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TidBITS 
TidBITS TidBITS Talk
Digital TV tuners
![[JolinWarren]](/webx/?30@@1)
JolinWarren (apparently)
- 12:57pm Dec 12, 2006 PSTvia emailI haven't had the time to follow the gift ideas threads on TidBITS
Talk, so maybe this has already been covered, but... I was quite
surprised in the recent gift issue that a Windows USB TV tuner was
recommended. I could understand this if there weren't Mac-specific
solutions available, but what about Miglia and El Gato?
[Honestly, I was surprised too, but by the time I saw that particular message, it was too late to query or research all the alternatives. From what I did do, though, it looked as though the recommended one was sort of in a different category - very small and inexpensive. -Adam]
<
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/tvmini/index.html> (Europe/Asia/etc.)
<
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/tvduo/index.html> (Europe/Asia/etc.)
<
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/tvminihd/index.html> (North America)
<
http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvmain2>
Note that I haven't used any of these products. But relying on
Bootcamp to use a TV tuner seems to be a very awkward solution,
especially when there are several Mac-specific options that would
integrate much better. The fact that this wasn't even mentioned in
the TidBITS gift issue might leave some people with the impression
that booting into Windows is the only way to watch TV on the Mac. I
personally would find a Windows-based solution too inconvenient to
actually use.
_________________
=> Jolin
Tom O'Nan
-
Dec 19, 2006 5:25 am
(#1 Total: 2)
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Re: Digital TV tuners
I have been using the El Gato 200 and 500 tuners with my Macs for several years. The 200 works great with standard video, cable or antenna. The 500 is for High Def and Digital broadcasts, it will display Clear QAM signals and in my area is not usable on cable or the Satilite services I tried as all their signals are encrypted and require a specific decoder. You need a pretty robust antenna to pick up good quality signals off the air in the digital TV realm, the cost of digital/highdef TV is more than I'll ever be able to afford, and the cost of digital/highdef cable completely pushes itself beyond my megar budget, definitly a toy for the well-to-do. I'm not familiar with other Mac tuners anymore, but I really like the El Gato tuners. With the EyeTV software (which is constantly improving) you can view, record and even edit programs off the air. Recorded programs can be edited and then saved into several formats depending on what you want to do with them, I usually save them for Toast and then burn a DVD for shows I want to archive.
Tom
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jimcarr
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Dec 20, 2006 8:08 am
(#2 Total: 2)
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Re: Digital TV tuners
My eyeTV 500 works fine in Panther although the latest version of the software requires Tiger. I'm about 40 miles from the antennas of Los Angeles broadcast stations. Only have a normal roof antenna that is split into 3 different rooms.
You do need 6.4 GB of hard drive space per hour. And a monitor that supports 1920x1080 or higher. Sitting only a couple feet from a 23 or 24 inch monitor produces a fine viewing experience for one or two people. It obviously doesn't cover the room like a 42" plasma screen but having the screen do double duty as a monitor for your computer and a TV makes cost seem more reasonable.
It obviously is limited compared the the cable company dual tuner DVR which can record any channel on the system but has limited storage space if you record HD shows. Your Mac has as much space as you can afford and you can add additional drives easily.
And cable compresses signal and has more glitches than over the air.
--Jim
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TidBITS TidBITS TidBITS Talk Digital TV tuners
