Eyetv 250 or tivo

[puckhead193]

So i want a PVR but don't know what to get. I like the idea of being able to export my shows to my iPod. But i rather sit on my bed and watch tv. how reliable is the eyetv? Does it still work if the computer is a sleep/screensaver running? I guess if i get eyetv i'm gonna have to get toast right to burn DVDs......
I live in the dorms and have a room-mate, can i lock the tivo? (I don't want all his shows taking up space/recording on my tivo.
I was on tivo's website and saw that "new" series 2 can record two shows at once but has restrictions:

* Record from two basic cable channels, or one basic cable and one digital cable channel, at once. Does not support recording from two digital cable or satellite channels at once. Supports recording from cable and satellite sources only; does not support recording from over-the-air antenna.

My school uses directv so will i be able to use this feature? how do i know if the channels are digital or not
Which would you get and why?

 

[Motley]

If you have directtv the eyetv probably won't be a good choice since the eyetv won't be able to control the channels (as is my understanding).

 

[ChickenSwartz]

So i want a PVR but don't know what to get. I like the idea of being able to export my shows to my iPod. But i rather sit on my bed and watch tv. how reliable is the eyetv? Does it still work if the computer is a sleep/screensaver running? I guess if i get eyetv i'm gonna have to get toast right to burn DVDs......
I live in the dorms and have a room-mate, can i lock the tivo? (I don't want all his shows taking up space/recording on my tivo.
I was on tivo's website and saw that "new" series 2 can record two shows at once but has restrictions:

My school uses directv so will i be able to use this feature? how do i know if the channels are digital or not
Which would you get and why?

Do you have a cable/satelite box? If so you probably won't be able to record two at once. The limitations on this com from the fact that the "box" has to decode the signal before the TiVo can record. This is why you can never record more than 2 digital shows at once. The basic cable is easier to decode, this function is built into the TiVo so it can record 2 shows from basic cable.

The software that allows you to move TiVo shows onto your iPod only works with Windows as far as I know. It is called TiVo to go. I believe you can still move the shows from the TiVo to the MAc using other software, then you would have to convert it for use on your iPod.

 

[puckhead193]

at school, their is no box, just the cable hook up...
So when i come and hook up the tivo in my direct tv, i couldn't record to shows at once?

 

[ChickenSwartz]

at school, their is no box, just the cable hook up...
So when i come and hook up the tivo in my direct tv, i couldn't record to shows at once?

I am afraid I don't understand completely.

So when you hook up your tv you just plug it into the wall and it works?

When a person has direct tv at their home they have the dish plus a box, the box "tunes" the satellite signal to the correct channel. It seems to me that your school has these boxes somewhere and tunes all the channels and then sends it out to you like regular cable? right?

If this is the case then you can treat it like regular basic cable, you would be able to record 2 things at the same time.

Here's how you can tell. If you were to take the coaxial cable that comes into your room and split it and attach 2 TVs, could you watch seperate channels on each?

If so then this means you can record two things at once, becasue, essentially, this is what the TiVo does.

 

[Tastannin]

EyeTV is more Mac-friendly. You'll be able to burn DVD's of your shows, and transcode for your iPod easier. However you'll have to have your Mac on all the time (it can be sleeping, EyeTV will wake it up to record a scheduled show). Also, the EyeTV software isn't as easy to use as TiVO is (no Season Passes, keywords, etc).

TiVO is much easier to use, but it'll be a pain in the rear to get the recordings off the TiVO to DVD or iPod. If you have an Intel Mac, you can run Windows (Parallels or BootCamp) and use that to get TivoToGo so that you can burn to DVD or put on your iPod.

HTH

 

[puckhead193]

I am afraid I don't understand completely.

So when you hook up your tv you just plug it into the wall and it works?

When a person has direct tv at their home they have the dish plus a box, the box "tunes" the satellite signal to the correct channel. It seems to me that your school has these boxes somewhere and tunes all the channels and then sends it out to you like regular cable? right?

If this is the case then you can treat it like regular basic cable, you would be able to record 2 things at the same time.

Here's how you can tell. If you were to take the coaxial cable that comes into your room and split it and attach 2 TVs, could you watch seperate channels on each?

If so then this means you can record two things at once, becasue, essentially, this is what the TiVo does.

Yea, i don't get all 9 billion channels, we only get like 40 channels or something. But i know from a friend,she, got a splitter and was able to split it so she can watch her tv and her roommate could watch tv on a different channel.

 

[ChickenSwartz]

Yea, i don't get all 9 billion channels, we only get like 40 channels or something. All But i know from a friend got a splitter and was able to split it so she can watch her tv and her roommate could watch tv on a different channel.

So consider everything in the instructions as you having basic cable.

 

[Tastannin]

EyeTV can control a DirectTV box with the addition of a USB IR box and iEyeCaptain software. Check it out here.

I have both at home anyways. I use EyeTV to pull off recordings from the TiVO using the "Save to VCR" feature, and it works great. In MPEG-4 a hour of TV is about a gig's worth of disk space, so it's quite efficient for me, and I really don't bother transcoding, I just put the recordings on a external 2.5 inch drive and plug it into my MacBook and watch it in EyeTV on the road. I do it this way because EyeTV preserves the closed captioning stream.

