Are there solutions for watching television on a computer?

"Yes, it's possible to watch TV in a window. All modern tuners and their associated software should be capable of this, whether it's a PCI card or a USB device. Needless to say, you will need a reasonably modern PC to avoid any performance issues or jerkiness. If you have Windows Media Centre, e.g. on Vista Home Premium then you can use that as your viewing software.

I've got on well with Hauppauge devices in the past."

"Maybe hulu fits your needs, you don't need any fancy tuner hardware.

If you really do want to build your own computer-TV/DVR then you'll need an ATSC/ClearQAM/NTSC tuner device. Hauppauge makes some of the best under their ""WinTV"" line, though there are plenty of other options. Generally speaking most tuner cards come bundled with software that will let you watch TV on your computer. If you want something different or desire additional functionality there are lots of other options such as Windows Media Center, MythTV, etc."

"You might also want to consider getting a Dreambox

My previous roommate had one of these babies.

Once you get it up and running they are very nice!"

Elgato has some products that can do this. HDHomeRun is a network tuner.