TV and HD TV options for the Mac. . .

scott_rscott_r
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hi All,



Wanted to know what options are available for watching TV on the Mac. Also it it possible to get HD TV stations?



I have read about the ability to get digital cable boxes with Firewire ports and that it was possible to do.



Curious if anyone is using any of these options and how well is it working?



HD TV would look really nice on a 30 inch Mac monitor!



-Scott

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    check http://www.elgato.com

    at $350, it ain't cheap, but it works.



    there are others as well
  • Reply 2 of 10
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    In the same vein, does anyone know how to read video from the FireWire ports on a Motorola digital cable box? I've hooked it up to my iMac and fired up iMovie HD but it doesn't recognize the cable box as a video source. Is there something I can do to make this happen? Is there a board somewhere where I could pose my question?
  • Reply 3 of 10
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    A quick google answered my question. For those interested, check out this link --> http://macteens.com/more.php?id=410_0_1_0_C
  • Reply 4 of 10
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    what kind of mac do you have???



    check out this app http://www.defyne.org/dvb/iTele.html



    you can DL drivers here that will allow different PCI & USB solutions to work for Mac



    voila! watch and record HDTV on your Mac for around $100
  • Reply 5 of 10
    dirk gentlydirk gently Posts: 53member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TigerWoods99

    what kind of mac do you have???



    check out this app http://www.defyne.org/dvb/iTele.html



    you can DL drivers here that will allow different PCI & USB solutions to work for Mac



    voila! watch and record HDTV on your Mac for around $100





    so this does the content protection decryption (5CS) stuff as well? because I know most of the raw firewire streams from dig. cable boxes is encrypted now.



    What is taking people so long with HD anyway? You can fit an entire 1080p movie on a single layer DVD using H.264 compression and it looks amazing. Guess nobody has leaked much HD content yet.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dirk gently

    ....What is taking people so long with HD anyway? You can fit an entire 1080p movie on a single layer DVD using H.264 compression and it looks amazing. Guess nobody has leaked much HD content yet.



    encoding a whole movie in h.264 to fit the 1080p onto a single layer DVD takes about a day on a dual g5 powermac, IIRC



    edit: also, IIRC, most digital cable/ digital satellite only broadcast 720p on certain channels (FOX, ABC, ESPN), or 1080i not much if any in 1080p (yet)
  • Reply 7 of 10
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Yea Fox always brags about broadcasting sports events in '720p'. They say something about how it's the best broadcast quality around.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PBG4 Dude

    Yea Fox always brags about broadcasting sports events in '720p'. They say something about how it's the best broadcast quality around.



    i imagine that a lot of people, hdtv enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike, would take 720p over 1080i ... particularly for sports



    interlacing is so 20th century
  • Reply 9 of 10
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sunilraman

    i imagine that a lot of people, hdtv enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike, would take 720p over 1080i ... particularly for sports



    interlacing is so 20th century



    Yea, I don't even know why they made an interlacing resolution part of the standard. Are there people out there that like the flicker? I was working with a guy in IS yesterday and his monitor is still set at the default 60Hz refresh rate. That just gives me a headache due to the flicker.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PBG4 Dude

    .....60Hz refresh rate....



    i'd f8king go blind in 5 minutes
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