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Bruck · Sep 24, 2003, 11:15 PM

I am curious if anyone has chosen EyeTv over Tivo for what reasons, or if anyone has compared them.... I am not sure if the EyeTv is really as good or nearly as usefull as Tivo or maybe it's better?

Thanks

Mr Heliums · Sep 29, 2003, 08:15 AM

I'm equally interested, with another question:

How easy is it to get a show recorded on a Tivo onto the Mac?

ckohler · Sep 29, 2003, 11:19 AM

I own both. The simple answer is that EyeTV isn't a direct substitute for a Tivo simply because Tivo has what are called "season passes".

For example, my Tivo has a number of season passes set and it will record these shows whenever and on whatever channel they appear automatically. It requires no effort on my part. The Tivo will also record other things it believes you might be interested in all the time, using the maximum amount of space available. It's this autonomy that makes the Tivo unique.

The EyeTV on the other hand requires you to set all the recording manually. It's advantages over Tivo are that you can take the recordings, edit them, burn them to VCD or DVD.. etc. If you have a laptop, you can even take your recordings with you. Basically, the EyeTV is better for archiving shows.

Thus, I use my Tivo for general TV watching and I use my EyeTV whenever I want to record shows and collect them.

Mr Heliums · Sep 29, 2003, 11:32 AM

Originally posted by ckohler:

Thus, I use my Tivo for general TV watching and I use my EyeTV whenever I want to record shows and collect them.

But is there any integration between the Mac and Tivo? Can I view its output on the Mac or schedule from the Mac?

marusin · Sep 29, 2003, 12:14 PM

You cannot view the output of your Tivo on your Mac unless you run direct video in and have a video Capture card...

If you have the Home Media Option (HMO) from Tivo you can listen to any mp3s from your Mac and stream them thru your Tivo (and to your Stereo, etc). You can also view any pictures from your Mac and play them on your tv. Finally you can schedule recordings and setup season passes through any web browser. The HMO is well worth the money. It has definitely paid for itself through my use...

While the EyeTV intrigues me to be able to burn shows, etc, nothing replaces the overall ease of use and "total package" that the Tivo offers. It's well worth the money in my opinion. Tivo straight-up rocks.

ckohler · Sep 29, 2003, 12:24 PM

Short answer:
Nope. If you have a second generation Tivo you can share photos and music on your Mac with your Tivo but you can't share video on your Tivo with your Mac.

Long answer:
If you want to "hack" a first generation Tivo and install some cryptic Linux software onto it, you can eventually rip the video off your Tivo onto your Mac. You then have to re-encode it before it's even viewable. This will also void your warrenty and is very difficult to do. Even further, it requires you buy and install an ethernet card in your Tivo. So, yes, it *is* possible but not easy.

If being able to use the video you record on your Mac is important to you, then just get the EyeTV. It makes everything efforless.

Arkham_c · Sep 29, 2003, 02:35 PM

For most people, the TiVo is the better choice. I have a series1 TiVo (the old model) and I added an additional 100GB of storage.

It's the greatest gizmo I own. My wife is not very technical at all, and she loves the TiVo more than I do, and uses it all the time. The software is VERY easy to use.

We don't know when shows come on, or on what channel, and we don't care. They just appear on the TiVo whenever they get recorded, and we watch them whenever we have time.

EyeTV is a neat product, and is a good way to get video on your Mac. I may even get one someday. But it's no TiVo.

C.J. Moof · Sep 29, 2003, 03:05 PM

I'm very, *very* drawn to the Tivo concept, but can't persuade myself to enter into another subscription- TV isn't that important to me... I'm only willing to pay for basic cable. So I bought a used EyeTV on ebay. That purchase cost less to own the EyeTV than 1 year subscription to Tivo. (Yeah, yeah- I hear you Tivo fans: "it's worth it!!")

I'm having fun with it.... had it record Sunday Morning on CBS, which had a segment on the new designer at BMW. I have friends who have strong opinions about that guy, so I edited the whole recording down to just that segment, and pointed them to my webpage run via EyeTVFTW:
http://www.macware.be/eyetv
so they could see the segment themselves.
It's pretty hard to do that from Tivo.

