EyeTV on 12in Powerbook?

[_pb_boi]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone ever used the EyeTV ?

I saw it on the Apple Store website, and it sounds intriguing.

My question is this, though; would a rev B (1GHz) 12in Powerbook be able to use it, especially when it's already gonna be driving a 20in cinema display? Would I really be able to watch quality TV through it, on the display?

Thanks!

andy.

 

[parrothead]

I use the original EyeTV. You can see which one I am talking about at elgato.com. They have several versions. Anyway the EyeTV I use has a USB interface and I have run it on three computers (15" PB 1.25, 15"TIBook 500mhz, and 14" ibook G3 700 mhz) It works like a charm on all three computers with all kinds of applications running and with external monitors/TVs connected. I definitely recommend EyeTV, one of the newer models might give a little better quality picture, but my trusty original has allowed me never to miss an episode of Joey or Friends and the pic quality is just fine.

As a side note, I really like the way that one can connect AV cables to the EyeTV box in addition to the coax cable. This has allowed me to turn some old VHS tapes into digital media (VCD, DVD).

Hopefully this helps.

 

[_pb_boi]

parrothead,

That definately helps! Cheers for the reply!

Is it an elegant solution? As simple as going into my room, turning on the display and watching TV? If it is, I'd definately consider getting one... would save me buying a separate LCD TV

Cheers!

andy.

 

[parrothead]

The quality I get from my original EyeTV is not bad, about equal to a VHS tape. But, I have mine on the VCD quality setting. There is a high quality setting and on the newer ones, I am pretty sure the quality is even better. Basically mine works like this:

1. Plug USB cable into computer.
2. Software automatically starts and brings up live tv screen tuned to most recent channel.

Thats it. It is super easy to schedule shows to be recorded and also really easy to cut the commercials out of the recorded shows. In the later versions of the software I have been noticing options that allow you to change aspect ratios from 4:3 to 16:9 etc. Also one really nice thing if you have a compatible bluetooth cell phone is using it as a remote. I have my SE T610 set up with a little program called Salling Clicker and I use it as a remote control for EyeTV. I can change channels, mute, pause, FF, Rew, go in and out of full screen, etc. (that app also allows you to control several other apps like itunes, DVD player, iphoto, etc.)

As far as elegance goes, I would say it is pretty good. Be aware that if you had EyeTV on and a regular TV on at the same time you would notice a 2-4 second delay in the picture because the EyeTV box has to process the signal. I say go for it, but check the elgato site first to see all the options.

 

[jsw]

I also have the original EyeTV and love it. The quality is, as mentioned, OK but not superior. However, it's as good as they could do with a USB1.1 connection. For anything except those Discovery Channel space shows, it'll be fine.

My understanding of the EyeTV 200 is that the Firewire interface provides the bandwidth for a much better image - and much larger files when you record.

As a side note, if you have a digital camcorder already, you could just plug a VCR's output into the camcorder and plug the camcorder's Firewire plug into your Mac - most recent camcorders allow this A/D conversion. As a plus, since it's seen as DV input, you can pipe it via iChat... pretty cool. I don't think that the EyeTV 200 shows up as a DV device (the EyeTV USB definitely doesn't), so you can't do the iChat trick with one.

All in all, my two-year-old EyeTV USB has been quite useful and worth the investment.

 

[_pb_boi]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I've used Salling Clicker in its shareware version before, and found it to be brilliant. I just never got around to buying it for some reason.

It seems as though it'll do the job then. I'm just conscious of the fact that 'ok' quality might seem a bit crappy on a 20in high resolution display, that's all?

At the minute, it's a choice between a Sony Clie TH55 handheld and the EyeTV. If I ge one, I'll save for the other no doubt, though!

Cheers again! Starting to be convinced about the EyeTV!

andy.

 

[jxyama]

i have the USB one running on rev. A 12" PB (867 MHz) and it works very well. it has a full screen mode, so i imagine it will look very nice on a cinema display. (though it would stretch into widescreen aspect ratio?)

just for reference, USB eyeTV is mpeg1. it's not the best there is, but for the price, it's hard to beat the convenience. FW one is mpeg2, which is DVD quality. so i imagine it will be very nice.

 

[_pb_boi]

That fairly settles it then! DVD quality TV through my 20in cinema display? Sounds good to me!

Cheers!

andy.

 

[risc]

Has anyone ever used the EyeTV ?

I've got the EyeTV 400 DVB-T (Digital / HDTV here in .au) hardware hooked up to my G5 and it works perfectly. I've also got the EyeHome streaming media to my TV / HiFi in the living room, together they make for some nice hardware. The software on the EyeTV is great, and the Eye home is getting better with each firmware upgrade. Higly recommended.

Also check out http://www.lucid-cake.net/cytv/index_en.html if you'd like to stream the output from the EyeTV to other computers in the house, it doesn't matter what OS they run as long as they have VLC installed. I've used this app for a while to stream TV over wireless to my iBook I can't recommend it highly enough!

 

[_pb_boi]

Risc,

Thanks for the reply

I think I might go for it then, it definately seems worth it. Was just cautious as I'd never used anything like it before!

Cheers! Streaming it to other computers is a cool idea, I could stream to the downstairs desktop then, or my brothers lappie. Thanks for the link

Cheers,

andy.