Cablevision launches PC to TV service, preps iPad app

Cablevision, Newsday's parent company, has just made connecting your PC to your TV a whole lot easier. A new service, dubbed Optimum Link, lets Optimum Online and TV customers display PC content onto a TV in real time.

Cablevision says the service will be able to handle images, music and HD video.

Setting up the system is as easy as installing software on a PC and flipping the channel on your cable box to 641. No need for additional boxes, hardware or cables. (Mac version of the software is in the works.)

Sound too good/easy to be true? Well, for residential customers who subscribe to Optimum Online Ultra, Optimum Link is free. But the average Joe should expect to pay an additional $4.95 a month for the service.

Cablevision will also be releasing its own iPad app for Optimum customers, similar to what Time Warner Cable offers. The app will feature video-on-demand as well as live TV streaming.

"We have launched our Optimum App for iPad on Cablevision's campus and in approximately 100 employee homes and it works wonderfully. The application has been submitted to Apple and, upon its approval, will be available to our cable television customers," Cablevision said in a statement.

Cablevision says its iPad app is for use only within your home network.

Photo: In this product image provided by Times Warner Cable Inc., the Times
Warner Cable app is displayed on an iPad.