[tavilach]

I'm not much of a TV buff, but I do think it'd be nice to watch TV in my dorm room with a TV tuner. When I had my PC desktop, I was thinking about buying this $50 TV tuner card. I decided to send my desktop back home, as I really don't need it...my PowerBook does all that I need. What is the best thing that I can do to watch TV, now?

I've heard good things about EyeTV, but EyeTV USB costs $150, and it seems to be of far lower quality than the $50 Leadtek card. I mean...352 by 288 seems like it'd be simply horrid, whereas the Leadtek does say that it is fully scalable, which implies that when it's fullscreen, it doesn't look like absolute crap (whereas 352 by 288 at fullscreen is just insanely stupid). How do you think the two compare?

Not only is the EyeTV USB too expensive, then, but it doesn't even seem to be of good quality, and doesn't even use USB 2. I'd therefore want to go for another model, but don't know which...and they're so much more expensive.

I could technically get an EyeTV USB for about $70 on eBay, but is it worth it?

Are there any other options? It seems insanely overpriced...

[sith33]

There have been a number of threads about eyeTV here in the past. I really like my eyeTV usb, and have had good experiences with elgato in general (I also have an eyeHome). The quality isn't outstanding but it's not terrible. Basic VCD quality, or what you can expect from a tivo (at least older tivos, I haven't used one for a while). I generally watch TV in a window while doing other things, and it's fine. Sure it doesn't look great fullscreen, but you have to remember that over the air NTSC is pretty crappy to begin with, so the resolution isn't all that much lower than what's coming in.

Anyways, if you want quality, you can always go with the firewire versions of the eyeTV. Of course, you'll burn more disk space and all. There are also various internal cards if you have a powermac or some such thing. Anyways, I'm quite happy with my eyeTV USB. The newest release of the software lets you export directly to 3gpp which is fantastic - I can save shows right to my cell phone.

Course, it's really antisocial, especially in a dorm. Just go mooch on someone else with a nice big TV. You'll meet people and you won't have to hunch over your mac screen..

[SSharon]

I'm in university and have an eye-tv usb and I love it. It has the best software by far. There are also cool apps that stream the tv (so I can watch from my ibook in class or from a computer in a lab). Many people have watched tv on it and not one in 2 years has said anything about the quality. That says one of two things. either my friends are all computer dorks and know the limitations of USB 1 or they don't think its that bad.
If you had a desktop in school I might advise a PCI based card but if you need external than the eye-tv is a great product ($130 new with keyspan remote in most apple stores). If you want better quality, you have to pay the price (firewire based eye-tv are still expensive) and don't forget the hard drive usage.

[tavilach]

Originally posted by sith33:
There have been a number of threads about eyeTV here in the past. I really like my eyeTV usb, and have had good experiences with elgato in general (I also have an eyeHome). The quality isn't outstanding but it's not terrible. Basic VCD quality, or what you can expect from a tivo (at least older tivos, I haven't used one for a while). I generally watch TV in a window while doing other things, and it's fine. Sure it doesn't look great fullscreen, but you have to remember that over the air NTSC is pretty crappy to begin with, so the resolution isn't all that much lower than what's coming in.

Anyways, if you want quality, you can always go with the firewire versions of the eyeTV. Of course, you'll burn more disk space and all. There are also various internal cards if you have a powermac or some such thing. Anyways, I'm quite happy with my eyeTV USB. The newest release of the software lets you export directly to 3gpp which is fantastic - I can save shows right to my cell phone.

Course, it's really antisocial, especially in a dorm. Just go mooch on someone else with a nice big TV. You'll meet people and you won't have to hunch over your mac screen..

I have been mooching, but the biggest screen is 17" .

[midwinter]

MPEG-1 scales nicely to full screen and is of a reasonable file size. The only real problem with the Eye TV at the moment is that there is no way to change the channel on a cable box directly through software. They're apparently working on an IR blaster (like what TiVO uses), but I've heard nothing about it for a long time.

He said while anxiously awaiting the new EyeHome software, which was announced, then pulled, at Macworld Paris.

[boardsurfer]

Originally posted by midwinter:
He said while anxiously awaiting the new EyeHome software, which was announced, then pulled, at Macworld Paris.

ooo! please elaborate - I heard nothing of this. upgrades, new features?

Tavilach, maybe the firewire version would provide a better quality, but then its more expensive.

[midwinter]

Originally posted by boardsurfer:
ooo! please elaborate - I heard nothing of this. upgrades, new features?

Tavilach, maybe the firewire version would provide a better quality, but then its more expensive.

From el Gato: "The EyeHome software update 1.5 is delayed for several days. An announcement will be posted when the new software update is available for download. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

the press release

[GORDYmac]

If you look at the EyeHome screen shots on elgato's site, it appears that they are using a different theme for EyeHome with this new release. It looks better.

[boardsurfer]

Cool. Thanks for the link - I didnt even think to GO TO THEIR WEBSITE!

Can't wait for better navigation.