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MikeD · Feb 25, 2007, 01:17 PM

I'm not sure exactly what the capabilities of the USB port on the Apple TV are, but I think it would be a great addition to be able to hook up any of ElGato's offerings (EyeTV hybrid) or Miglia's TVMini HD. Right now, they simply say that the software can convert video to a 'compatible' format. But it would be great if you can plug these directly into the Apple TV and then access HDTV through the Apple TV. In essence, giving the Apple TV what a lot of people have been wanting - DVR capabilities.

pcguy1 · Feb 25, 2007, 02:20 PM

The problem as far as I can see is not if you can hook it up to a ElGato toner, but rather the support video resolution of the AppleTv is too low to be much interest in the market segment that this item is suppose to be in.

GORDYmac · Feb 26, 2007, 01:40 PM

You are missing the software component. EyeTV runs on Mac OS X. It requires a Keyboard, an OS, a GUI, etc. AppleTV is merely an output medium. EyeTV, appropriately, hooks to your Mac, and can make recordings available for AppleTV.

Once AppleTV is shipped, I am sure that Elgato will update their export codecs to optimize all EyeTV recordings for AppleTV, just like they did when the iPod with video & PSP came out.

With that part left out, hooking EyeTV Hybrid to AppleTV [so that you can view HDTV programming on the attached TV] is a bit redundant. The USB port on AppleTV is for support use only--according to Apple.

Salsa · Mar 8, 2007, 12:50 AM

The big problem is that you need a lot of CPU horsepower to capture HD video. If you want an HD Tivo, you can buy an HD Tivo. It costs around $1,000 because it has a powerful computer inside. Most people already have a computer. All you need is to throw a cheap tuner on it and you can use a cheap media player to stream it to your TV. That makes a lot more sense than buying another big computer for every TV.

krove · Mar 8, 2007, 11:05 AM

Or just connect it to your computer and check the box in the preferences to auto-encode for iPod/transfer to iTunes. This way, it will sync with the Apple TV.

vmarks · Mar 9, 2007, 03:59 AM

The tv usb port is for service, sync, and diagnostics only. You CANNOT attach any storage or tv tuner devices to it and expect them to work.

Elgato uses software compression on all of their current products to get to MP4 for iPod. They will continue to use software compression for these products to get to MP4 for tv.

Software compression means long encode times. But there are devices out there not made by Elgato that use hardware compression in the device and are suited for tv.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 9, 2007, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by vmarks

The tv usb port is for service, sync, and diagnostics only. You CANNOT attach any storage or tv tuner devices to it and expect them to work.

100% accurate, but I don't think it's clear exactly what Apple could do with this port. Perhaps there is an tv record (or whatever) in the works to offer just that using this USB port.

I can't wait until these start showing up and the hands on reviews start pouring in!

We really don't have much info on the system.

jlit · Mar 11, 2007, 05:17 PM

I actually made the mistake of trying to do an online chat with a "specialist" at the online apple store. I asked the question, what is the USB port going to be used for, is there any way to hook up an external HD because 40 internal is WAY not enough. Especially because my 2.0 MBP only shipped with an 802.11(G) card, so something wired would be better than streaming. She was totally lost, saying the USB could be used for a flash drive, not a hard drive, then she scrambled around the question, then said it could be used for an external HD, then disconnected before I could reply. I think I was chatting with India.

Anyways, an external HD would be great, but I think people still just don't know enough about it or where it will go. Anyone know for sure if an external may be possible using the USB 2.0 on the back? I know it says for service intentions, but dang it would sure be cool. Maybe another way to use an external HD, possible from a new Extreme?

Salsa · Mar 11, 2007, 06:00 PM

Doesn't the Apple TV at least have a wired Ethernet port so you could attach a NAS drive?

Salsa · Mar 12, 2007, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by jlit

..is there any way to hook up an external HD...

The Apple TV does not support external hard drives, but Galaxy offers media players that do. The Tvisto is a hard drive case, so you can put in a 500gig drive loaded with media files, or plug it into the Firewire port on your Mac Book to transfer files.

They also make a media player, IPTV DMG, that has a USB2 port for external hard drives. It also has Ethernet. Both devices play Divx, MPEG1,2,4, WMV, MP3, etc. The IPTV also supports AAC and Hi-Def via standard component out cables.

GMG Inc. -> Home

GORDYmac · Mar 13, 2007, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by Salsa

Doesn't the Apple TV at least have a wired Ethernet port so you could attach a NAS drive?

Remember, "If it's on iTunes, it's on AppleTV". It really doesn't matter where your media is stored, as long as a PC/Mac's iTunes Library pointed to it properly.

Hell, the iTunes library itself could be on a NAS device, I'd imagine.

The point is, there is no way of getting around iTunes as the gatekeeper. And it sounds like that is the issue here.

ozoner · Mar 18, 2007, 08:59 PM

I do not know if this is true anymore. If you look on the AppleTV specs page - http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html - it now just says "USB 2.0", where it used to say "USB 2.0 (only for service and diagnostics)".

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Originally Posted by vmarks

The tv usb port is for service, sync, and diagnostics only. You CANNOT attach any storage or tv tuner devices to it and expect them to work.

krove · Mar 19, 2007, 03:54 PM

Maybe it's for a game controller!!

iDaver · Mar 19, 2007, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by ozoner

I do not know if this is true anymore. If you look on the AppleTV specs page - Apple - Apple TV - Tech Specs - it now just says "USB 2.0", where it used to say "USB 2.0 (only for service and diagnostics)".

