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iSteve · Jun 21, 2006, 01:20 PM

I came across this TV tuner / Recorder add on for the Mac. What do you all think??

http://www.eskapelabs.com/myTVPVR.html

SSharon · Jun 21, 2006, 01:56 PM

Never used it before but check elgato.com before purchasing just to get some options. Miglia also makes a mac card.

Mediaman_12 · Jun 21, 2006, 01:57 PM

That thing looks huge for some reason?
There are a few options (which are far smaller)
there is this Digital and this Analogue one from Elgato.
There is also this tiny USB 'Stick' one.

If you are going to use it on a Mini or a iMac, you should also consider getting Sofa Control which will let you use the Apple remote to control the 'TV' App

iSteve · Jun 21, 2006, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Mediaman_12

That thing looks huge for some reason?
There are a few options (which are far smaller)
there is this Digital and this Analogue one from Elgato.
There is also this tiny USB 'Stick' one.

If you are going to use it on a Mini or a iMac, you should also consider getting Sofa Control which will let you use the Apple remote to control the 'TV' App

UMM. Holy crap did you see the price??????? I'll stick with "hauppauge". I can get it for 133.00 who cares about size. I have two of their cards in my PC right now, and I don't have any complaints on them. Hopefully their MAC version will be good.

Plus, elgato doesn't even have anything in stock.. I would have possibly gotten the EyeTV 250, but not in stock.. The only thing they have in stock now is the EZ... yuck.

Tee · Jun 22, 2006, 04:54 AM

Hold on.
I would do some serious research before going ahead with the Eskape PVR

The Eskape products are inexpensive, but they are not as elegant as the other (more expensive ) solutions.

I am also pretty sure that the Eskape software is not universal.

It is a shame that there aren't more low cost TV viewing options for the Mac...

tooki · Jun 22, 2006, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by iSteve

UMM. Holy crap did you see the price??????? I'll stick with "hauppauge". I can get it for 133.00 who cares about size. I have two of their cards in my PC right now, and I don't have any complaints on them. Hopefully their MAC version will be good.

Plus, elgato doesn't even have anything in stock.. I would have possibly gotten the EyeTV 250, but not in stock.. The only thing they have in stock now is the EZ... yuck.

The two digital models Mediaman_12 linked to won't work for you anyway, they are for European digital TV and will not work for American TV, analog or digital.

What's wrong with the EyeTV EZ? It's the closest in function to the MyTV, except with superior software, for basically the same price.

Also, companies that do well on the PC seldom do well on the Mac; you'll likely have a better experience with a Mac-only company.

tooki

iSteve · Jun 22, 2006, 09:31 AM

Thanks for all the info.... Yea, I just learned about that "universal" stuff early this morning when my Apple Rep called me.

I'll have to look into the eyetv again and see what apple has on their site as well. : )

iSteve · 12:49 AM

I just came across this on Apple's site? How about...

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...lm=TH294ZM%2FA

and

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...lm=TB992LL%2FA

Or this?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...lm=TH587LL%2FA

tooki · Jun 22, 2006, 06:18 PM

You know that the last two links are the same, right?

Anyhow, anything using the EyeTV software will probably leave you pleased. A hardware encoder/compressor will, of course, require far less CPU (though software encoding tends to have slightly higher quality).

tooki

iSteve · Jun 23, 2006, 12:49 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

You know that the last two links are the same, right?

Anyhow, anything using the EyeTV software will probably leave you pleased. A hardware encoder/compressor will, of course, require far less CPU (though software encoding tends to have slightly higher quality).

tooki

Okay.. I edited the last link.. should go correctly now.. So are you saying software is more important then the hardware?

tooki · Jun 23, 2006, 07:58 AM

For most purposes, yes.

As for the last link above: choose that only if your goal is to watch over-the-air broadcasts in HD. It's not an NTSC tuner, so anything that's not being transmitted in digital you will not be able to receive. (The real question is whether the non-premium channels on cable are available digitally, and I have no idea what the answer to that is.)

tooki

iSteve · Jun 23, 2006, 10:05 AM

We have digital downstairs, with the box.. but I only use "cable" up in the room.. So I'll have to stick to the first choice. It seems to be popular on Apples web-site with a 5 star rating...

analogika · Jun 23, 2006, 12:02 PM

you WANT the EyeTV software. Trust me, you do.