wdlove said:
OK, I have DirecTV. How exactly would one go about setting one of these up with that?
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ElGato EyeTV
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OK, I have DirecTV. How exactly would one go about setting one of these up with that?
I'm looking into getting a eyetv for my imac g5 but I'm unsure which one to get. The price difference between the eyetv 200 and 500 is so small. As of right now I have regular cable, not even digital. After reading ElGato website I'm confused if the eyetv 500 will even work for me. Any help would be great
THanks
THanks
Yeah, I was able to pick up a couple of channels. I live in a fairly rural city, so I'm sure with a halfway decent antenna I could have got more.Estic said:
The picture quality looked great. I wouldn't go as far as to say "DVD quality", but it looked pretty close to me. Though, I suppose a better antenna could fix that. I was only getting a 30% signal. If it wasn't for the fact that I want to transfer lots of VHS and archived TiVo programs to DVD, I'd probably keep the 500.
I don't know, to be honest. I haven't seen the 200.Estic said:
Though, I know the ultra cheap AverTV card on my old PC was Video CD quality... so I'd have to imagine something like the 200 would be much better 😀
Twinkie said:
The quality on the 200 is pretty good. I run it full screen on my G4 iMac 17" and it looks great. The editing is pretty good also. I recorded a show last night and removed the commercials. After I figured it out (the documenation was pretty weak) it works pretty well. It took a while to compress the video without the commercials, but it worked.
One other thing about the eye tv's is TitanTv.com's remote scheduling. I just discovered that today. link
I just remote scheduled what I want to get tonight. I can't wait to get home and see if my eyetv is waiting to record those shows. BTW that is only availible from TitanTV on the EyeTV. link
Bill 3 said:
You can download Eyetv from here to use with the Plextor PCR - http://www.elgato.com/index.php?fil...tv&PHPSESSID=f96fce86ac41e72388d880ab6830163d
As for Authentication code, I don't have a clue what you are talking about.
varmit said:
I have the same problem. In the installatin process, if you choose a Plextor TVR40u as a device, the software ask you for an activation key. If you choose any other devices supported by the application, the key is not require.
I've contacted Elgato and they only sell the software to plextor as OEM. You are force to buy the Plextor for mac package. : 😡
Keep in mind that for Remote Scheduling to work, you have to change a couple of Preference settings. Under "Guide" you have to check the box where it says to check for updates (or something like that) and specify how often it should check (hourly, every 3 hours, etc.). Also, you have to have it set up so it wakes up the Mac if there's a program to record (or for it to go out and check for Remotely Scheduled programs).
I just figured this out last week, and it really works! Now I wish they would let you specify the times that it should wake up & check for new recordings to make. I want it to check from like 9 to 5 only, after that I'd be home, and wouldn't be Remotely Scheduuling anything. Maybe someday they'll do that.
I just figured this out last week, and it really works! Now I wish they would let you specify the times that it should wake up & check for new recordings to make. I want it to check from like 9 to 5 only, after that I'd be home, and wouldn't be Remotely Scheduuling anything. Maybe someday they'll do that.
Symtex said:
Isn't that wonderful. Everyone passing the buck. Maybe you can try asking a manager, or atleast keep escalating it up the food chain till someone gives you a satisfaactory answer. If the hardware is the same, as it would seem, then it should be able to be done.
I thought the EyeTV 500 was for the European market, where they actually have open standards for digital sat and cable distribution? DirectTV and Dish here in the states are anything but open, thus the inability to have a universal channel control, other than kludging up an IR transmitter interface.
It will allow you to view TV on your mac no matter what. But it can get hairy. For instance... many channels aren't even digital. My cable box only delivers ~10 digital channels. Those are the movie channels... the rest of the channels just come right from the wall... straight up analog. So you can split the cable line and tune through all the analog chanels on the Mac. But you won't be able to view the digital channels. That doesn't mean that you can't view them though... you can run the output from the cable box into the elgato, and record/view that way. But in order for an eyetv to be a digital reciever, there would have to be alot more hardware. they'd be alot more expensive, and wouldn't work with all cable companies... some cable companies even use proprietary box's.wide said:
ATSC in the US is a digital open to the air standard based off of antennas. It is not "closed" like DirecTV or DishNet, because those are proprietary based off of satellites. The EyeTV 500 tunes into ATSC signals, not satellite, and it can also now tune into clear QAM channels from your cable provider.daveL said:
As far as the EyeTV 500 is concerned, it depends. Most cable companies currently offer some form of clear QAM support. These are digital channels that do not require a specific cable box, just a QAM compatible tuner. When you see the "HD Built-in" label on a TV for instance, that generally means that it has a QAM tuner. For most cable companies, the channels offered over QAM are your local HDTV channels, possibly the digital music channels, and a few digital cable channels that would normally require a STB. Of course, for the QAM to be operational, you need at least some kind of subscription to cable service, but it doesn't have to be one of their "digital" packages, it could be just basic+expanded analog and you would be fine.wide said:
Now onto the EyeTV 200, USB, Plextor, and ATI Wonder. Because all of these have analog inputs, you can easily receive and record any channel you subscribe to. Its simply a matter of using the composite or s-video inputs on the box from your cable STB to watch and record. The difference between these boxes and the EyeTV 500 is that the 500 is an all-digital solution. There is NEVER any conversion before it records to disk. With the other products, if you are recording digital cable, that means you have to convert the digital to analog on output and then back to digital when it comes into your mac.