Excellent, thanks Mart, but which one...??
http://www.buymac.com.au/search/eyetv Am I confused a little, or just thick? Jim On 11 August 2010 11:03, Martin Hill <[email protected]> wrote: > > I've had several HDD digital TV set-top boxes in past years but I've found > an EyeTV-equipped Mac connected to a big screen to be far superior even for > simple recording schedules, let alone all the other features (Note that > AppleTV won't do any off-air TV recording so none of this is possible with > that box). Here's just a few reasons: > > - SmartGuides in EyeTV for example are far superior to time and date > scheduling as you just type in a keyword like "David Attenborough" or > "science fiction" or "sbs news" and it will automatically record every > documentary or movie that has that name in either the title or the paragraph > description or type that accompanies every show in the Electronic Program > Guide. Priceless, particularly when broadcasters move shows around or > cancel or start them back up with little notice. I must have 30 or more > smart guides for all sorts of shows and categories on my TV iMac. Smart > Guides also allow you to enter complex criteria to weed out duplicates on HD > channels etc if you want to get fancy. Smartguides can also be set to only > keep a set number of a particular show, so we always have the last two days > worth of the Ten, ABC, SBS and Nine evening news sitting on our Mac ready to > watch if we so wish. > > - Exporting to iPod format means I have been able to build up a large > library of movies, docos, Playschool (yes we have a toddler) and other > recordings on a separate hard drive array that take up far less room than > the huge MPEG-2 files that come down straight from the broadcaster and which > fill the HDDs of set top boxes far too quickly. Of course, these can also > easily be synched with your iPhone etc since they are already on the Mac - > no disc burning or complex file transfers needed. > > - MUCH friendlier user interface - Using the built-in scheduling interfaces > of most set-top boxes in my experience can be a very frustrating, cramped, > limiting experience trying to enter data from a stupidly complex remote > control. Instead being able to use a wireless mouse and Apple's excellent > Bluetooth keyboard is SO much easier, there is no comparison. > > - If you need to record more than just one or two channels simultaneously, > adding extra EyeTV receivers is an exercise in simplicity - plug it in a > spare USB port, connect the antenna and voila! an extra TV channel. I've > had 4 or more EyeTV units running on our lounge room iMac in the past > allowing me to view and/or record up to that many channels simultaneously, > all appearing in separate windows on the 50" Plasma. Picture-in-Picture eat > your heart out. :-) > > - Cost. If you already have a useable Mac, an EyTV DTT USB receiver can be > as cheap as $120. Maybe add a nice big external hard disk for your Mac and > it is still cheaper than a decent set-top box. If you do need to buy a Mac > Mini, the extra expense is usually worth it considering all of the > computer-based things you can then also do on the big Plasma screen. > > Having such a large library of up-to-the minute pre-recorded shows means we > never watch live TV so we don't sit there wasting our time with ads or shows > we aren't really interested in. As a result we actually watch less TV than > we ever did before because we only watch exactly what is interesting, we are > not slaves to the TV schedule, we skip all the ads and when a recording > finishes, we have to make the conscious decision to double-click another > recording rather than sitting there in a vegetative state watching one bit > of TV flotsam flow into another. > > IMHO of course. :-) > > -Mart > > ------------------------------------ > Martin Hill > mailto:[email protected] > homepages: http://web.mac.com/mart_hill > Mb: 0401-103-194 hm: (08)9314-5242 > > > -- Jim Duffield 0405583977 Skype: oldozsapper -- 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]>
