In the past, the use of a computer was restricted to certain purposes. PCs were especially used in the office, where people used to work. Nowadays things have changed a lot, and almost everyone has a computer at home and, in this way, PCs have become an important  aid in  accomplishing many other activities in our life, not only the ones involving our work. Computers are used for emails, playing games, watching movies, and many other activities that have become more and more enjoyable for everyone of us. In the last few years, the companies offering different types of computers have discovered another idea that attracted the customers' attention and that is the fact that we could watch television on our computer monitors, and that there are many ways in which we can make this happen.

One way in which we can watch television on our computer monitor is by using PC TV tuners. This is considered to be the most common way in which one person could get television and other videos on his or her computer screen. The TV tuner was specially designed so as to interface with the computer in such a way that it gives us the possibility to watch television using our computer. Certainly, there have been made different types of tuners, which are available with various types of interfaces and features that are likely to match to almost any type of computer.

A TV tuner follows a basic principle and that is the necessity to connect  it to your computer and then to connect a cable or another television source, as an antenna might be to the TV Tuner , and in this way offering yourself the possibility to watch television on your computer monitor.

Another very important aspect related to this idea is the consumers' request to have a certain type of interface within their computer which would turn more than one connection available on the computer into a TV source. This is nowadays possible. Almost any available connection on our computer can become a TV source using this certain type of interference, and in this category of connections are included the following: PCI, USB, Cardbus, FireWire and even PCI Express. It has no importance what type of computer you have, being it a standard one or a laptop, and neither do the programs that you are using on your PC matter if you want to be able to watch television on your computer monitor. This can be accomplished by using a cable (NTSC/PAL) or a HDTV tuner and it works with almost any type of computer, regardless of the programs being used on that PC.

A very important aspect that should be known by those who would like to buy a certain type of tuner for their computers is that a device like this works using a combination of hardware and software , components which are very important in establishing whether that tuner is of good quality or not. Also, these components are important for a certain design being available within a certain application.

Another requirement among customers nowadays is not only to be able to watch television on your computer monitor, but also to be able to record something else that appears on TV while you are watching a certain program, by using these types of tuners. There are also persons who want to have the possibility to watch something on television, and in the same time being able to record not one, but two or more television shows at the same time. For these requirements, the companies offer a certain type of special tuner called a dual-tuner, but this is not the only possibility. You can watch TV and in the same time record one or two television shows if you install multiple TV tuners into one computer. These multiple tuners create a similar setup to that made possible by the dual-tuner, and in this way, will offer the possibility to record while you can watch television on your computer monitor.

One important problem that has been discovered about these types of tuners is the fact that some of the possibilities they offer, such as those of recording and encoding require a certain computer power so as to function properly. Sometimes, it is possible for some types of errors to appear when connecting these devices to your computer, as to be able to watch television. These errors can be caused by not having enough space on your computer or by having an inappropriate hard-drive that could not keep up with all of the recordings required.

Certainly, there are advantages and disadvantages when having and using these types of devices for becoming able to watch television on your computer. Other important advantages that have been considered by the companies offering these devices and even by the customers wanting to acquire them are their potential to offer high quality when choosing the appropriate type of device for your computer, and the ability to use these types of devices not only with a standard computer but also with a laptop. Certainly, the biggest advantage regarding these devices has been considered the fact that they have been created in such way that they can offer us the possibility to install more than one of them on our computer.

As with any other accessories for our computers, it can become challenging for someone to be able to easily make a choice when deciding to buy a certain type of device that can offer them the possibility to watch television on their computer monitors. This is due to various and numerous offers that we can find on the market, from which we do not really know exactly what to choose. There is also the problem of comparing prices. It is usually considered that a more expensive product is definitely of a better quality, but nowadays this is not a certainty anymore. We cannot really know whether expensive means quality and, in this way it becomes difficult for us to make a choice. But, in the end, it all depends on what we want and what we decide to be the best choice for ourselves.