If you’re like most people, you use your computer to watch TV programming. You can watch live TV and recorded TV using a variety of methods, but one of the simplest is to use Windows 7 Media Center. Windows 7 Media Center includes a built-in TV tuner, so you don’t need to buy or install any additional software. Just connect your antenna or cable box to the Media Center PC and start watching your favorite shows. Here are some tips for using Windows 7 Media Center to watch TV programming:
- Connect your antenna or cable box to the Media Center PC.
- Open Windows 7 Media Center and click the “TV” icon on the toolbar.
- Select the channel you want to watch from the list on the left side of the window.
- Click “Play” to start watching your show! ..
Earlier this week in another Learning Windows 7 post, we showed you how to set up live TV in Windows Media Center (WMC). Not everyone has a TV tuner card and maybe can’t install one…in a laptop or netbook for example.
Update: This feature may not be available in all countries. Users who are in the UK should be able to use Sky Player which integrates into WMC. If you’re in the US and don’t see this option, make sure you have all of the latest updates for WMC.
Internet TV
Open up WMC and scroll down to TV then over to Internet TV.
In the next screen, check that you accept the Terms of Service and click on Install.
The installation process begins…
Now you can begin browsing through the available programming, which varies from classics to the latest editions of your favorite news, Showtime and CBS shows.
Browse through Golden Globe winning shows and also Netflix (which requires a subscription).
Get the latest news and current events type programming such as 60 minutes and nightly news broadcasts.
CBS Classic is always a lot of fun too for checking out the old school shows.
Click on an episode to find out what it is about and its length…
If it’s your first time watching a show you may nee to install the latest version of Adobe Flash.
Now you can sit back and watch some of your favorite programming.
If you’re a fan of Desktop Gadgets, you can use the WMC one to scroll through shows from the gadget and launch them in WMC.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to watch TV on your computer, this is yet another way of quite a few methods, including several online options such as Hulu. This method is quick to setup and allows you to watch some limited programming on demand with WMC in Windows 7. Not all programs are full episodes, but does include clips from several of them. In the future we’ll be taking a look at some other types of Internet TV and video streaming options you can incorporate into WMC.
You might also want to check out Learning Windows 7: Setup Live TV in Windows Media Center
