Watching TV on your Computer – The VLC Media Player

The way that we are watching TV is altering. Everyday more and more people are turning to the computer to help them watch the shows that they like, and to find new shows to follow and watch. Sites are springing up everywhere that are helping you find the shows to watch – with reviews and free streams.

This sort of technology has gone mainstream – with the TV companies realising that they are unable to fight the move from the Television to the computer they have adopted the technology as their own and started releasing 'official' streams of shows. Hulu.com is one great example, the BBC also offer their own 'iplayer' software for people in the UK to watch from.

With this change in attitudes to watching TV shows we have had to have a change in software as well. Previously video software either had to simply play a DVD or stream basic video of fairly low quality.

But with big companies now streaming their shows the quality has grow considerably, and many media playing software bundles have struggled to keep up. Which has left many people hunting around for a media player that actually suits what is happening with their changing needs.

One of the most popular media players that people are trying is the VLC Media Player.

That many people (over 50 millions have downloaded the VLC media player free download) use it is no surprise. For a start one of the main selling points is that you don't have to buy it – the VLC Media Payer free download is available to anyone that wants it.

When a lot of media players can cost vast sums of money the ability to test out and use one for FREE is a major advantage. People always appreciate free software – especially one that works as well as the VLC Media Player does.

These are some of the main ways that people watch TV on their computer are covered by the VLC media player

1. DVDs. Whether it is a Film or a TV show the VLC Media Player is easily able to cope with watching it from the DVD that you have put into your computer. Many times software can skip and jump when you are watching a DVD, the VLC Media Player helps to put an end to that.
   
   

2. Files. A lot of people like to download their shows to watch as and when they like – whether they are connected to the Internet or not. No matter what file you have saved the show as – M-PEG4, WMV, DivX or many others the VLC Media Player will be able to cope.
   
   

3. Streaming. Probably the most common way of watching TV shows online is by streaming the show across the Internet. This saves downloading and storage space.
   
   The VLC media player is able to handle many different streaming protocols – so that you can use it for all kinds of show streaming.

The VLC Media Player is a piece of software that is cross-platform. So whether you are using Windows, Linux or many other OS' you will be able to use the VLC player download on your own multimedia device – whether it is a laptop, a desktop or even a mobile phone or tablet PC.

For many systems there are even devices that you can install software wise that can help you record any video that you are streaming.