TV on iMac versus normal TV (or how bad is it?)

"The question is this: how does watching TV on the
iMac compare to watching normal TV?"

The iMac display is great for watching Home Movies, DVD Movies, Video Clips and TV.

"The accepted wisdom is that you SHOULD NOT use LCD
computer monitors for TV; the display quality is
poor."

Not true!
http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv/lcdtv-misconceptions.shtml

"My opinion is this: watching TV on a computer is a geek thing. It's like teaching a cat to walk around the living room on its hind legs -- cool but impractical. "

Your cat might have to walk on two legs to get around if you lived in a small one room apartment and had a TV, DVD player, Stereo system, CD player, Entertainment Center, Computer/Tower, Computer/Display and Desk!!!

iMac is all in one!

17" iMac Intel Core Duo 1.5GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.9) Maxtor 300GB FireWire Creative Inspire 2.1 2G Nano

Your fears are misplaced. I have an intel imac, and miglia tv mini. WOW is all everyone say's when they see it! The quality is fantastic. The apple remote doubles as your tv remote. You can access, plan play and record anything on in advance.
Its like having a brand new state of the art lcd tv and hard disc recorder in your mac.

So the mac really dose become the entertainment centre of your home, playing music, watching films and tv.I have my imac on a long desk thats the centre of my room and everything is based around it.
Have you ever watched a film on your iMac, its just like that. The networks broadcasts in the UK are near DVD quality, and in America their highDef. The whole experience brings a new dimension to your mac and the way you will use it.

Also you can pause live tv and access the amazing tv guide and the graphic" are great, better than front row. TV on a mac has come a long way! I really recommend it to everyone with an intel imac, mac mini with an apple remote.
It barley uses any cpu, and can be left on in the background or in a small window while you work without effecting any cpu intensive work, like iphoto, CS3 etc.
Double click on the window and your in FULL SCREEN TV Mode 🙂

I think that the practicality goes a bit if you own a laptop. As with laptops you naturally want to move around from location to location.
Also on the slower g4 systems it would take up allot of processing power, so I would imagine it would still be a good experience, but you would not have the practicality of using the apple remote, and the app would be more intensive on your system.. If you do get it, I recommend you double the frame rate in the preferences for outstanding quality and keep the Live tv buffer in the ram, so as EyeTV is not writing all the time to your hard disk.

(For hassle free experience connect tv mini etc - to a rooftop arial! And I would say only buy the Digital!!! tv versions or what requires your needs ). Look at the apple store for other options that may suite your needs.

For me digital tv on my imac is essential. Until my need's change and I require a large lcd on the wall and apple tv LOL Then this is a great option!!!

PS I'm watching Panic Room on BBC 3 now as I've been typing this 😉 Not geeky! Amazing! 🙂

I have a miglia microtv tuner and the video quality is OK. I think what's hurting my video quality is i'm using a cheap cable to connect the microtv to my Time Warner cable.

lenn