It’s Thursday night and the new TV season is upon us.  If you haven’t done so already, you might want to break out the remote control and get your DVR (Digital Video Recorder) prepped and ready.  Oh wait, it seems as if some of your favorite shows are on at the same time.  What now?  Your DVR can handle 2 shows at once, but there is a 3rd.  What is with these networks?  Don’t they know that there are more days of the week than just Thursday?

I might be a minority here, but something tells me there are a few TV fans out there and that this scenario might have already reared its ugly head.  What do you do when your DVR just can’t keep up?  Well, you have several choices, but since we focus on getting the most out of your PC, let’s look there.  There are several FREE, legal resources available on the internet and they have improved vastly over the last few years.  Here is a rundown of some of the top choices:

• Network Television Web Sites – The major players (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW) all offer online viewing of their programs.  Each site is a little different in what they offer and what plugin you have to install in your browser to view the program, but none are very difficult to use.  I have watched several programs on these sites and the only real complaint I have is that you have to sit through a few commercials.  Yeah, believe it or not, they found a way to advertise during these programs.
• Portals – An interesting term for an interesting option.  Portals are third party web sites that show content from the networks.  Not all programs are offered, but there is a wide variety available on each of these sites.
  • Hulu
  • Fancast
  • TVGuide.com
  • TV.com
  • YouTube

You can also pay for viewing TV shows.  If you want to watch a previously aired program without commercials and you are willing to fork over a few dollars, this is the way to go.  Television programs will cost you anywhere from $1.99 – $2.99, depending on the program.  The two big players in paid TV shows are iTunes and Amazon.com.  I have used both and liked the experience that each had to offer.  The only big drawback is that you have to have the iTunes program and/or an iPod to watch shows from the iTunes store.  With Amazon.com, you can watch programming from your browser, portable device or TiVo.

Standard VGA Port

Viewing FREE or paid TV programs from your computer doesn’t have to be an experience defined by a 14″ screen and horrible sound.  Did you know that you can use your television as a monitor?  Yes, the majority of newer television sets (anything in the last 5 years) are equipped with a VGA port, which is the exact same connection found on your computer monitor.  Just unplug that cable from your monitor and plug it into your television.  I was surprised at how quick and easy it was to set this up.

Do you have a TV site that you want to recommend?  Did we miss any other options?  Share with us by leaving a comment below.  Remember that you can share this article with friends and family using the ShareThis button below.

Tags: Amazon.com, DVR, iTunes, Network, Television, TiVo, TV

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 9:53 am and is filed under Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.