[mrcranky]

I have been looking at EyeTV250 along with other similar products by Miglia and others and am wondering if one of these can fully replace my Tivo or would it be missing something that I would end up missing and just end up getting another Tivo box?

My current set up is a 1.66mhz Mac Mini, an older TV (not HD), and basic digital cable from Comcast.

Here are a few questions:

-Would the TV guide be hard to read on the TV from my couch?
-Could I schedule a program to record every week at a certain time and never have to reschedule it again?
-Can it automatically switch channels to record another program if I am not home between recordings (meaning that I do not have to do anything manually to switch channels)?
-Can I save the recordings to a folder that FrontRow will recognize and will the program automatically be labeled correctly?

Thanks!

Mr. Cranky

[Mr_E]

-Would the TV guide be hard to read on the TV from my couch?
nope - it has a fullscreen guide - kinda like Front Row. I can read it from 12 ft away, and I'm old..

-Could I schedule a program to record every week at a certain time and never have to reschedule it again?
Yes. Select repeats daily/weekly/ etc.

-Can it automatically switch channels to record another program if I am not home between recordings (meaning that I do not have to do anything manually to switch channels)?
NO - but there are a few third-party IT blasters type units you can integrate - check macupdate or versiontracker. Someone had an app for supporting it (eyetv captain or something like that)

-Can I save the recordings to a folder that FrontRow will recognize and will the program automatically be labeled correctly?
Yes - depending on how you want it. You can use eyeTV full screen menu, or you can export the recordings to a movies folder.

This should all be in ElGato's FAQ on their website.

[mrcranky]

Thanks for the info...I just did some research based on your response and it seems that an IR blaster type device with the software will run me over $100 (in addition to the eyetv or miglia device). That's more than I want to spend so I think that I am going to stick with my Tivo for the DVR aspect and use the mini for everything else...

[supernature]

FYI. You can hook up the digitial cable box to the mini via Firewire and capture the streaming video data. The video stream that comes out is whatever channel the digital cable box is on. It's certainly not a replacement for the Tivo, but it's nice in case you want to capture it and store it on the computer more permanently.

[vasu]

if you have a cable box with Firewire ports on it, grab the program "iRecord" ... it can change the channel of the box via Firewire, and also pull the video/audio and save it. You can specifity scheduleds and everything.