Is anyone familiar with video capture devices?

Yeah... been doing some online shopping, and I'd like to stream my television. Can anyone recommend me a good video capture device? I'd prefer it to be USB, so I can use it with my laptop as well, but I guess I can go with a PCI card or something. Also not too pricy.

...I honestly don't know where else to go with this. I figured there were some people who streamed MLP episodes here that could help me out!