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Typically in a home, most people have a standard TV, Radio and Telephone as communication devices. The increase availability of the Internet has started to change the dynamics in how people communicate and interact.

Outside of the TV and Telephone, now the majority of people in the developed world use e-mail and instant messengers to communicate. But its getting better than that. The traditional phone was based on older wired technology that was proprietary to each phone company. Today, you can get a phone line with very good quality using your broadband Internet connection.

The same revolution that has seen the telephone moving towards to VOIP (Voice over IP) will see the same for the TV on PC. This is further aided with the specialized HTPC (Home Theatre PC) systems which basically puts a specialized computer in your living room. If you are a do it yourselfer, you can easily find special HTPC case online to build your next living room computer. In respect to TV on PC options, there are two ways that this can be done.

1.You could get special TV tuner card for your computer that basically allows you to either connect to a cable provider or Satellite system. This approach is fairly traditional and has the benefit of cheap PVR software to tape your favorite program.

2.There are several providers of software packages that allow you to get most of these TV programs over your Internet Connection. This is based on the fact that most of the big name TV providers and new comers are streaming their programs over the internet. This is the same philosophy as VOIP.

Whats the implication of these technologies converging? The use of a computer in the living room opens up the possibility of doing several things. This includes Video Conferencing, Photo Review, and Web browsing and chatting. Video sites such as YouTube are coming out of the wood works everyday. This means you can do more than just TV on PC functions. You can now do both synchronous and asynchronous video applications directly to your living room.

It does get better than that. The imminent deployment of 4G wireless systems such as mobile WiMAX will allow you take both VOIP and Video where you go. Its fascinating and its coming together as we speak. This means while at the park or beach, you can catch the latest show as well as communicate with business associates or family members instantly. We having even touched on some of the possibilities with Web 2.0 and consequently Web 3.0 will bring to this arena with the whole social networking side of things.

The future is coming fast and with all the tools available for Media or HTPC systems, you can get TV on PC plus a whole lot more. You can get most of these systems at the usual major vendors online or locally.

Larkland Morley is a Computer Systems Engineer by profession. He is also a UK Chartered Engineer and currently working on next generation wireless systems. He also maintains the Site http://www.htpc-portal.com and the related blog http://my-tvonpc.tumblr.com