EyeTV Product For MB?

xfiftyfour

xfiftyfour

macrumors 68030
Okay, I'm in the states, and have dish satelite as my provider. My fiance and I spend most of our time in the office, but there's no TV in here, so I'm thinking of getting one of the elgato products. Plus I have a video iPod, so being able to throw a couple episodes of whatever onto it would definitely be a plus.

My question is, which would be better for running on a MB, the 250 or the hybrid? As I understand it, the 250 has a built in encoder so it's not so demanding on the processor? Games won't be important. HD would be nice, but is a low priority.

Does anyone actually have one of these connected to a MB? How is it? Does it work well? Is it even worth my buy, or will the performance be such a disappointment that I ought to just save my money? :p

I've never used one of these, or seen one in action, so I really have no clue - thought I'd turn to the MR experts for some advice. Thanks for any input!
 
edit: did a search ( :eek: heh ) for people who had the hybrid on a MB and it seems most are pretty happy with the results, so I'd probably go for that.
 
I was in the same boat but with a PoweBook G4. I discovered that if you have satellite tv, having a DVR can be a real pain.

http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/468/

Quoted from that link:
"To change channels on a cable box or satellite receiver, you must use the remote control for that receiver. EyeTV cannot control external receivers at this time - it cannot change channels automatically when using an external receiver."

So I don't think it would be very convenient to record shows this way. I don't know how you would schedule recordings with this setup.

I've read about a work-around with various third party hardware but it was too complicated for my liking.

Anyone actually use eyeTV with satellite and like it?
 
well now i'm really confused, haha. So, the hybrid only works with satelite if you first go through a receiver, like the ones hooked up to each of my TVs? That's not convenient.

Glad you raised that point - I would have been quite disappointed!
 
I couldn't find any way to go directly from the satellite to the EyeTV except for a PCI card that was, of course, for a PC. I'm not so sure though, I was confused as to what exactly it could do.

The only good solution I see is to switch to cable. I hope someone here can actually provide some real experience trying the satellite setup.

Edit: added "not" so sure
 
mahonmeister said:
The only good solution I see is to switch to cable.
Click to expand...
haha, well that's not possible where I live. We only have one cable provider, and they don't offer very many channels, and are more expensive than satellite.

I'll just stick with satellite, and go downstairs when I want to watch TV, haha. This was just a thought - it would be nice, but not if it's going to be too much trouble.

But, yeah, if anyone uses satellite, please post your experiences. Maybe when I'm actually set to buy, I'll give elgato a call and get the information first hand, rather than trying to decipher their FAQ..
 
mahonmeister said:
I found a great article if you give this the go-ahead.

http://www.macworld.com/2006/05/features/multimediamini/index.php

The writer also has satellite but uses some third party things to get around the problem. It isn't simple but it gets the job done. Seeing that you have no other options, maybe you should give it a try and report back, just for me.:D
Click to expand...
:eek:

$100+ in an extra piece of equipment just to control it?! Bump that. That brings the price to nearly $300 total.. I might as well buy a new TV for the office at that rate! haha

edit: i still can't believe no one else has piped in here. surely we're not the only two on the forums that have satellite and wanted tv on our macs?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top