Can I watch TV on my Mac?

[johnbro23]

I was at Circuit City today and saw someone watching TV on a Sony Vaio using Windows Media Player. Can I do the same using Quicktime? Is there some other software I have to get?

[chv400]

Yes it's possible i do it with an ATI Xcliam VR which has video inputs it's OS 9 only though (The Xclaim). USB ones are made also but they tend to have a low resolution. Here's one that goes in a PCI slot. the newer ones work in OS X like this card

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=6548&Item=MIGTVPCISIL

[wide]

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71206/wo/7b5C4xtC0b3H39J17Nf15tqWEt7/4.4.0.5.10.11.0.1.13.0

It's really popular and used to be one of the 10 best-selling items on www.apple.com/store. I think it functions as a TV tuner but I am not entirely sure. It does say you can watch TV on your Mac, though.

[johnbro23]

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71206/wo/7b5C4xtC0b3H39J17Nf15tqWEt7/4.4.0.5.10.11.0.1.13.0

It's really popular and used to be one of the 10 best-selling items on www.apple.com/store. I think it functions as a TV tuner but I am not entirely sure. It does say you can watch TV on your Mac, though.

Hmm, thats a little pricey. That costs as much as it would be to just buy a TV. I'm surprised Quicktime doesn't have some sort of plug-in like Windows Media Player does. That would be perfect. Anyone know of anything like that?

[aswitcher]

Hmm, thats a little pricey. That costs as much as it would be to just buy a TV.

Yeah, TV on Macs is not cheap compared to PCs. Shame. PC-TV tuner cards will hopefully come down in price in the next year or so.

[About2SwitchOvr]

Hmm, thats a little pricey. That costs as much as it would be to just buy a TV. I'm surprised Quicktime doesn't have some sort of plug-in like Windows Media Player does. That would be perfect. Anyone know of anything like that?

I was looking around for the same thing.
I have an iMac 20"

I got the EyeTv from the Apple Store for $199 (2 mos ago).
It came with a KeySpan remote control.

It's really easy to use, and DEFINITELY a winner...

Let me know how it goes!

[johnbro23]

I was looking around for the same thing.
I have an iMac 20"

I got the EyeTv from the Apple Store for $199 (2 mos ago).
It came with a KeySpan remote control.

It's really easy to use, and DEFINITELY a winner...

Let me know how it goes!

I don't think its really worth it. I move out to college in two years, so by then, I might just get a nice little TV for my dorm, or possibly, the prices of these TV tuners will come down. Thanks for the advice though!

[AssassinOfGates]

For $129 at El Gato (http://www.elgato.com) you can get a refurbished EyeTV USB and the keyspan remote. I bought the EyeTV when it first came out and it is really worth it considering it has the TiVo functionality. As for WMP being able to watch tv, it still needed the hardware tuner in order to get the picture.


By the way, does anyone have any info as to how the progress is going towards OS X drivers for the best tuner ever, ixMicro's ixTV? That was such a good card and it's a shame to see it die from the company's death and a quicktime update.

[otoloui]

Wow. Seems like a great deal. Does it require a service subscription similar to TIVO? Also, is the quality better than decent? I'm also supposing that you can get the playback on your TV using your Mac's video out.

Would love to get more real-world info.

Thanks.

For $129 at El Gato (http://www.elgato.com) you can get a refurbished EyeTV USB and the keyspan remote. I bought the EyeTV when it first came out and it is really worth it considering it has the TiVo functionality. As for WMP being able to watch tv, it still needed the hardware tuner in order to get the picture.


By the way, does anyone have any info as to how the progress is going towards OS X drivers for the best tuner ever, ixMicro's ixTV? That was such a good card and it's a shame to see it die from the company's death and a quicktime update.

[AssassinOfGates]

Wow. Seems like a great deal. Does it require a service subscription similar to TIVO? Also, is the quality better than decent? I'm also supposing that you can get the playback on your TV using your Mac's video out.

Would love to get more real-world info.

Thanks.

No monthly charges or subscriptions. By TiVo-like I mean you can pause, rewind, and fastforward through television because of the buffer it creates. It also has the ability to record programming via any schedule you enter into it, waking up your mac if necessary. It has close integration with TitanTV for the program guide. Unlike TiVo, it does not record shows that it thinks you may like, which is a good thing (saving HD from shows you wouldn't like anyway).

Yes you can output it to a TV using TV out on your video card. One problem is that due to the encoder they use, it has a 1-2 second delay, making it useless for consoles unless you are capturing something. Just use a splitter in that case.

Resolution is decent, but not that great. 352*240, although you can resize it smaller/larger/fullscreen. Remember that this is MPEG1 through USB, so for what it is it does pretty well. I like how the FPS is full 29.97.

Hope this helped.

[Redboy]

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VS-TV1531R&cat=CON

V-Stream Xpert 1280x1024 LCD TV Box w/Remote

I've been thinking about getting this myself, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[ChrisFromCanada]

There are rumors going around now about apple producing some sort of tuner so if I were you I would just wait. Thats just me...