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Ya know how MacBooks were created with built-in 802.11n networking but weren't initially advertised as such. For bizarre legal reasons Apple then had to charge MacBook owners $1.99 to enable the feature. I suspect they dropped the "only for service and diagnostics" from AppleTV specs for the same reason. Should there be some other use for the port in the future, they don't want this kind of bad PR. I seriously doubt there will be a sanctioned use for the USB port until revision b, at which time the sky is the limit. I suspect AppleTV rev b will have a lot of new features that the public demands added. There will probably be more than one model to choose from as well.

Salsa · Mar 20, 2007, 11:04 AM

I read the specs on Apple TV from a rumor site. They say it's an embedded version of the old Pentium M and it's been clocked down. This does not meet the minimum requirements of EyeTV for HD. Once you capture the video, you will have to wait months to view it because you would first have to convert it to MPEG4, since Apple TV doesn't play MPEG2. I think you can forget about putting EyeTV on that port for ATSC tuning. It might work for game controllers, external storage, etc.

By the way, why are you against putting your TV tuner on your computer? Capture on your Mac, play on Apple TV. That's the way it's supposed to be.

ChrisB · Mar 20, 2007, 07:49 PM

I really do think Apple is dropping the ball here. If you are selling a device to get someone's content onto their television, then you better be able to get TELEVISION into the AppleTV. I really hope that third party developers figure out an easy integrated way to get a tuner and PVR application integrated with it - or else I might as well just hook up the Mac via a DVI cable and get an external tuner.

This is just too piecemeal for a typical Apple product.

Brien · Mar 22, 2007, 05:30 PM

That's too bad the USB port is basically useless. It'd be nice to hook up an HD-DVD or BD player to it that way.

Heck, an Apple TV with DVR capibilities and a combo drive would be *awesome*.

Gee4orce · Mar 22, 2007, 06:07 PM

Do you really think they would include a 'useless' port on the back ? It's there for something, that's for sure.

As for ElGato - the Apple TV supports 720p HD, so the issue of resolution is a non-issue ! As for interface, try using ElGato's full screen interface for an idea of how this can work really well with nothing more than an Apple Remote.

The real issue is that 30-odd GB is nowhere near enough for a PVR, so whatever Miglia/ElGato PVR kit that might be released for the AppleTV would have to include a decent sized HD too.

goMac · Mar 23, 2007, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by Salsa

I read the specs on Apple TV from a rumor site. They say it's an embedded version of the old Pentium M and it's been clocked down. This does not meet the minimum requirements of EyeTV for HD. Once you capture the video, you will have to wait months to view it because you would first have to convert it to MPEG4, since Apple TV doesn't play MPEG2. I think you can forget about putting EyeTV on that port for ATSC tuning. It might work for game controllers, external storage, etc.

By the way, why are you against putting your TV tuner on your computer? Capture on your Mac, play on Apple TV. That's the way it's supposed to be.

Not necessarily true. If the tuner did hardware MPEG4 encoding, it would work real time with the Apple TV.

Salsa · Mar 23, 2007, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by goMac

Not necessarily true. If the tuner did hardware MPEG4 encoding, it would work real time with the Apple TV.

Do you know of any HD tuners for Mac that have hardware mp4 encoding? I'm pretty sure that none exist.

goMac · Mar 23, 2007, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by Salsa

Do you know of any HD tuners for Mac that have hardware mp4 encoding? I'm pretty sure that none exist.

Here's one that's a PCI card that can to MPEG4. It can't do HD though.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Leadtek_WinF...4.html?tag=sub

I'm sure there are a few out there that are more sizable, but I just did a quick search.

Salsa · Mar 23, 2007, 06:42 PM

I can't speak for Windows, but I'll say that there isn't any HD tuner available for Mac with built-in hardware compression. Furthermore, even if such a beast exists for Windows (the card you mentioned didn't say anything about hardware compression nor HD in the specs), that still doesn't mean it will work in real time with Apple TV. ATV only plays content that is in iTunes. You can't add a file to iTunes until it exists. In other words, you have to finish the recording and then add it to your iTunes library before ATV will see it.

Bottom line, Apple TV does NOT play live TV. Let's hope this gets fixed soon by Apple, or somebody else.

goMac · Mar 23, 2007, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Salsa

I can't speak for Windows, but I'll say that there isn't any HD tuner available for Mac with built-in hardware compression.

Well, that's just a question of drivers. The card I linked to obviously does exist for Windows.

Originally Posted by Salsa

Furthermore, even if such a beast exists for Windows (the card you mentioned didn't say anything about hardware compression nor HD in the specs)

The card does MP4 compression on hardware. It's mentioned elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Salsa

that still doesn't mean it will work in real time with Apple TV. ATV only plays content that is in iTunes. You can't add a file to iTunes until it exists. In other words, you have to finish the recording and then add it to your iTunes library before ATV will see it.

I'm aware. I'm simply responding to the argument that it wouldn't technically be possible. With people getting into the Apple TV's software, it will be interesting to see if someone gets a tv tuner driver working, so one could be hooked into the USB.