 gpu, Macbook handle the task? How do I get programming? Can I get stations 'over the air' for free? Do I need to subscribe to a service? Is there any way to get this programming without having a dude out to my house to do installation? Drilled holes and stuff are something I hope to avoid.
Thanks guys!
Thanks guys!
Organichu on
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Also, I'm pretty sure your computer is more than enough, you'll probably only limited by the speed of your connection if your streaming stuff.
You're only going to be able to watch the TV that you're currently paying for and have available, if you had a regular television. So, since you have no cable or satellite service, you're going to get local channels over an antennae. Some USB Cards come with them, but they're usually shitty and you'll probably end up needing to just buy a pair of rabbit ears from the store.
Then you'll get your local channels (your CBS/NBC/FOX affiliates, etc). Hopefully you live in a metropolitan area who are broadcasting local in HD or at least digital, since that's actually kind of nice.
If you want any more than this, you're going to have to pay for cable or satellite. If your house is already wired for cable, they won't need to drill any holes, but you'd probably notice the fact that you have unused coaxial jacks in the wall. Also some places let you do home installation yourself if it's already wired. For example, I know Comcast does for a fee, but it's a far smaller fee than their insane installation charges.
If you go for satellite, they'll need to mount a satellite outside somewhere and run a wire inside to the receiver they'll supply you. You'd need a receiver for cable too (aka "a cable box"), but this one will have the wire come from outside instead of your wall.
that's about it, really. the macbook will display it fine, and there's a dozen products out there that can do what you want. The most popular Mac-oriented one is probably the TubeStick, which is really nice but a little pricy. Cheaper stuff works fine, just do some research before you buy it as you'll need something with OS X tuner software.
That TubeStick- is its antenna one of the more popular ones? If not, what do I ask for at Radioshack or whatever? Just a standard digital antenna?
Do most 'basic cable' packages (be it satellite or digital cable) come with HD channels or do I have to get one of their HD packages/rent one of their receivers to get them?
basic packages generally come with no HD, and you'll need a receiver for any cable or satellite package aside from the dirt cheap basic cable service, which is basically broadcast channels plus PBS and QVC
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