I've experimented with using Orb (DVR Anywhere actually) on Windows via Parallels - this lets me watch shows right from the TiVO anywhere, but I'd have to connect a closed caption decoder before the TiVO so the captions effectively become "open". It'd be a good trade-off, because I wouldn't have to pull recordings off the TiVO via EyeTV - and I can watch TiVO recordings anywhere I go via a web browser (Mac, PC, Linux, and even via my Sprint Treo 700p!) Captions are a big deal for me because I'm deaf.

 

[weldon]

You've received good advice on here. Just to clarify, your school is taking the signal from DirecTV and then remodulating their channels onto your university cable system as though they were basic cable service. To a TV or a TiVo, or an EyeTV the signal on your dorm cable looks like regular basic analog cable service.

TiVo is a wonderful device. I got my first TiVo about 5 years ago and fell in love. For $250 for the first year, you'll get an 80 hour box with a year of service. You'll have to continue paying a monthly subscription fee to use the TiVo. It's trouble free and works. If you're technical and adventurous you can expand the storage capacity and hack it. It's really cool.

For $200, you can get the EyeTV 250 which will also record TV shows. It has the benefit of not requiring an additional subscription for program guide info. You can also hook up a game console and display it on your Mac screen.

My personal preference would be to get the TiVo and let it worry about recording TV shows and do other things with your Mac. Still, others like working with their computer and the EyeTV is a good solution.

 

[puckhead193]

So i never bought a tivo/eye tv. I was looking at the tivo togo site. how does it transfer the records from the tivo box to your computer? (assuming if i install XP on my imac) Once its on my windows part, how will i be able to put it on the mac side and put it in itunes/ipod?

 

[puckhead193]

so i figure i would post my question here, with the purchase of my mom's imac i also got an Miglia TVMicro, but i was thinking of returning it for an eyetv 250. Thoughts, comments. Does the tvmicro have built in hardware encoding... how much better is the 250 for my imac?
Also since my imac has 3 usb ports i use a hub, i have my hub, ipod, and receiver for my wireless keyboard/mouse. The question is which one should i put into my hub in-place for the tvmicro or 250?
edit - anyone have Roxio - toast 8?

 

[puckhead193]

anyone have a Miglia TVMicro? would you recommend it?

 

[TonicAngel]

The software that allows you to move TiVo shows onto your iPod only works with Windows as far as I know. It is called TiVo to go. I believe you can still move the shows from the TiVo to the MAc using other software, then you would have to convert it for use on your iPod.

There is an app called tivo to go that you can download with visualhub. You can find the program on versiontracker or just google it. I'm not sure how that app works since I do not have tivo, but that is avaliable in the visualhub package. That program also converts tv shows to ipod, burns shows to dvd... etc. You should check that program out as well.

 

[puckhead193]

There is an app called tivo to go that you can download with visualhub. You can find the program on versiontracker or just google it. I'm not sure how that app works since I do not have tivo, but that is avaliable in the visualhub package. That program also converts tv shows to ipod, burns shows to dvd... etc. You should check that program out as well.

thanks for the suggestion, but i purchased the TVmicro and was wondering if i should have gotten the eye tv 250 because of the built in hardware encoding

 

[zflauaus]

thanks for the suggestion, but i purchased the TVmicro and was wondering if i should have gotten the eye tv 250 because of the built in hardware encoding

I can see from your sig that you have an iMac C2D and a PowerBook. I assume you will record on your iMac.

Since your iMac is a C2D, I'd say keep the Miglia. Your C2D is more than capable of encoding the TV on the fly. Plus you have one core dedicated to the processing and the other to what ever you'd like.

If it was your PowerBook, I'd say you might want to look at the 250 ONLY because software encoding tends to slow the computer down, which in turn slows the encoding down. So if you're using the iMac, I'd keep the Miglia.

 

[puckhead193]

I can see from your sig that you have an iMac C2D and a PowerBook. I assume you will record on your iMac.

Since your iMac is a C2D, I'd say keep the Miglia. Your C2D is more than capable of encoding the TV on the fly. Plus you have one core dedicated to the processing and the other to what ever you'd like.

If it was your PowerBook, I'd say you might want to look at the 250 ONLY because software encoding tends to slow the computer down, which in turn slows the encoding down. So if you're using the iMac, I'd keep the Miglia.

Thanks for the reply, the powerbook is now for class use only, in-fact i plan on reformatting it to clear of a lot of crap that i don't need. Will i notice a difference with the eyet250 or is it not worth the extra $100

 

[zflauaus]

Thanks for the reply, the powerbook is now for class use only, in-fact i plan on reformatting it to clear of a lot of crap that i don't need. Will i notice a difference with the eyet250 or is it not worth the extra $100

Honestly, the only thing different I believe between the Miglia and the EyeTV 250 is the EyeTV software, that you can get. Since your using it on the iMac, I'd save that $100 and maybe put it to an HDTV tuner when you want to get one.