iMac as a television...

iMac as a television...

The iMac television tuner is a very cool idea, so full marks to you. However, the only thing that should replace your television in your bedroom is a spouse of some kind...

...that way, the giant television corporations won't be able to rule your bedroom life with an iron fist... 😀

😎

EyeTV user here, its a handy little thing, records well etc. I only have 3 complaints.

A:Theres a small flashing green bar at the top of my screen in recording, maybe its just my unit, not sure.

B:MPEG1 recording. Thus I cannot put it on a DVD, only VCD, and theres no way in hell i'm gonna go through all the conversion processes. Plus my PS2 only plays DVDs, not VCDs, so I'm kinda left out.

C:Slow channel switching, lag. Its not the best for channel surfing, as there is a 1-2 sec delay in between channels, plus don't even try playing console games through it. 1 second delay.

If you have a VCD capable player, cannot afford a real TiVO, or just like having a TV card on ur mac, this is probably the best recorder out for mac at this point in time, as the software is great and all audio is carried through USB, but if you don't need TiVo capabilities (i do), then see if you can find a MPEG2 recorder. Im not sure if there are any tv cards w/ it yet for mac.

I haven't investigated EyeTV, as it hasn't yet been released in the UK. However, a few years ago I purchased a MyTV unit from Eskape Labs - a USB device that plugs directly into the Mac to give full-screen or windowed television on your desktop.

It's not bad, and it's cheap (at around £100), and it offers a hard-disk recording option, as well as Cable TV support and Video/Audio In/Out. I still think the OSX drivers aren't nearly as good as the OS9 ones (the quality is still better in OS9, but that'll be fixed in any future updates, I'm sure...). There's also a smaller version for the same price called a "MyTV-to-go".

As another option, there's the FireWire-based Formac Studio, which has an analogue-to-digital converter, and a TV tuner to boot. But at £250, it might be a little steep, unless you require all of the functions of the converter.

The final option is to go out and buy an "el-cheapo" 14" TV set with a remote control - it's better than "phaffing about" with drivers, cables and screen sizes - and it's a lot better to use the remote to turn off the TV when you're comfortably tucked up in bed, instead of having to get up, quit the program and power off the computer, like I have to...

Originally posted by kiwi_the_iwik
As another option, there's the FireWire-based Formac Studio, which has an analogue-to-digital converter, and a TV tuner to boot. But at £250, it might be a little steep, unless you require all of the functions of the converter.

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I know someone with one of those and it's truely superb!!

Originally posted by iGAV


I know someone with one of those and it's truely superb!!

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It looks great, but 400 bucks... damn, that's a lot of money, I can buy a good TV for that.

Originally posted by AssassinOfGates
B:MPEG1 recording. Thus I cannot put it on a DVD, only VCD, and theres no way in hell i'm gonna go through all the conversion processes. Plus my PS2 only plays DVDs, not VCDs, so I'm kinda left out.

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...doesn't iDVD handle this? I thought it'd convert any QT movies (mpeg being part of QT) to MPEG4? Or does eyeTV actually savethe stream as a toast file?