I am looking to add TV to my iMac, because it seems to be a more logical solution for me. I'm a college student with limited dorm space, wanting to watch and record TV from my university's cable connection. I have been looking at at various solutions, mainly from El Gato. What are your experiances? Has anyone used the Hybrid model from El Gato? The one that uses a USB connection? This particular one seems really cool, but I can't find any personal experiance information. Any info on the Hybrid model by El Gato or any other TV solution by any other manufacterer would be really great. Thanks guys!
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Personal Experiance w/ TV on iMac
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Not exactly the hybrid, but I do have the EyeTV for DTT from ElGato which has the same form factor. Originally I had a few problems with the signal strength being too low for some channels to display properly, but the 2.3.1 update released last week has fixed that. The Full Screen Mode is great and easily accessible by use of the Apple Remote (you hold down the Menu button). I have a 2m USB cable out the back of my iMac so the EyeTV is hidden down by the TV socket which the "stick" models allow you to do.
Definitely worth the money if you're wanting a TV solution. The Miglia products also use the EyeTV software, so you have a raft of options to choose from if you decide the Hybrid isn't the one for you.
Definitely worth the money if you're wanting a TV solution. The Miglia products also use the EyeTV software, so you have a raft of options to choose from if you decide the Hybrid isn't the one for you.
Thanks! airkarol, I realize that EyeTV is the software to go with, I haven't even heard of anything else, lol. At this point it is a matter of which hardware will be the best option. dynamicv, I have been looking at the EyeTV for DTT as well, I really like the extreamly small options. I also noticed TVMicro by Miglia operates from a USB stick. Do you record with the DTT? What kind of quality do you get from recordings? And how much space would, say, an hour of recording take up. Thanks guys! 
You can record and buffer with the DTT as with all the EyeTV/Miglia models. It comes out pretty much broadcast-quality for DVB. The disk space is dependent on whether the broadcast is widescreen or not. Typically I use about 3GB for an hour long widescreen program.
http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvmain
I just went to the above link... to get it to work is all you have to do is buy it, and insert your cable connection into it?
I just went to the above link... to get it to work is all you have to do is buy it, and insert your cable connection into it?
Another recommendation for EyeTV 2 here, being a student as well with a small amount of space, I've had no problems with it on my iMac 17" Core Duo.
Plus, scheduling recordings and pausing tv etc. is so easy to do, and so useful! I pause a 1 hour programme at the start, then resume watching it about 15 mins later. This way I end up skipping all the ad breaks and finishing at the normal end time!
Plus, scheduling recordings and pausing tv etc. is so easy to do, and so useful! I pause a 1 hour programme at the start, then resume watching it about 15 mins later. This way I end up skipping all the ad breaks and finishing at the normal end time!
I saw a Miglia product at Fry's the other day, running at about $120, although I forget what this is called. Are all the Miglia products running EyeTV 2? or are there any running standard EyeTV? I am considering getting an external hard drive to save recordings on later. Although I'm sure my iMac's 250 GBs' will hold up pretty well for now (Still have 199 GB of unused space on here...lol).
I got a freebie Freecom USB digital TV stick which only came with Windows software. Luckily, the EyeTV supported it (it's just a re-branded Miglia) so I bought the EyeTV software.
I've got to say, EyeTV is absolutely top-notch. A Windows-using friend of mine with the same TV tuner was amazed when we compared the generic Windows software with EyeTV. The user interface is great, the recording/timeshift stuff worked flawlessly and the integration with online programme guide services is very handy. Elgato are very on the ball when it comes to keeping the software up-to-date and often throw in some great improvements with their free updates (the latest being the fullscreen interface in the style of Front Row, complete with Apple remote control support).
Can't recommend it highly enough!
I've got to say, EyeTV is absolutely top-notch. A Windows-using friend of mine with the same TV tuner was amazed when we compared the generic Windows software with EyeTV. The user interface is great, the recording/timeshift stuff worked flawlessly and the integration with online programme guide services is very handy. Elgato are very on the ball when it comes to keeping the software up-to-date and often throw in some great improvements with their free updates (the latest being the fullscreen interface in the style of Front Row, complete with Apple remote control support).
Can't recommend it highly enough!
Has anyone used these products with standard USB 1.1?? It sucks that they don't seem to have a firewire version anymore, and my 17" powerbook has only USB 1.1. I'm worried that I will only be able to record at some half quality or something?
Any ideas?
Sam
Any ideas?
Sam
If you plug an EyeTV in via a USB1.1 port, it will just tell you that port cannot be used and you won't even see the TV signal. Can't say for definite about the Miglia ones, but I suspect it will be the same.samiwas said:Has anyone used these products with standard USB 1.1?? It sucks that they don't seem to have a firewire version anymore, and my 17" powerbook has only USB 1.1. I'm worried that I will only be able to record at some half quality or something?
Any ideas?