Best setup to record TV

[brianbobcat]

Dear all,

The title may be misleading as I'm wondering what would be the best way to record TV, but not necessarily on my mac. In my dorm, the cable modem is evenly between my desk with my computers and the TV. I'm looking for a way in which I can set some shows to record and I can easily watch them. I thought about getting an EyeTV or Migelian device as we have an EyeTV at home, and it works beautifully, but that requires a computer and hard drive. TO do that, I would need to either A) run a cable line 10' to my desk, then double back that same 10' plus about 15' more to the TV, or B) move my mostly underused G4 cube to the TV area and then not have to worry about rerunning extra coaxial cable. But the problem, albeit small, is that I run my ethernet line to my cube, then have it create a closed network that my MBP uses. An easy fix would be then to give myself a reason to buy either an Airport Express, or since I don't have a stereo but do have a N laptop, the new 802.11N Extreme base station.

BUT, I also have another, less favored option. I know that there are devices out there that can record straight onto an iPod video from a TV source. Except that I have neither an iPod Video, A VCR or standalone DVD player that can take coax in and RCA out, and of course the RCA->iPod Tivo-type device. While this would give me a legitimate excuse to buy a 5G iPod, this option wold cost a lot more than my first option. Another downside would be that I would need to get a VCR so that I could tell what I 'm recording as most of the iPod Tivo boxes just do record start and record stop and don't have DVR functions like the EyeTVs do.

What do you all think I should do, or do you even have a better option? Worse comes to worse I do like I have been, watch TV when I can, and if I miss something, big deal, unless it's 24.

Thanks,
-Brian

 

[Multimedia]

Split Cozx At Source EyeTV Hybrid Off Air

Dear all,

The title may be misleading as I'm wondering what would be the best way to record TV, but not necessarily on my mac. In my dorm, the cable modem is evenly between my desk with my computers and the TV. I'm looking for a way in which I can set some shows to record and I can easily watch them. I thought about getting an EyeTV or Migelian device as we have an EyeTV at home, and it works beautifully, but that requires a computer and hard drive. TO do that, I would need to either A) run a cable line 10' to my desk, then double back that same 10' plus about 15' more to the TV, or B) move my mostly underused G4 cube to the TV area and then not have to worry about rerunning extra coaxial cable. But the problem, albeit small, is that I run my ethernet line to my cube, then have it create a closed network that my MBP uses. An easy fix would be then to give myself a reason to buy either an Airport Express, or since I don't have a stereo but do have a N laptop, the new 802.11N Extreme base station.

BUT, I also have another, less favored option. I know that there are devices out there that can record straight onto an iPod video from a TV source. Except that I have neither an iPod Video, A VCR or standalone DVD player that can take coax in and RCA out, and of course the RCA->iPod Tivo-type device. While this would give me a legitimate excuse to buy a 5G iPod, this option wold cost a lot more than my first option. Another downside would be that I would need to get a VCR so that I could tell what I 'm recording as most of the iPod Tivo boxes just do record start and record stop and don't have DVR functions like the EyeTVs do.

What do you all think I should do, or do you even have a better option? Worse comes to worse I do like I have been, watch TV when I can, and if I miss something, big deal, unless it's 24.

Thanks,
-Brian

You can use a splitter at the source to run coax to both your Hybrid and your TV. I'm sorry you want to record without a computer? I don't understand. If your Cube is 500Mhz you could use it with an antenna for off air digital if you look at Sears Tower from your window.

Forget that. Hybrid wants USB2 and Cube is USB 1.1. You would need to find a EyeTV 500 (discontinued) that runs on FireWire for your Cube to be the recording host.

 

[brianbobcat]

You can use a splitter at the source to run coax to both your Hybrid and your TV. I'm sorry you want to record without a computer? I don't understand. If your Cube is 500Mhz you could use it with an antenna for off air digital if you look at Sears Tower from your window.

Forget that. Hybrid wants USB2 and Cube is USB 1.1. You would need to find a EyeTV 500 (discontinued) that runs on FireWire for your Cube to be the recording host.

I didn't really think about the splitter idea, but wasn't sure I could use one since I'm already splitting it to send to the cable modem and the TV. I do have a line of sight of the Sears Tower since I live downtown chicago and am only like 1/2 mile from it. The cube is upgraded to 1.2Ghz, 1.25GB RAM, upgraded video card, but what device would I use to record the over the air signals? I figure a set of old fashion bunny ears but what USB or firewire box?

Thanks, I really appreciate this,
-Brian

 

[mkrishnan]

Couple of questions... is this digital / HD cable or analog cable? Have you already eliminated an actual DVR from your option list? Admitting first that I have a DVR and love it... it has periodically bit my interest to look at the possibility of replacing my receiver, DVD player, and DVR with a computer and a terabyte or so of spanned disk storage. But in the searching I've done so far, what I continually hear is that I can't yet find the experience nearly as satisfying with any computer-based solution. DVRs are so friendly and easy to use. Not to mention that with many of them, the possibility of downloading and/or wirelessly streaming video to computers is also present.

 

[brianbobcat]

Couple of questions... is this digital / HD cable or analog cable? Have you already eliminated an actual DVR from your option list? Admitting first that I have a DVR and love it... it has periodically bit my interest to look at the possibility of replacing my receiver, DVD player, and DVR with a computer and a terabyte or so of spanned disk storage. But in the searching I've done so far, what I continually hear is that I can't yet find the experience nearly as satisfying with any computer-based solution. DVRs are so friendly and easy to use. Not to mention that with many of them, the possibility of downloading and/or wirelessly streaming video to computers is also present.

No I haven't ruled out a DVR unit itself, but it's just that I already have two DVD players on both my comps, both with screens larger and sound systems better than my TV. My dad has two Panasonic DVRs and they're both fairly easy to use, but I like the idea of being able to remotely schedule events using the Titan TV software with the EyeTVs. Also, if there's something I ever want to keep or edit, it's easier to do on my comp then on those somewhat clunky interfaces. But do you have a recommendation for a specific brand or unit of DVR?

Thanks,
-Brian