eyetv 200/250 on an older G4

[yg17]

I was wanting to get a Tivo, then decided I wanted to build a PVR, then realized building a PVR wasn't cheap. Then, I found eyeTV, and cheaper, older G4 Macs (Towers and cubes) on eBay. eyeTV 250's minimum requirements is a 500MHz G4. How well would it run on a 500MHz G4?

Also, most cubes I've found are 450MHz. Would it still run well enough for me to watch and record TV? Thanks

 

[Eidorian]

I'd go with the EyeTV 250 since it has hardware decoding and you won't be hitting your CPU that much. I believe the minimum requirements are a 500 MHz G4 for most tuners.

You're going to need a USB 2.0 card too for it.

 

[yg17]

You're going to need a USB 2.0 card too for it.

****. The cubes dont have PCI slots, do they? I really wanted a cube.

 

[Eidorian]

****. The cubes dont have PCI slots, do they? I really wanted a cube.

Nope, just one AGP slot. You'd have to go with the FireWire EyeTV's. Mac Mini's (G4) run for $100 more.

 

[yg17]

Nope, just one AGP slot. You'd have to go with the FireWire EyeTV's. Mac Mini's (G4) run for $100 more.

Yeah I know

I found some 400 and 450MHz Sawtooths for under $200 on eBay, but then I forgot the costs of a huge hard drive, possibly more RAM, and an AGP card that has TV-out. Just wouldn't be worth it.

It looks like I'm back to Tivo for the cheapest. Now with them, you get a free box if you do a 1 year contract at $20 a month. For the price of a decent DIY PVR, I can pay for 3 years of Tivo. And in 3 years, knowing me, I'd want to upgrade the PVR so that would be another few hundred.