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l008com · Feb 13, 2004, 05:01 PM

I've been thinking about getting this, it's the PCI TV Tuner. Unlike crappy USB solutions, it operates at full TV res, full TV frame rate, and in real time (for games), and unlike Firewire solutions, it apparently costs 1/4 of their price. So it seems like a pretty sweet deal, but I've never seen one in action. So I'm wondering if anyone here actually has one, and if so, tell us about it? :-)

Uncle Skeleton · Feb 13, 2004, 05:25 PM

There are plenty of descriptions of it in the peripherals forum, but here's the short version:

I have it (the Televio). It's everything I hoped for. Picture is good, tuner and remote work well enough (the tuner takes a good 2 seconds to change the channel, and if you try to change too fast it loses sound until you restart). The delay is negligible (maybe noticable for gamers, but it's much less than firewire or usb options). For just watching (not recording) it only takes 15-20% of my 1ghz G4. The only things that would make me upgrade to something better would be HD, hardware compression (good compression to mpeg4, not DV), or hardware deinterlacing. There's no scheduled recording built in, but it comes with a cli app to change channels and it works with scriptable recording apps like BTV.

l008com · Feb 13, 2004, 05:36 PM

Oh there is a delay? I thought there was no delay? I would probably use this as much for PLyastation as I would as a normal TV.

Ratm · Feb 13, 2004, 06:41 PM

http://www.macnet2.com/more.php?id=454_0_1_0

G5 version but from what he says its a cool product. The only thing is is I wish you could view and record at the same time...I wouldn't need a Tivo if it could so here's hoping it gets added soon. I'm definetly getting it when I get my G5 later this year.

-Q- · Feb 13, 2004, 08:42 PM

Originally posted by Uncle Skeleton:
There's no scheduled recording built in, but it comes with a cli app to change channels and it works with scriptable recording apps like BTV.

There's a scheduling app, you just have to pay extra for it. It's been kind of flaky, but they just released a new version and it's working pretty well. For more extensive feedback, check out my posts here, here, and here.

There is a slight delay in changing channels but it only takes about a second on my G5. And watching TV only takes about 10% of my processor on this machine. Overall, I like it. Pretty cool to be watching TV while working. Shoot me an IM if you want to know any more or want to see any video from it.

angelmb · Feb 14, 2004, 08:32 AM

Originally posted by l008com:
Oh there is a delay? I thought there was no delay? I would probably use this as much for PLyastation as I would as a normal TV.

No delay with a G3 350 MHz and N64 and GAMECUBE.

MOTHERWELL · Feb 14, 2004, 10:48 AM

This seems really nice, I just wish it wasn't a PCI card so I could use it on my powerbook.

l008com · Feb 14, 2004, 10:54 AM

I heard once that they were going to try and make a firewire version, which makes sense since so few macs have PCI. But they don't make the cards, they buy em and resell them, so i don't know if thats ever really goona happen.

Kenneth · Feb 14, 2004, 02:08 PM

I am using it since last Summer.
The driver and software package are getting better now. It supports dual Televio cards now. I use the AlchemyTV DVR program without any problem. It takes around 10-20% of CPU while recording at MPEG-4 (50%, 320x240) and 48kHz sound sampling. One hour of video footage eats up about 1.5GB of storage.

Can't go wrong with it IF you are on a PowerMac G4/G5.

l008com · Feb 24, 2004, 06:06 PM

Originally posted by angelmb:
No delay with a G3 350 MHz and N64 and GAMECUBE.

I just plugged my PS2 into my G3 350 that actually has a 450 G4 processor put in its place. The delay is slight, but it is noticeable, and it definitely is enough to mess you up when your driving around in vice city. Also how much ram do you run?

l008com · Feb 24, 2004, 06:07 PM

And I use the composite input and theres like a black border around the screen. Not like part of the image is covered up, but like in full screen mode it doesn't actually stretch all the way to the edges of the screen. Anyone have any ideas on that problem?

Uncle Skeleton · Feb 24, 2004, 06:31 PM

that's probably the "TV-Safe" area. TV's clip a substantial part of the image so I imagine the console adds some extra black so nothing important gets clipped. you can always make the window bigger than the screen if you don't want to see the black (or maybe there's an option about overscan on the console somewhere)