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Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: shadow
Date: May 09, 2007 11:55AM
Right now, we are paying $130 per month for cable television. I can probably get that down to around $90, but I'd like to see if I can get it to $0. I am this >-< close to giving cable the boot and going to OTA-only augmented with iTunes show purchases.

Downloads can be covered with an Apple TV - most of the shows we watch are available there. The only other issue is live network broadcast HDTV. There are times we want to watch a live show, but be able to time-shift it during broadcast. This requires some sort of HD PVR.

I came across the Elgato EyeTV hybrid and it looks like it might fit the bill. Instead of getting an AppleTV, just get a mini and a hybrid.

Is anyone out there doing something like this? I am slowly convincing my wife that cable is the devil and we need to get rid of it, but the only way it is going to work will be if the solution is wife-approved - meaning no harder to use than the cable company's HD DVR.

I guess the bright side to all this is that even if this little experiment all falls apart, I probably can ebay the mini and eyetv for not too much of a loss - maybe two months of a cable bill.
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: tahoedrew
Date: May 09, 2007 12:12PM
I have had my 1.66 Intel dual core mini for about 8 months or so. I had been looking for something like the eyeTV hybrid, but was hoping to find something with a QAM tuner. No luck in the QAM tuner dept., but after being in DC for a friends wedding I just bought the hybrid.

I was staying at another friend's house (who is a recent HUGE mac convert) and he had a hybrid. He brought it out and let me play with it on his MacBook. It was awesome! The software was great and the reception was amazing with just regular rabbit ears (granted, he's just outside of Annapolis, MD, so they have good coverage). I was impressed enough to buy it upon returning home.

Mine should be delivered Monday from OWC, I'll be happy to report back my findings after playing with it for a while.
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: BigGuynRusty
Date: May 09, 2007 12:38PM
Quote
tahoedrew
I have had my 1.66 Intel dual core mini for about 8 months or so. I had been looking for something like the eyeTV hybrid, but was hoping to find something with a QAM tuner. No luck in the QAM tuner dept.

OTA HD/QAM.:
[www.amazon.com]

BGnR



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"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: SLM
Date: May 09, 2007 12:51PM
Love my eyeTV hybrid, have it set up on my iMac and shifts between basic digital cable, OTA digital and the old VCR that my kid won't let go of. I also have an EyeHome that allows playback of the basic cable and vcr recording but doesn't handle HDTV unless I convert the file to divx. The one thing that is a bit of a pain is the HD recording, because it is uncompressed the files are huge so you will need plenty of hard drive space.



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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: tahoedrew
Date: May 09, 2007 01:34PM
Quote
BigGuynRusty
OTA HD/QAM.:
[www.amazon.com]

BGnR

Hmmmm.... why did I think people here told me there wasn't a QAM tuner for the Mac? *shrug* Ok, I now may have to reconsider. The Hybrid is already on its way, perhaps I'll buy the TVmini and compare performance of the two, however the TVmini is $50 more and nearing the cost of a 20" LCD (of course I wanted something that would work with the mini, which is in the bedroom, so I didn't have to deal with a computer monitor and an additional "TV").

~A
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: BigGuynRusty
Date: May 09, 2007 01:50PM
Quote
tahoedrew
Quote
BigGuynRusty
OTA HD/QAM.:
[www.amazon.com]

BGnR

Hmmmm.... why did I think people here told me there wasn't a QAM tuner for the Mac?

~A

Actually there is two, (or more) the EyeTV 500 does QAM.
1. You didn't ask the right people.
2. I honestly don't recall you asking.

BGnR
Not a slam, I really love this place, but it is "Tech" thin.



"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2007 01:58PM by BigGuynRusty.
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: BigGuynRusty
Date: May 09, 2007 01:57PM
BTW, Miglia stuff will work with EyeTV just fine, despite the ElGato/Miglia divorce.
If the Miglia hardware came bundled with EyeTV, it is set for life.

BGnR



"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: RAMd®d
Date: May 09, 2007 02:33PM
I like my hybrid a lot.

A different antenna is needed as my location isn't the greatest. It certainly won't replace cable for the variety of programming, but most of the normal stuff looks so good that I don't mind smaller selection.






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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: martinbc
Date: May 09, 2007 04:51PM
I can't live without my TV Duo on my Mac mini ........... no HD here in Denmark.

It runs all the time a have been running with various DVB-T tuners for a year.

Martin
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: deckeda
Date: May 09, 2007 06:50PM
Quote
shadow
... I am this >-< close to giving cable the boot and going to OTA-only augmented with iTunes show purchases. ...

Best of luck. I attempted the same thing a few months ago but the wife said no, because her shows were not readily available online.

Fox's "HD-like" on-demand has shows hosted on myspace. [www.myspace.com] But even with that there are glaring omissions. CBS' "Innertube" has a fullscreen player too and I guess there are others. But some networks' idea of "on demand" is just a way to search for shows that are on-demand for cable or sat --- not the Internet. Duh.

It's really odd to me that the networks that rely solely on cable or sat for distribution aren't ramping up their Internet presence. Surely they realize that if they make the online way really work well, they could eventually tell the cable and sat folks to take a hike.
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: BigGuynRusty
Date: May 09, 2007 09:32PM
Quote
deckeda
It's really odd to me that the networks that rely solely on cable or sat for distribution aren't ramping up their Internet presence. Surely they realize that if they make the online way really work well, they could eventually tell the cable and sat folks to take a hike.

$$$MONEY$$$
It is VERY expensive to host video and the sponsors are not convinced that anyone watches commercials in cyberspace (They Don't) so they are not going to pay for it.
Also, Cable/Sat folks PAY the Networks for the programs, why would they ever want to pay for the privilege of being seen?
Real question, what would the networks gain by giving it away for "FREE"?
Loyalty?? That and five bucks will buy you a "Cup O Crap" at CharBux.

BGnR



"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."
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Re: Mac mini and EyeTV hybrid. Wife approved?
Posted by: JEBB
Date: May 11, 2007 01:05PM
There appears to be no straight forward choice.
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