A Mac Mini PVR

Question

A Mac Mini PVR

I recently purchaed a Core Duo Mac Mini with 80 GB HDD and 2 GB RAM. One of the reasons I wanted a dual-core processor was because I wanted to watch and record television on my mac. I also purchased a 160GB Lacie Mini Firewire HD with the same thought. So, I have been doing some research, and the following are the only devices I could find that would provide a relatively painless TV-watching experience on the Mac:

(1) Miglia TVMicro ($99) - Only Analog, No Digital, Software encoding
(2) Miglia TVMini HD ($249) - Only Digital (ATSC/ClearQAM), No Analog, No encoding (either software or hardware) - records unmodified signal
(3) EyeTV Hybrid ($149) - Digital (ATSC) and Analog, No encoding - signal is recorded as is, Provides 3 quality presets.
(4) EyeTV 250 ($199) - Only Analog, No Digital, Hardware encoding. Provides 7 quality presets.

The only channels I am interested in watching are the regular OTA local channels here in the US. So, here are my questions:

(1) My regular Radio Shack analog provides very poor quality analog channels so I am assuming that if i want to watch local channels in good quality, my only option is to watch them in HD ?

(2) Am I correct to infer from the above data that there is no device that can receive such HD broadcasts but do the encoding/compression in hardware instead of taxing my mac's CPUs ?

(3) What kind of CPU loads are we talking about here ? I imagine my most frequent use of such a device being the TV running in a small window on my 20" LCD while I work. Is that easily handled by the Core Duo Mac Mini ?

(4) What are the file sizes like for these devices ? How much space would a 1-hour HD show take ? Since I would mostly be recording just to watch them and then delete them, I would imagine that the lowest quality would suffice for my purposes ?

If you have one or many of these devices, please weigh in with your experiences. Or if you have found a way to watch TV on the mac with a different setup, please feel free to enlighten me in that case as well.

Thanks.

PowerBook 15, 80GB, 1GB & Core Duo Mini, 80GB, 2GB Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Sep 7, 2006 9:40 PM

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Answer 1

Tae Kim

Level 1

10 points

Sep 8, 2006 12:51 AM in response to Nitin Madnani

Well, this isn't the answer you are looking for I think, but I'd thought I'd throw it out as an option.

I've been using a Mac as a PVR for quite some time. This is a bit more cumbersome, because it's not exactly an all in one solution. I record straight from my cable box via firewire. I use iRecord to capture the streaming data, and IRecord has some good basic functionality including able to switch channels on the cable box and basic event recording (weekly, weekdays, daily, etc.).

I use VLC to playback the streamed content, and the best part is that I can watch a current recording as well. I suppose the actual best part was that it didn't really cost me more money (I could have been just as content by paying $10/month for PVR functionality on my cable box). Oh, and I use MPEG Streamclip to archive any recordings in h264 format. Another downside, I can't record any encrypted programming (not sure about paid Premium channels yet though)

So basically, iRecord sets up all the recordings, and I use VLC to watch it. Of course the best part about this setup is that there is no taxing CPU task of compressing video since it's just capturing streaming data. Only taxing part really is watching it, and especially with HD, I really had to upgrade to an intel Mac Mini. My G4 Powerbook was getting way overworked trying to playback any HD recordings.

Otherwise, EyeTV Hybrid is the best bet.

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Answer 2

detroy

Level 1

4 points

Sep 9, 2006 5:58 AM in response to Tae Kim

I'm interested in this too. Tae, it sounds like your cable box has a firewire connection on it? Hmmm, in my setup the cable box is in another room, but I have a coax cable available for a tv with just the basic cable channels in this room. I'm thinking a setup like the thread originator would work for me. I'm not too computer(well, mac) smart to know really how to set this all up yet. I'd love to hear more on how to do this.

Mac Mini

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Answer 3

Tae Kim

Level 1

10 points

Sep 11, 2006 7:05 PM in response to detroy

For you the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid is probably the best solution. It receives digital over the air broadcast as well as analog from cable. I believe it comes with all the software you need for an all in one solution. Looks pretty simple to setup from looks of the elgato website (install software, choose the preferred free or subscription guide provider, and the hardware is just plugging it in).

Good thing about the hybrid let's you pickup over the air digital broadcasts, which means any stations within range, you can watch high quality tv on your computer (albeit it will take up much more room on the hard drive). Over the air digital is captured straight, so no taxing on the CPU with that, but generally a digital recording of a half hour broadcast can take up a few to several gigabytes of storage, depending if it's jsut digital or HD.

Of course the hybrid is not a hardware encoder so your computer will be used to encode all the recordings. I'm assuming the type of encoding and perhaps quality of encoding will depend on how fast your computer is.

Of course, you can go really ghetto, and just hookup a digital camcorder (if you have one), to the cable coax, and capture via firewire as DV or capture using quicktime via firewire into a lesser quality codec and resolution. Of course, you will need to record everything manually, and you can't watch it live. Like I said, ghetto hookup.

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Answer 4

Sep 13, 2006 7:28 PM in response to Tae Kim

Could you tell me how to set up iRecord and VLC? I just really want to watch TV on my mac and 37inch. How do i setup my DVR firewire to passthrough the stream to VLC?

Thanks

-Joe

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Answer 5

Tae Kim

Level 1

10 points

Sep 13, 2006 8:24 PM in response to Joe Cirino

Hmm... so is this an actual separate DVR? What model DVR is it? And lastly, if you have a DVR, why not just watch it via the DVR to your 37" (i'm assuming LCD TV).

Anyway, iRecord works only a few major digital set top boxes that have active Firewire ports. There a chance that your DVR box might have a disabled firewire port from your provider. Anyway, can't really tell you without knowing what model DVR you have.

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Answer 6

Sep 13, 2006 10:02 PM in response to Nitin Madnani

I am now leaning towards the Miglia TVmicro as I think that analog TV will be sufficient will for my purposes. So. does anyone have any recommendations for good amplified indoor tv antennas to boost the quality of the analog channels ?

Thanks.

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Answer 7

Sep 15, 2006 12:40 PM in response to Nitin Madnani

Personally, I'd pay the extra $50 for Elgato's EyeTV Hybrid. If you do want to receive digital signals in the future (we don't know your location, but in the US analog TV is going away on February 17, 2009) you'd have to get a different receiver. That's less than three years from now. I can't say for certain the EyeTV Hybrid will last longer than that anyway, it's too new, and I can't say there won't be a better and/or cheaper solution before then, but at some point you'd have to buy a newer receiver anyway.

-Doug

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