Until PCIe TV tuners come out, you'd have to go with a USB TV tuner. Elgato has one, Apple has the Miglia one on their store page. There are afew others.
Oops, wasn't watching my acronyms. thmst30 was asking about the MacBook Pro and and NOT a Mac Pro. Anyways, my recommendation works for both the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro, go the USB route. Miglia and Elgato both make USB TV tuners and there are others.
I have my eye on this Elgato EyeTV 250. All the encoding is done at the hardware level, you can record multiple shows at the same time, and you can do HD on Core Duo's....
I just bought the eyeTV hybrid from the Apple Store today for my Mac Pro. For tuning SD (analog & digital), ATSC HD from the antenna and it's size (a large USB gumstick drive), the $150 US price is very good, in my opinion.
I'm liking it a lot but there are three major shortcomings in my opinion. One is that there is no way to schedule a recurring recording, such as 8pm every Tuesday. Failing that, it would have been nice to have something like a "smart record" so that all new episodes of a show with certain keywords were recorded. The third is that there is no way to set a recording to automatically default to also produce an output for the iPod, the default is not.
How sweet would it be to be in class or at work on your MBP and be able to watch your local channels, especially in high def? 8)
It would be nice. Watching live TV on the go would be pretty awkward without a compact portable antenna.
At the very least, you can watch the recorded shows on the go. You can leave the tuner behind and still watch the recordings.
I just noticed that the thing works with the Apple Remote out of the box. The box didn't say so. That functionality is generally pretty nice though some of the UI needs a little work.
How sweet would it be to be in class or at work on your MBP and be able to watch your local channels, especially in high def? 8)
Nah, you'd be watching day-time TV blech. JeffDM's right, the pre-recorded TV should be good enough on the go.
I've been looking to replace my TV+DVD recorder with a TV tuner for my Mac too but I don't know which to go for. I was looking at the Miglia TV tuner but hybrid eyetv tuner looked better. The thing I don't like about them is that they are USB sticks. The connectors in USB sticks tend to break easily in my experience and they put more pressure on the USB port especially with the weight of the co-ax cable.
I think the eyetv 250 looks like the best option and with hardware encoding shouldn't really affect the system much. I read that the USB sticks can use 90-100% of the CPU while encoding.
The thing I don't like about them is that they are USB sticks. The connectors in USB sticks tend to break easily in my experience and they put more pressure on the USB port especially with the weight of the co-ax cable.
Apparently, they've already thought of that. The package includes a 12" USB extender cable, so that's not a problem. It's kind of necessary in order to get the best angle for the IR remote receiver for many setups, otherwise you couldn't use it very well on a Cinema Display, Mac Pro, Mac mini or an iMac without a hub or extender cable.
The A/V input connector is the weak point on this design. It has an adapter that connects to a very small connector on the side. It's way too small in my opinion, I've had to reconnect it a few times to get it to see the input video. If A/V input is important to you, then I suggest waiting until they fix that with a better connector or use an alternate product. Tuning using the antenna connector works fine though. I am compiling a list of necessary fixes which I think it needs for mailing to Elgato, and the A/V connector SNAFU is on the top of the list.
The lack of hardware encoding is irrelevant if you just tune the digital stations because the PVR part simply records the digital data. I only have five TV stations in my area and they all transmit digitally now, with HD for sports and prime time, I PVR'ed the Harry Potter movie in HD last night and it's beautiful. Recording digitally really doesn't take any CPU and hardly any system bandwidth at all. The part where it takes a lot of CPU is when you have it re-encode video for iPod.
Comments
I'm liking it a lot but there are three major shortcomings in my opinion. One is that there is no way to schedule a recurring recording, such as 8pm every Tuesday. Failing that, it would have been nice to have something like a "smart record" so that all new episodes of a show with certain keywords were recorded. The third is that there is no way to set a recording to automatically default to also produce an output for the iPod, the default is not.
For example, I just couldn't sit under a tree and watch tv on my MBP?
You still have to hook up an antenna to the el gato in order to watch tv right?
For example, I just couldn't sit under a tree and watch tv on my MBP?
Unfortunately, it does still require an antenna.
Unfortunately, it does still require an antenna.
How sweet would it be to be in class or at work on your MBP and be able to watch your local channels, especially in high def? 8)
How sweet would it be to be in class or at work on your MBP and be able to watch your local channels, especially in high def? 8)
It would be nice. Watching live TV on the go would be pretty awkward without a compact portable antenna.
At the very least, you can watch the recorded shows on the go. You can leave the tuner behind and still watch the recordings.
I just noticed that the thing works with the Apple Remote out of the box. The box didn't say so. That functionality is generally pretty nice though some of the UI needs a little work.
How sweet would it be to be in class or at work on your MBP and be able to watch your local channels, especially in high def? 8)
Nah, you'd be watching day-time TV blech. JeffDM's right, the pre-recorded TV should be good enough on the go.
I've been looking to replace my TV+DVD recorder with a TV tuner for my Mac too but I don't know which to go for. I was looking at the Miglia TV tuner but hybrid eyetv tuner looked better. The thing I don't like about them is that they are USB sticks. The connectors in USB sticks tend to break easily in my experience and they put more pressure on the USB port especially with the weight of the co-ax cable.
I think the eyetv 250 looks like the best option and with hardware encoding shouldn't really affect the system much. I read that the USB sticks can use 90-100% of the CPU while encoding.
The thing I don't like about them is that they are USB sticks. The connectors in USB sticks tend to break easily in my experience and they put more pressure on the USB port especially with the weight of the co-ax cable.
Apparently, they've already thought of that. The package includes a 12" USB extender cable, so that's not a problem. It's kind of necessary in order to get the best angle for the IR remote receiver for many setups, otherwise you couldn't use it very well on a Cinema Display, Mac Pro, Mac mini or an iMac without a hub or extender cable.
The A/V input connector is the weak point on this design. It has an adapter that connects to a very small connector on the side. It's way too small in my opinion, I've had to reconnect it a few times to get it to see the input video. If A/V input is important to you, then I suggest waiting until they fix that with a better connector or use an alternate product. Tuning using the antenna connector works fine though. I am compiling a list of necessary fixes which I think it needs for mailing to Elgato, and the A/V connector SNAFU is on the top of the list.
The lack of hardware encoding is irrelevant if you just tune the digital stations because the PVR part simply records the digital data. I only have five TV stations in my area and they all transmit digitally now, with HD for sports and prime time, I PVR'ed the Harry Potter movie in HD last night and it's beautiful. Recording digitally really doesn't take any CPU and hardly any system bandwidth at all. The part where it takes a lot of CPU is when you have it re-encode video for iPod.
Nah, you'd be watching day-time TV blech. JeffDM's right, the pre-recorded TV should be good enough on the go.
No way. I'm a sports nut. I was referring to sports programming.
I have TiVo, and it's way too easy to turn on ESPNews than actually record a game a watch the whole thing for the outcome.
No way. I'm a sports nut. I was referring to sports programming.
I have TiVo, and it's way too easy to turn on ESPNews than actually record a game a watch the whole thing for the outcome.
Couldn't you just fast forward?