How to Watch Live TV on a Laptop
Level of difficulty: Intermediate
Having to watch TV from a desktop can be somewhat as limiting as watching it from a TV set permanently fixed at one area of the house. The portability and mobility of a laptop can now be utilized and you can watch your favorite shows at any place in your home.
Materials Needed:- Laptop
- a desktop machine with a TV Tuner card or USB TV Tuner
- a wireless network
- an Internet connection
Step 1
Set up the TV Tuner card or USB in your desktop. Refer to manufacturer’s instructions for this. Your desktop computer will now act as a server to your laptop.
Step 2
Connect to the Internet and download Windows Media Encoder. Install it into the desktop computer. Launch the program once installation is finished.
Step 3
The New Session Wizard will be displayed. Select 'Broadcast a Live Event'. This will bring you to Device Options where you will need to indicate the sources (both video and audio) for the TV broadcast. The source for the video will be your TV tuner and you will need to configure it according to the specifications of your device. For the audio portion, you will once again have to base this on whatever device you have installed in your system. You will return to the Device Option window. Click 'Next'.
Step 4
You will proceed to the Broadcast Connection window. From here you will be asked to specify the port of access for the broadcast. Just choose the 'Find a free port' button to let the software locate the port for you. Copy the location that will be displayed in URL for Internet Connections as you will be using this later on in configuring your laptop for the broadcast.
Step 5
You will then be brought to Encoding Options. What you will specify here will vary according to the type of wireless connection that you have set up. Try different combinations to test the best one for your system. You will have to skip the steps succeeding this, like archiving and inclusion of video files, unless you have clear specifications as to how you want them configured. Proceed until you come to the summary of your configurations.
Step 6
You will then be presented with security options for the clients who will view your network. Unless you are aware of the configurations you would like for this, simply click on 'OK'.
Step 7
You will now be able to see the TV broadcast you would like to send out to the laptop. Click on the 'Start Encoding' button.
Step 8
Launch Windows Media Player on your laptop. Go to 'File' and choose 'Open URL'. Here is where you will input the URL you copied in step 4.
Step 9
You will be able to enjoy watching your favorite TV program on your laptop after clicking on 'OK'.