Best And Cheapest Way to watch TV and Record to DVD

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Hi,



I'm looking to get a solution to watch and record TV. Now, I've been considering a smallish Sony Wega and a low-end Philips DVD recorder. However, I have become aware of the Eye TV (www.elgato.com), which claims to be a high quality TV tuner and Digital TV recorder. This is about 15% of the cost of the above option, and an excellent excuse to get a G5 with a large screen. However, will the quality be anywhere near as good, either for viewing or for the DVDs produced. The connection is USB after all!



Any ideas welcomed.



Thanks,



David

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    imacfanimacfan Posts: 444member
    Someone must have some experience with these products?!?
  • Reply 2 of 5
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    nope not me man sorry
  • Reply 3 of 5
    whisperwhisper Posts: 735member
    I believe all the USB video capture thingys only do 320x240. This is no where near high enough quality IMHO.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    k_munick_munic Posts: 357member
    eyeTV is connected via USB, so data transfer makes a good quality impossible. the quality is less than VHS, try to have a look in a shop near you. it's ok for recording as "timeshifting" but not collecting movies etc.



    formac studio tv is much better,connected via firewire; very good quality (not dvd, 'cause a tv signal /cable, sat arial/ is less?) and you can use this "hub" to connect your dvd/analog vhs player - IF your dvd is not copy protected, macrovison etc.



    in the us formac offers a tv guide system, even with remote programming your system, look in their website.



    BUT:

    dvd quality means LOT of hd space! 1h=12Gig!
  • Reply 5 of 5
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    EyeTV uses MPEG-1 which looks uglier than Steve Balmer. Less than VHS is an understatement. I don't get why they don't use MPEG-4. And/or MPEG-2 (have a USB version and a FireWire version?). That way with MPEG-2 you could still make VCDs (SVCDs). However MPEG-4 or 2 over Firewire would be nice to burn to DVD which is so much better and more universal than VCD. VCD will be pointless as soon as DVD-Rs get cheaper. They are already less than a dollar a disc and steadily dropping.
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