How do I connect my Digital set top box to my Computer? - Digital HDTV on your PC

Setting up your digital tv set top box to your computer is easily done aslong as you have the proper connections on your computers monitor.

In order to connect  your set top box to your PC you need to plug the S-Video Plug from the Digital Settop Box into your Monitors S-Video input. If your monitor did not come with a S-Video input then you can purchase a S-video to VGA converter from your local electronics store but they can be quite expensive.

The next problem you run in too when trying to set up your digital set top box with your PC is that you will need to have great reception or have access to your aerial connection in the room where the PC is. There is also a much easier method which I will go through 

The best way to get digital T.V on your PC is to go out and buy a digital tv card tuner designed for your computer. This device is exactly same as the digital set top box and converts the digital signals into an image.

There are two main types of Digital TV Cards / Tuners

Internal

Digital TV cards that will fit into your motherboards PCI slot. This will require you to open up your pc and you will also need a spare PCI slot.

External

External Digital TV tuners usually plug into a USB slot on your computer or use an external wall outlet power source. Much easier to get up and running.

HDTV - Most Digital TV tuners support High Definition so be sure to get one with high definition  as the ones without High Definition shouldn't really be sold anymore.

When buying your TV tuner card its best not to go for something too cheap and if you do make sure you have a quality antenna to make up for it. The most important thing is signal quality which means your Antenna 

The most important thing when it comes to Digital TV whether it be on your T.V or your PC , is the reception and this will depend on the type of aerial you have. Most people will use the regular aerial they were currently using for Analog T.V and this will work perfectly fine.

The only problem is when you are trying to connect a TV tuner card to your PC , you will need to have access to the aerial wire to connect into the back of your computer and this can sometimes be a hassle , you may have to rewire the aerial connections through the roof or you can try the other options.

Digital TV tuners with small Aerials - Some TV tuner cards come with a small aerial but from experience I have found they are totally useless and unless you are extremely close to a signalling station you will get no picture and unable to pick up any channels.

Antenna Booster - Though a lot of people use these devices , it simply makes your antenna stronger by boosting the signal, but this can really be a waste of money as it may not add that much more quality.

Indoor Antenna - A good option is to get a affordable indoor antenna which can be connected to a power source , most indoor antenna's run on 12 volts and a great cheap option to get digital tv on your PC. These antenna's often come with an amplifier to improve signal quality.

Outdoor Antenna - There are also some relatively cheap outdoor antenna which you can setup easily outside by mounting it on the side of your house or window to recieve a better signal.

Recording Digital TV is incredibly easy when recording onto your PC. You can simply use your chosen Digital TV viewing program to save recorded digital T.V to your harddrive. 

I have used quite a few digital t.v programs, I have found BlazeTV to be quite a good one. 

Step 1.Connect your current TV Antenna aerial connection that comes out of the wall into your Digital Set top boxes RF IN or Aerial in Slot.

Step 2.Now connect your three colored cables Red, Yellow, and white cables from your Digital Set Top Box into your T.V.

Step 3.Select your AV channel to find the channel with your Digital Set top Box , then scan for channels and enjoy:)

HDMI - High definition multimedia interface - if you T.V and digital set top box you can use the single HDMI cable to carry audio and video.

Bit Error Level

Bit error levels may increase as the signal strength decreases another common cause of high bit error is that the antenna cable is poorly insulated and therefore the digital signal is picking up a lot of noise. Digital signals are very susceptible to noise and if bit error levels are increasing or surprisingly high you may need to reinsulated your cables or try and avoid them touching other wires, Most digital TV antenna cables are triple insulated cables.