How to watch TV on your computer???

What does it take to be able to watch TV on your computer?

I assume that there would have to be a way to plug the cable TV signal into a graphics card...maybe?
OR, would I need to add a TV Tuner Card to my system?

If so, would it have a place where I can tie in my cable tv connection, just like I would on a regular TV?

Just curious what would be the best way to go if I wanted to watch TV on my computer (Windows XP Pro system)

My system:

mmm...seems like someone would build maybe an external box of some kind that would enable you to watch TV from all of these different sources of TV signals.

I've seen these external boxes, so I guess I need to see if I can find one that can do this.

Maybe the external box can convert whatever TV signal you feed to it into somthing that can be routed to a standard TV Tuner card which is inside your computer.

Does something like this exist?

Yep, I've seen this card and I'll probably go with it. Nice to know it's working good for you.

Does it come with software to capture video from watching TV?
How is that working out?

The HDTV wonder incorporates a regular Cable TV tuner (125 channels or whatever), a Digital Terrestrial tuner, and also receives traditional analog broadcast.
It does not receive any satellite HDTV or decode anything other than basic cable, just like other TV boards... the only difference is the broadcast HDTV tuner (which has its own antenna input).
A UHF antenna is included. This is apparently what is used to receive HDTV :^)
I get 5 channels perfectly, but if I had a 'real' UHF antenna (a large one, outdoors) I could get many more channels including American broadcasts out of Buffalo N.Y.
Here is some further info:
http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/index.html

It does.
L8R

You could just get a regular TV board, which will capture anything you plug in - DirectTV, whatever.
But in that situation, the channel-tuning and MTS decoding capabilities would be wasted (unused) and anyone with a Video In on their basic vidcard could display that!
I always make sure my basic vidcard has VIVO (it's all you really need).
But I have this HDTV card now...
I can, however, plug the VCR into my X1900XT composite input and display that channel as picture-in-picture when the HDTV Wonder is running! Fancy eh?
The HDTV Wonder also has a 'breakout box' with L+R audio and S-vid/composite in, plus audio and S-vid/composite out, so (like most any TV board) it can capture the VCR too.
Without VIVO on your vidcard, the most inexpensive TV card will open up many new possibilities for you.
Watching TV on a big non-interlaced high-refresh computer monitor will change your taste in picture quality for the better...

Yes :^) That's a nice unit.
As I said, external units are good - you can use them with a notebook, take them in a car or whatever. Roadtrip!
I'm sure your AVer device was reasonably priced. Units with radio-frequency remotes and MPEG2 encoding hardware will cost a little more.
The point is, even the most basic units are great, reasonably priced, do anything you could want, and everybody should have one (trust me, I can't watch some people's TVs, LoL)
It's all about picture quality. I've been spoiled for years now, since the 80's when I managed a Home Theatre store. Laserdisks were the thing back then (remember them?)
Hey I have a sweet AVer Media TV98, I've had it since the 90's heheh... it still works perfectly. It's in my beloved Pentium Pro.
Their stuff is good and there is good driver support,
L8R