16.1. Your Gear List: Home Premium ¢ Ultimate Even though Media Center works on the lowliest Vista PC, it reserves its best tricks for people whose computers have these high-end luxuries : -
A TV tuner and cable connection . You'll need these extras if you want to watch and record live TV on your PC. If your PC didn't come with a TV tuner, you can add one, either in the form of an external USB box or as an expansion card, for under $100. Even without a TV tuner, you can use all of Media Center's other features. Media Center works with TV shows you download from the Internet, your home videos , your pictures, and your music. -
A DVD burner . It's really great to be able to burn your recorded or downloaded TV shows to a DVD so you can watch them away from home. -
A connection to your TV . You can always curl up at your desk to watch TV and movies, but a lot of people find that setup a bit too geeky for their tastes. In a perfect world, you'd connect the PC to your television. The easiest way to do that is to run an S-video cable from the PC to the TV, although there are various other ways to do the job. -
A remote control . If you're going to connect your PC to a TV, you don't want to have to scramble across the room every time you want to make an adjustment. That's why some computers come with remote controls, so you can run the whole show from your couch . (A wireless keyboard and mouse are useful, too.) |