Well, rather than a straight digital receiver set top box, we went for a DVR (Digital Video Recorder - which is basically a hard disk equipped digital set-top box) that allows you to record TV shows, pause live TV, etc in addition to having a digital TV tuner.
We've actually had two digital set-top boxes from different manufacturers with internal 40GB and 80GB hard disks respectively and have been through the chore of connecting a PC via serial cable to update firmware but it's over-rated. The fixes never fixed the problems with the second box (a Strong Technologies 5290), the feature upgrades were very minor and limited and we gave up in the end. (scratch $800 for the 5290 - at least we got our money back on the first unit) and the hard disks weren't upgradeable (they're never big enough), and you always want more options as new tech comes out, but black boxes like these are too closed and proprietary. :-( (though that TEAC box running Linux would I imagine be better than some) Instead I'd recommend buying an EyeTV 410 http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetv410 If you don't have a Mac available to dedicate to it, get a Mac Mini (or an iMac G5 which we went for and preferably a large capacity firewire drive). We've got an external 250GB hard drive connected to our iMac which can fit about 80hrs of digital TV shows and movies. (We bought both the EyeTV and Firewire drive from Daniel Kerr who demoed the EyeTV at WAMUG last year - great price and service as usual) You could then connect the Mac to your TV and stereo or with a 20" iMac G5 use the Mac as your TV and get crystal clear digital TV reception and schedule as many TV recordings as you wish. It's great - you actually end up watching less TV - you can skip thru all the ads and what you do watch is just the shows and movies you want to watch - no sitting vegging in front of trash TV anymore. Here are some of the advantages of the EyeTV option over a set-top box: - keep adding as much hard disk space as you wish by just adding firewire drives or swapping in bigger HDs (they keep getting cheaper all the time). - Upgrading software is painless and new features are often major improvements - Useful 3rd party applications that work with the EyeTV (eg EyeTV Dashboard widgets, streaming server to stream TV to other computers in the house etc) - Use the Mac as your lounge room media centre for music, photos, TV, internet radio, audio CD and DVD player and burner (and games machine) all in the one unit. - You can have a smaller live TV window open at the same time as one or more recorded programs. - Web browse on screen alongside your video windows - great for the news. - Burn movies to CD or DVD or compress down to small sizes to email or keep on disk. - Control EyeTV over the internet to program it while you're out. - Pause the live TV or DVD movies automatically with Salling Clicker and/or Phone Valet when a phone call comes in to your mobile or landline respectviely. Disadvantages: - No dual tuner EyeTV solution available yet (so you can't record 2 TV channels simultaneously) - No direct one-click scheduling integration with Australian TV-listing websites yet, though it is promised with the AusTV widget for Tiger. - No matter how big your hard disk you WILL keep running out of disk space. :-) Hope this helps ciao -Mart > From: Keith Feltham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 16:47:25 +0800 > To: WAMUG Mailing List <[email protected]> > Subject: Set Top Box updates > > Our family are considering purchasing a Set Top Box in an attempt to > improve the fringe-signal ghosting and snow that currently > constitutes our TV picture. > > Most models advertise that they can be firmware updated for increased > functionality, and they all say the same thing: "Just download the > .exe file, connect the RS232 to your computer's COM 1 port ..." > [Sigh] > > The joys of 2% market share. So how is everyone else dealing with this? > > Thanks. > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > WAMUG is powered by Stalker CommuniGatePro > >
