Turn you PC into HD TV with 20 bucks

Most cities in the US broadcast free TV over the air in HD (High Definition). To receive this signal an HD tuner is required. (Does this remind you of ancient radio broadcast? Yes, they are almost the same!) Televisions have an HD tuner built in. BUT, you can buy a usb plug-in TV tunner and enjoy free HDTV on your computer.

Step 1, Get a usb tv tunner with $15 to $50 bucks.
Search "usb tv tunner" on http://www.newegg.com/, I picked a cheap one, which works fine. Usb tv tunner is simply a usb adapter plus an antenna. The antenna receive microwave from air, usb adapter convert the microwave to digital signal your PC understand. Don't spend too much time on this, these products won't be too different. The only thing you need to worry about is the operation system the driver requires. Some driver only work on winxp and vista.


If you have hooked the usb tv tunner up, you may be enjoying many free HDTV channel on you PC right now. Depending on your city, you may have different channels available. The experience is similar to watching video on youtube, except the TV is really High Definition even with full screen. Also you don't need network connection, because signal is from your antenna which collect HDTV broadcast from air like radio does.

Step 2, Get a powerful antenna.
Want more channels? No problem, go ahead and buy a $100+ commercial antenna, or make a better antenna with less than 5 bucks and 30 minutes by yourself.
The link have detailed instructions. The key here is, HDTV is electromagnetic waves, to strengthen the signal, we need to form standing-wave in the antenna. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the wire's size, other things are just not so important details. Have fun and enjoy cool cyber stuff!