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ZackS · Sep 14, 2003, 11:10 PM

The premise: I live at a prep school where TV is not allowed in rooms. I used to live at home as a day student but I'm a proctor now and have to stay at school to look after the youngins. I need a way to get cable TV in my room. Stealing it is not acceptable (though possible)

The plan: Hook up a TV tuner card to my G4 at home. Hack its driver or iChatAV into thinking it is a camera. Use Applescript to grab messages and use them to control the device. Ex: I message the "bot" and say: Start video feed with zak252. The Applescript then starts a one-way video chat with me. I then say to it: channel 22. The Applescript grabs that and controls the TV tuner software to change to 22.

The question: Is it at all possible? Could iChat or the drivers be hacked? Are there any PCI TV tuners for Mac that act as quicktime devices?

Jansar · Sep 15, 2003, 01:28 AM

For some reason, when I don't have my iSight attached, iChat AV thinks my Formac TVR FireWire device (external tv tuner) is the camera, so in my videoconference video I can display any channel I select. I can show it to you if you want me to (SN JansarX). In this light, it can definitely work.

On a second note, which school do you attend? I also went to an east coast prep school and once had my TV confiscated from me (my proctor wouldn't dare do it...it was the lowsy faculty resident).

ZackS · Sep 15, 2003, 06:36 AM

Hotchkiss. Oh, and that's what I figured would happen as Quicktime video devices are indistinguishable from cameras. How much did the TVR cost? Can the channel selection be handled through software?

biscool · Sep 15, 2003, 09:29 AM

The TVR is US$400. To change channels I would just use VNC to control your G4....

Diggory Laycock · Sep 15, 2003, 09:45 AM

Originally posted by biscool:
The TVR is US$400. To change channels I would just use VNC to control your G4....

Balls - use remote AppleScript calls.

Eug · Sep 15, 2003, 09:51 AM

Wouldn't it work if you simply used a MiniDV DV camera and hooked up a TV AV output to it?

midwinter · Sep 15, 2003, 11:26 AM

Why don't you have someone tape everything you want to watch and then you can view it on the weekends? This all just sounds like an awful lot of work to watch television.

ZackS · Sep 15, 2003, 11:48 AM

I'm thinking that remotely controlling the G4 seems like a much better idea than scripting... much less room for error and upon further investigation, iChat AV is very difficult to manipulate via a script.

As for the taping suggestion, this is to let me get my Cartoon Network - Adult Swim fix each night. Watching it all on the weekends would take literally 8 or so hours (on top of their Sunday programming) and leave me board every night for the rest of the week.

As for a cheap DV camera, I don't have one and those don't have tuners (I might want to watch something that isn't Cartoon Network at some point...)

Jansar · Sep 15, 2003, 12:11 PM

My apologies for suggesting a really expensive device, but that's what I have and that's what I know works. If you can get VNC to work, that would really kick ass (so you can manually change the channels and send yourself the conference, etc.

Oh yeah, and I went to Deerfield, by the way.

piracy · Sep 15, 2003, 12:33 PM

Actually the Formac Studio DV/TV *doesn't* work for this task, because there is a hardware problem with audio sampling compatibility with the QuickTime subsystem - which things like iChat AV and QuickTime Broadcaster use - where the audio starts to drop out, and then mutes completely, after 20-30 minutes.

Just get Televio. It's a $150 PCI TV tuner card plus software that works with QuickTime Broadcaster. You could use the free QuickTime Broadcaster and QuickTime Streaming Server to stream any channel you wished to any location. Future versions of the software will also support changing the channel from the command line remotely (currently, you can change channels using something like Apple Remote Desktop or VNC).

ZackS · Sep 15, 2003, 02:02 PM

The Televio looks fantastic

Here's a link for anyone else interested in buying it in the US (you need the special NTSC version)

http://www.drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=6202-TLVO

Diggory Laycock · Sep 15, 2003, 03:27 PM

Originally posted by piracy:
Actually the Formac Studio DV/TV *doesn't* work for this task, because there is a hardware problem with audio sampling compatibility with the QuickTime subsystem - which things like iChat AV and QuickTime Broadcaster use - where the audio starts to drop out, and then mutes completely, after 20-30 minutes.

I was wondering why I couldn't use QT Broadcaster to stream my formac across my internal network.

Bah

trublue · Sep 20, 2003, 01:19 AM

ZackS wrote:

"As for the taping suggestion, this is to let me get my Cartoon Network - Adult Swim fix each night. Watching it all on the weekends would take literally 8 or so hours (on top of their Sunday programming) and leave me board every night for the rest of the week."

The correct spelling is B*O*R*E*D. As in tedious, wary, or dull.

No offense prep boy, but this is coming from a public education. Your folks might be wasting their money. Sorry.

As for your idea, good luck, I think it's cool.

michaelb · Sep 20, 2003, 05:37 PM

Originally posted by trublue:
No offense prep boy, but this is coming from a public education. Your folks might be wasting their money. Sorry.

Don't get snippy.

Kenneth · Sep 20, 2003, 06:14 PM

I am using the Televio... will test for streaming next week.

SSharon · Sep 20, 2003, 07:22 PM

I use EyeTV and just want to point out one nice feature it has. If you tell it to record a show and your computer happens to be off at the time it will turn the computer on for you. In your case just think of it as a backup measure and have it record one minute a day just to make sure your computer is on.

SOLIDAge · Sep 21, 2003, 01:59 AM

as for "hacking" into the g4 that would be streaming the video, couldn't you just use Apple's Remote Desktop software to change channels and start the video?

:XI: · Sep 21, 2003, 01:44 PM

Originally posted by SOLIDAge:
as for "hacking" into the g4 that would be streaming the video, couldn't you just use Apple's Remote Desktop software to change channels and start the video?

Apple's Remote Desktop costs. More expense.

ZackS, do you have a mac in your room? can't you connect a tv tuner to it?

As for no tv in your room anyway... that's just mean. Is there a reason for this?

ZackS · Sep 21, 2003, 11:00 PM

Wow, I forgot about this thread, here's the update.

Originally posted by michaelb:
Don't get snippy.

Seriously, man. My dad works at the school on the grounds crew so I go here for free. I'm most definitely NOT a preppy boy.

I tested Remote desktop and there is NO way that's gonna work over my ADSL connection from home! That takes care of that expensive yet appealing option.

The next hurdle I have to overcome is the fact that the ADSL does quite an appalling job at streaming the video. Everything stutters and looks awful. This isn't a hurdle now that I think about it. It's a brick wall

Oh well, thanks for the help.

Kissargi · Sep 22, 2003, 07:46 PM

Originally posted by trublue:

The correct spelling is B*O*R*E*D. As in tedious, wary, or dull.

No offense prep boy, but this is coming from a public education. Your folks might be wasting their money. Sorry.

As for your idea, good luck, I think it's cool.

[/B]

why do you have to be bitchy towards him? the guy just wants to watch some tv.

can you not just buy a handheld portable tv? i know the screen is only small, but better than nothing if your streaming idea doesn't work. i wish ya luck

trublue · Sep 23, 2003, 04:16 AM

You're right.

My apologies.

Sorry Zach...don't take it personally mate...I think that I was just having a bad day at the time. I really don't care if you are the most rich or poor kid at your school.

The formac does look cool though:

http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=sol...c8ba14c7aa276f

Good luck!