Three years ago I pawned my last television. But there was no way to cure my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Daily Show." So I decided to fuse my computer with my television.

Why not? I have a nice big monitor, it's wide-screen and high-res with a great contrast ratio. And then there's the environmental angle: only one perpetually-on piece of equipment instead of four (computer, television, DVR, DVD player). And you need fewer comfortable chairs.

Three years ago, it was somewhat complicated to turn my PC into a TV, but not anymore. Now, it's actually easier and cheaper to make your PC a TV than to have both in your house.

Here are a few ways, with varying degrees of complexity.

1. Unsubscribe from all cable services and simply download your favorite shows. That'll save you 15 minutes per show in commercial time, and it requires absolutely no installation of anything. Of course we suggest you do this legally at iTunes. You'll still save money over cable or satellite.
2. Make your monitor a TV without a computer interface. Monitor manufacturers offer a variety of inputs for nice monitors now. Some have HDMI, RCA and S-Video built in! Just hit a button on the front of the monitor, and you're watching TV.
3. Keep your services going and get a TV tuner. Hauppage just started selling a cable to USB converter for $99. Just plug it in and install the software and not only is your PC a TV, it's also a digital video recorder and DVD maker.
4. Keep your services and install a real-live capture card. Depending on whether you want RCA, cable, HDMI, or all of the above, just get yourself a capture card with the appropriate inputs, and with a simple PCI installation, you're up and running. Here's a great service for finding the right capture card for you.

The world doesn't need more equipment. As long as we've all got personal computers sitting around our houses, why should we have a complicated mass of wires and vampire power when our trusty boxes can take care of it all for us?

Image from KevinSteele on Flickr