A TV tuner card can help turn your computer into a home entertainment center

Items you will need DVD burner Hard drive TV tuner card DVR software Step 1 Check your hard drive capacity before you begin. It is now possible to purchase inexpensive 500GB hard drives, and even terabyte drives are dropping in price. If your computer is short of space, adding a new hard drive can make it more useful. Step 2 Replace the CD-ROM or CD burner that came with your computer with a new Blu-ray DVD burner. A Blu-ray drive will allow you to watch your favorite movies, and the burner will allow you to back up your files any time you wish. Step 3 Insert a TV tuner card into a free USB port on your computer and install the software that came with it. Use the software to find the local channels that are available in your area. Step 4 Install a quality DVR software package to turn your hard drive into a DVR. There are a number of DVR software packages on the market, including Beyond TV and Sage. Install the software and set it to record your favorite programs.