Watching TV in OS X- solutions??
So now I am badly yearning to be able to watch TV on my comp, and I have come across a couple of apps that supposedly enable the capability of watching tv in OS X with a PCI card that has the Booktree chipset. I think the one is called xTV or something like that, I found it on Sourceforge but Im not positive what the name is. Now I it would be better to buy a TV separately but that isnt an option with space at college and lugging stuff back. I also would love to be able to watch TV while Im on my computer. Since I have a QS G4 I would prefer to get a PCI solution that is fairly cheap. I have PCI slots that wont be used otherwise so it is kind of stupid to get a USB solution, plus I dont really have the ports to use and USB I dont htink provides enough latency to get good enough frame rates for TV.
What I am looking for in the product is just something not too expensive with a 125 channel tuner. Of course PVR would be good, but Im not sure that the 3rd party software can enable this feature and a card that does PVR is probably out of my price range. It would be nice to be able to record programs though. I am wondering if anyone else has tried the Hauppage solutions and can tell me specifically which cards work so I know the exact model to look for. Also, I have an M-Audio Revolution card hooked up to a receiver and 5.1 surround sound speakers/subwoofer so will I be able to get the sound playing through them?
Ive also heard of a Viewsonic product that works with OS X, but it is a set top box. Not sure how much this costs but it might be another possible solution. Are there any other products I should take a look at that will suffice my needs? And lastly, will I be able to plug them in and get the channels here at college?
I only want to spend like 75 max cause I havent got much money here and need some left over for meals and shopping. Thanks.
What I am looking for in the product is just something not too expensive with a 125 channel tuner. Of course PVR would be good, but Im not sure that the 3rd party software can enable this feature and a card that does PVR is probably out of my price range. It would be nice to be able to record programs though. I am wondering if anyone else has tried the Hauppage solutions and can tell me specifically which cards work so I know the exact model to look for. Also, I have an M-Audio Revolution card hooked up to a receiver and 5.1 surround sound speakers/subwoofer so will I be able to get the sound playing through them?
Ive also heard of a Viewsonic product that works with OS X, but it is a set top box. Not sure how much this costs but it might be another possible solution. Are there any other products I should take a look at that will suffice my needs? And lastly, will I be able to plug them in and get the channels here at college?
I only want to spend like 75 max cause I havent got much money here and need some left over for meals and shopping. Thanks.
Comments
I love mine.
Originally posted by TigerWoods99
Like I said, I dont have $400 to spend. Might as well buy a f*ckin 32 inch TV for that price.
Well, actually no. A 32" TV would not allow you to record any video you wanted straight to disk in DV format, wouldn't allow you PVR functionality, wouldn't integrate with iMovie and Final Cut, would eliminate the need for converter box (monthly $), and would take up more space (one of your requirements).
If you are going to ask for advice, it might be nice if you didn't curse out the people who try to help.
Hopefully they will make EyeTV FireWire which encodes MPEG-2 or MPEG-4.
Originally posted by Aquatic
USB is just pathetic and so is MPEG-1.
That depends on it's usage. For casual TV viewing, EyeTV is perfect. I think people try to envision this product as more than that, and then damn el Gato for its use of MPEG1. It should not be intended for anything other than casual TV watching--it's not even marketed as more.
As said above, I have one, and I love it. I have a Quicksilver too, but I gave up waiting for a PCI variant after seeing all of the glowing reviews for EyeTV.
The coolest feature is the VCD option. I recently had a group over that wanted to see a show I recorded. 5 minutes later it was in the DVD player playing.
Originally posted by gordy
That depends on it's usage. For casual TV viewing, EyeTV is perfect. I think people try to envision this product as more than that, and then damn el Gato for its use of MPEG1. It should not be intended for anything other than casual TV watching--it's not even marketed as more.
As said above, I have one, and I love it. I have a Quicksilver too, but I gave up waiting for a PCI variant after seeing all of the glowing reviews for EyeTV.
The coolest feature is the VCD option. I recently had a group over that wanted to see a show I recorded. 5 minutes later it was in the DVD player playing.
Well, it's also REALLY good for acrhiving television shows. I'm in the process of capturing all of Buffy at the moment (in reruns on FX), and I grab "The West Wing" every Wednesday. The quality is perfectly watchable (looks like a rough videotape), but the storage is much easier.
I'm waiting on Eye TV to both import and have playlist support that is *separate* from the programs window.
Anyway. It is a remarkable product, ain't it?
In Germany, there are two PCI TV cards: The Gravision from Gravis (a big german Mac dealer) and the Televio from Meilenstein. Meilenstein mentions a NTSC enabled tuner.
The Televio card was tested by Macwelt. They said that it delivers a far better TV quality than any USB device.
So currently I'm thinking about buying either the Televio or a Formac Studio.
Originally posted by Aquatic
And he said he didn't want USB. USB is just pathetic and so is MPEG-1.
If it does the job that you want, so what? Isn't that the bottom line?
The Formac way saves data as DV? How big is your harddrive? Besides, it's not like tv is that great quality anyways. I've gotten VCDs from friends that sent me Enterprise episodes. It's as good as a VHS (which isn't saying much), but I didn't expect DVD quality.