Best TV Program for Mac

[iMacSE500]

I just got a new G5 iMac (17" 1.8ghz) and since I am going off to college, I would like this huge screen to double as a tv. I have done some research and it seems like the two best options are the Elgato Eyetv 200 and the Formac Studio TVR. Does anyone have any opinions on either of these two systems (or a different one that I missed)? The both are $300.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[cwright]

I just ordered a Formac Studio TVR last week for me to take to college this friday. Unfortuneately it is back-ordered until tuesday or wednesday of this week, so it may not get here before I leave

But as soon as I get my hands on it I'll be sure to let you know how it works out.

 

[~Shard~]

I have heard good things about the EyeTV, especially if you want to record TV shows and such and have it act as a Tivo replacement. I believe there are other threads on the subject (at least for EyeTV) so feel free to do a search in the Forums for additional information. No matter which one you purchase, I don't think you can go too wrong.

 

[iMacSE500]

Are there any memory requirements? Right now, I have the stock 512mb but would like to upgrade it. Any suggestions.

 

[~Shard~]

Are there any memory requirements? Right now, I have the stock 512mb but would like to upgrade it. Any suggestions.

For the device itself, no, you're probably fine (I'm assuming), but if you want to do anything with the content, i.e. edit it, etc., then you'd probably need 1 GB. The bigger consideration when talking about recording shows (not sure if this is something you'll want to be doing, or just watching) is HD space though - you need gobs of it.

My guess is you should be fine with 512 MB, but I could be wrong...

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

I'd say you'd be fine with the 512, but to be safe and for future experiences.. you might wanna pop in a 1GB stick just in case, if you have the money.

if you can AT ALL throw in something, i.e. 512, 1GB, or even 256

more RAM, the merrier, right?

Hope that helps!

 

[iMacSE500]

I'd say you'd be fine with the 512, but to be safe and for future experiences.. you might wanna pop in a 1GB stick just in case, if you have the money.

if you can AT ALL throw in something, i.e. 512, 1GB, or even 256

more RAM, the merrier, right?

Hope that helps!

Is there any problems with unmatched memory pairs?

 

[1nsanity]

Is there any problems with unmatched memory pairs?

Not with the iMac, but some benchmarks show that having paired sticks increases performance from 10-15%.

 

[~Shard~]

Not with the iMac, but some benchmarks show that having paired sticks increases performance from 10-15%.

Yep - did this test myself the last time I upgraded my iMac's RAM and noticed a difference.

 

[iMacSE500]

Found another TV for the mac called ConvertX PVR for the Mac. It seems like this is $100 cheaper than the Eyetv200 with the same features(USB 2.0 instead of Firewire 400). Any opinions on this one?
Thanks for all the help guys. I am probably going to buy a 1GB stick before I go off to college.

 

[cwright]

For a TV tuner/recorder I would recommend sticking with firewire based units. USB 2.0 has a higher peak data rate, but Firewire has a much better sustained data rate, which is what you'd want for watching/recording TV.

Now USB 2 may be plenty for TV tuners, but if it were me I'd still stick with Firewire. Plus with the USB you don't get bus powered units.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Not with the iMac, but some benchmarks show that having paired sticks increases performance from 10-15%.

The theoretical pair-RAM performance increase only applies to the iMac G5s
The iMac G3 and G4 machines have no facility to use dual channel, 128 bit access or interleaving. Any performance benefit is purely from the additional free RAM, not from module pairing.

 

[~Shard~]

The theoretical pair-RAM performance increase only applies to the iMac G5s
The iMac G3 and G4 machines have no facility to use dual channel, 128 bit access or interleaving. Any performance benefit is purely from the additional free RAM, not from module pairing.

Really? Maybe I didn't notice a difference then...

 

[iMacSE500]

Elgato is selling refurbished Eyetv 200s for $200. Since, i was willing to spend $300, i will buy the refurbished for $200 and a 1gb stick RAM from dealram.com for $91. Thanks for the help.