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Choosing a TV tuner

S

Shilpa1125

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 12, 2008
5
0
I'm not sure if this is the right category for this, but it seemed the best fit.

I need help choosing a TV tuner for my macbook, I read a few reviews but I'm really confused. I basically just want something that will let me watch TV on my laptop so I don't have to buy a TV when I move just for the summer. Being able to record programs would be nice as well, and I want something that has really good video quality. I read reviews for a few, but it seemed pretty complicated, and I'm a pretty basic user.

Any help would be appreciated!
 
EyeTV Hybrid works great

I have both the EyeTV Hybrid and an older Miglia HDMini. They both work well. The reason I recommend the EyeTV Hybrid is that the Miglia USED to come with ElGato's EyeTV software (which is excellent) but no longer does--and I have no idea what Miglia's proprietary software looks like.

OK, a little about the EyeTV Hybrid. It allows you to watch off-air NTSC (analog) and ATSC (digital) TV. I've mainly been using it for off-air digital shows, including HDTV and the image quality is great (I use it on an Intel iMac or on a MacBook Pro).

The neat thing about the analog capability is that it allows you to plug a game box (e.g. Wii) with composite outputs into it and play your Wii on your Mac's monitor.

The latest version of the EyeTV Hybrid will allow you to play ClearQAM (?sp) signal as well. This is for people with cable TV whose cable network has some unencrypted ClearQAM channels. I don't have cable, so I can't tell you how this works.

Installation was simple (plug it in to your antenna and into your Mac's USB2 port, install EyeTV software, go through the setup assistant, wait while it scans channels to see which ones you can get, you're done).

The software allows you to capture TV (including HDTV) and save it to your HD, edit out commercials, etc. I use it all the time to capture Law and Order so I can watch it at a different time. Works well and, unlike TiVO, no monthly fees.

HTH.
 
The question isn't 'which TV Tuner?'. It's 'which Elgato TV Tuner?'. Don't settle for anything else. In particular, the EyeTV 3 software that comes with them all rocks.

I'm sure the Elgato website has a comparison table for their current range.

Good luck

SL

EDIT: if you want any more help than that, you'll have to tell us which country you're in and what sort of TV you want to watch (eg analogue or digital, cable or sat).
 
Oops - my post is re USA TV

Good point re: localization.

My post is based on the EyeTV Hybrid for the US market, but I guess the fact that I mention NTSC and ATSC should have been a giveaway.
 
I'm in the US, and I'd need it primarily for either digital or basic cable, and I'll probably want to watch HD content. I have the newest regular MacBook, with the 2.4GHz processor and 2gb of memory. Thanks for the quick responses and let me know if there's any more information that would help!
 
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