How to watch tv, play xbox on my mac's monitor?

[adamcz]

Not sure if this is more a hardware or software question, so I decided on this forum with a coin flip.

My buddy in the dorms here watches cable tv on his Dell, and the program he does it in allows him to record mpegs. How do I do this on the computer I'm about to buy?

Also is there a way to play my xbox on my computer monitor? I guess I'd need either the red/yellow/white inputs or whatever the hdtv thing is that xbox can put out.

If I could do both these things, I could get rid of my tv, and unclutter my dorm room.

If I played xbox on a 17" flat screen, it would look better than on my tv right?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nermal]

You'll need some sort of video input. You can probably get a PCI card that allows this, and I've also seen boxes that plug into the FireWire port. I can't really say anything else about this though, I've never tried to watch TV on my Mac.

 

[solvs]

Formac, Canopus, and Dazzle have analog to firewire external capture devices. Formac had a PCI card, but they discontined it, and never released OS X drivers for it anyway. The other PCI devices are pretty expensive, and are more for video editors. El Gato's EyeTV is okay, but it's USB and has it's problems.

There are ways to use a monitor as a TV. Do a google search for TV to VGA or DVI.

I wish it was easier (and cheaper) like on a PC, but it isn't really at this point. I do hope Apple, or someone, makes this possible. Even TV out, without having to spend $100+ on a Radeon 7000 or external box.

Anyone want to jump in here with their personal experiances in trying to do this?