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epluth · 10:17 AM

Not sure if this is in the right area, but I'll give it a shot.
I did a search, nothing came up.

I recently upgraded my older g4/400 with more ram, tiger, radeon 9000 pro, and 20 flat (adc). I have seen many sites show tv hardware or software for macs, but have never been sure of purchasing until now. My question is, would it be possible to hook up a 15 flat to the dvi port (dual monitor card) and use it as a tv monitor, and if so, what are the options, and what can I expect?

thanks in advance.

ReggieX · Feb 25, 2006, 01:09 PM

You would need to get some sort of TV tuner, either a PCI card like the Alchemy TV PVR (which I have), or Elgato EyeTV external box.

There are a few other ones by both companies, but they're USB 2.0 which you wouldn't have on an older G4 unless you also bought a USB 2.0 card. In general, they do what they claim: you hook a cable or TV antenna to the input of the card/box, and the software has a TV tuner and a TV window where you can watch TV! The software also allows you to schedule recordings if you want to use it as a video recorder, but that tends to take up lots of disk space.

I use the Alchemy PVR card as mentioned above, but with the output from my Radeon 8500 going to an actual TV, so it really functions more like a video recorder than anything else. ie. I don't watch TV through the card if I'm just watching TV.

epluth · Feb 25, 2006, 01:18 PM

I am actually looking at the alchemyTV DVR over all possibilities. I am assuming that should work with my system (I have 3 open pci slots). How would you review the picture quality, ease of use, etc? To be quite honest, it will be mainly for news and baseball, not really needing to record, but that would be useful.

epluth · Feb 25, 2006, 09:22 PM

Well I decided to purchase the alchemy. I run 1680 x 1050 on my 20, so I hope I can at least watch a relatively small window until I get the extra monitor.

reader50 · Feb 26, 2006, 12:53 AM

I have the AlchemyTV DVR too.

Your upgrade specs do not mention a CPU upgrade, so your 400 MHz will limit you. You will likely be able to watch, but not to do much else with your computer at the same time. I'd expect you to have problems recording reliably. Minimum/no compression would ease the CPU load, but will put bandwidth pressure on your HD and controller. This card does not compress video in hardware. Try 320x240 with mild compression, or with no compression if you have a fast HD.

Reception is decent, but I have not used other tuner solutions for comparison. Be prepared to fiddle with the Alchemy video controls at first in order to obtain an optimum picture. My default settings out of the box didn't cut it. Also, any recordings you do make will take up a LOT of space. If you don't have the free gigs and still want to keep your recordings, then capture them raw and compress them offline using higher compression settings.

epluth · Feb 26, 2006, 07:50 AM

Thanks for the useful info. Yeah, I realize I wont be able to record, or will have difficulty. I am mainly interested in just plain ol tv, so I can work and not have to run into the other room everytime my wife says "homerun"!

My upgrades this week were 10.2.8 to tiger, rage 128 to radeon 9000, the 20 flat from a 17 crt, crucial has ram on sale, so I went from 640 to 1152, the alchemyTV (on its way), and a few other unmentionables... I think thats about all I could do to boost the performance, besides buying a new machine.

Anyhow, it will just be a small window of tv land, but I think if the picture is relatively good, I will be happy without recording. I just hope a 5-6" window wont limit my cpu too much. If all works well, I will get the 15 flat, and have the window on it as a dedicated screen off my workspace...

ReggieX · Feb 26, 2006, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by epluth

I am actually looking at the alchemyTV DVR over all possibilities. I am assuming that should work with my system (I have 3 open pci slots). How would you review the picture quality, ease of use, etc? To be quite honest, it will be mainly for news and baseball, not really needing to record, but that would be useful.

Picture quality is pretty good. One thing they mention is that you'll get a degraded picture if you have cable internet and use the same outlet for both internet and TV at the same time. Ease of use is also pretty good, the PVR software is fairly straightforward, except that the video compression settings dialog takes up most of a 1024x768 screen! Nothing you'd have to worry about if you're not recording stuff.

But, yeah, I couldn't be happier with the Alchemy card. It does exactly what I need it to do, and on top of TV it also functions as a video capture card, so I've started converting VHS tapes to DVD now. Granted, I have a 900MHz G4 upgrade in there, so if you start to do anything like that I'd highly recommend a CPU upgrade. Pretty good use from an almost 6 year old G4!

epluth · Feb 26, 2006, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by ReggieX

Granted, I have a 900MHz G4 upgrade in there, so if you start to do anything like that I'd highly recommend a CPU upgrade. Pretty good use from an almost 6 year old G4!

What brand did you get. I noticed this.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815104723 and thought it wasn't a bad price at 199.... But they do mention updating firmware in 9 first. (this would be my first attept at a cpu upgrade, but looks darn easy)

I will find out this week if that is the route I have to take.

EDIT: hopefully the sonnet upgrade will be supported in OSX's to come... eek

ReggieX · Feb 27, 2006, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by epluth

What brand did you get. I noticed this.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815104723 and thought it wasn't a bad price at 199.... But they do mention updating firmware in 9 first. (this would be my first attept at a cpu upgrade, but looks darn easy)

I have an OWC upgrade from MacSales.com, the installation is a piece of cake. You just have to be careful, but that's typical for processor cards.

epluth · 08:37 PM

Well, after receiving it today (ALCHEMY DVR) , and installing, I have to say I am very happy. I may or may not have to upgrade the processor, because so far viewing is great. The alchemy does what it says, and after the setup assistant it was a no brainer... A few things I noticed right off the bat...

1. the picture quality is better than expected. Although there is a slight amount of vid noise, its not too bad.

2. 1 channel in specific was not autotuned, which is channel 3. I have to figure out how to manually input a station, because simply hitting 3 (or 03) on the remote reverts to the next higher channel (4) There is however a 2 channel.

3. The people in here that have replied; do you use the same cable that your modem is hooked to, or not, I have read conflicting things about using the same connection. I am using a splitter, and it is working fine.

Anyhow, I am very happy. Tried loading ps 7, while doing other things, tv never skipped a beat.

epluth · Mar 3, 2006, 10:15 AM

I have been having good luck with this thing, but still cannot manually tune in a station. I have seen on some sites that there are 4 icons on the top of the preferences pane, but I seem to only have 3. Anyone had the same issue?

ReggieX · Mar 4, 2006, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by epluth

3. The people in here that have replied; do you use the same cable that your modem is hooked to, or not, I have read conflicting things about using the same connection. I am using a splitter, and it is working fine.

I do , and don't notice any real problems. They just say that it *may* degrade the signal when compared to having a separate TV connection, that's all.