Miglia TVmini or Elgato Hybrid?

[Hobbit]

I'm planning to buy either miglia TVmini or elgato hybrid. The aim is to be able to watch and record digital tv programmes on my macbook but i really don't know which one to choose miglia Tvmini or Elgato Hybrid?

I have a few questions regarding both:

1) How practical is it to record say a one-hour tv show on my 1.83GHz +1.25GB ram macbook? does it take long to encode? and will i be able to use my macbook comfortably during recording?

2) Can i use any of these on a USB hub or do they have to be directly attached to the macbook USB port?

3) To those who use the hybrid? i heard that the stick is too wide that you can't use the adhacent usb port, is that true?

4) does any one recommened one more than the other and why?

Thank you all for your help

 

[khisayruou]

Hybrid: If you also plan on recording analog. No remote/antenna.
Mini: Comes with a remote and a small antenna.

1. It will record a one hour show without problems. Fans might rev up but that is expected. It doesn't encode anything since its encoded already. Not sure about getting it into ipod format, have yet to try that. You will be able to use the macbook while recording, just dont game.

2. As long as the usb hub is powered, I am sure you will be fine.

3. Hybrid is pretty thick and will block other ports on a laptop, but it comes with an usb extension cable which doesn't block it.

 

[Darwin]

Just to add to number 2, if your going to use a hub make sure that it supports USB 2.0 otherwise the stick won't work.

To me it seems that if the only thing that your going to be recording is a digital signal then the TV Mini will do you fine. I wouldn't expect to get a great signal from using the mini aerial provided but if you hook it up to a main aerial then you shouldn't have any problems.

Also having the remote is good

As for using your computer at the same time, you should be fine, you can also set up how much RAM you wish to use for the buffer so that will have an effect on performance

 

[rogertb]

Lost channels

Hi ... hope you don't mind me piggybacking on this thread ... I'd like to add I've had the tvmini for ages now and use it with my spare G4 as our only TV receiver at home it's excellent in every way but I've just updated to Elgato's eyetv 2.3.2 and have now lost several channels that I had before the update ... I've rescanned a few times but with no luck ... anyone any ideas please ?

Best roger

 

[jimTV]

I got a Hybrid because I wanted to digitise some old VHS's. It works great. Picture quality is great too. No problems. Seems exactly like the TVmini but with extra ability.