I can hit my little php page on my Cube and see any of my recordings from any of my macs around the house.... the TAM in the living room, my powerbook or my wife's iBook. The Tivo locks us to the TV, which is in the finished basement. With a 3 week old baby, that's often not the place to be.

EyeTV is very good, but would be great with 2 things: A feature equivalent to Season Pass, and rendezvous/Quicktime Streaming Server integration. I'd love to be able to fire up a copy of the EyeTV software on any computer, and have it read and play from the catalog that's stored on the machine that has the hardware attached. The webpage is good, but serving a stream would be better than waiting for a complete download.

RoofusPennymore · Sep 29, 2003, 11:04 PM

I have a 1st gen DirecTivo and a EyeTV. The quality of the tivo is unbeatable. I did hack mine to do the video extraction. Its a PITA, its much easier to just hook my DV cam to the RCAs of the tivo.

The EyeTV is lacking many features of the Tivo like Season pass and such. El Gato tells me they are working on getting those features added.

Originally posted by ckohler:
If you want to "hack" a first generation Tivo and install some cryptic Linux software onto it, you can eventually rip the video off your Tivo onto your Mac. You then have to re-encode it before it's even viewable. This will also void your warrenty and is very difficult to do. Even further, it requires you buy and install an ethernet card in your Tivo. So, yes, it *is* possible but not easy.

zigzag · Sep 30, 2003, 12:11 AM

- What if you want to watch EyeTV recordings on your TV instead of your Mac? How do you do it, and is it the same quality as a Tivo recording?

- Can you use a Tivo without subscribing to the service?

- I notice that the $299 "lifetime subscription" on Tivo only applies to the life of the machine, but is transferrable. Anyone want to sell me theirs?

RoofusPennymore · Sep 30, 2003, 07:35 AM

Originally posted by zigzag:
- What if you want to watch EyeTV recordings on your TV instead of your Mac? How do you do it, and is it the same quality as a Tivo recording?

You need a Mac with video out. EyeTV only works with a computer. No the quality is not the same.

- Can you use a Tivo without subscribing to the service?

Yes but you don't get the guide, which is one of the key features of the Tivo. Without it you have to manually schedule everything.

- I notice that the $299 "lifetime subscription" on Tivo only applies to the life of the machine, but is transferrable. Anyone want to sell me theirs?

Are you sure its transferable? I was under the impression that its not. In some cases its possible to hack your tivo so you dont have to pay for the guide.

C.J. Moof · Sep 30, 2003, 10:44 AM

There are hacks to teach a Tivo to read program data from a PC on the LAN, but from what I've heard, they're definitely for folks with lots more time than money.

To get your EyeTV recordings on your TV, you can either burn VCDs or DVDs, or transfer them to a powerbook or other mac with video out.

zigzag · Sep 30, 2003, 08:45 PM

Thanks for the replies. Since I already have a TV and would just as soon use my Mac for other stuff, it sounds like it'd make more sense for me to get a Tivo, use it like a VCR, and hook it up my DV camcorder when I want to archive/edit stuff.

As for transferability of the lifetime Tivo subscription, here's what the website says: "A product lifetime subscription to the TiVo service covers the life of the TiVo Digital Video Recorder (DVR) you buy--not the life of the subscriber. The product lifetime subscription accompanies the product in case of ownership transfer."

Arkham_c · Oct 8, 2003, 10:31 PM

Just FYI, the series 2 tivo REQUIRES a subscription to operate.

I got the lifetime sub and never looked back. Best gizmo I own.

SSharon · Oct 9, 2003, 12:07 AM

I have a first gen. tivo and its awesome with sat. tv. anyone know of a good easy way to add more space? at school I have an eyetv and its nice but the quality isn't perfect. For anyone with eyetv search versiontracker or download.com for CyTV it will stream your eyetv to any local computer, works great, very easy.