Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iMac to replace bedroom TV

diamond.g

diamond.g

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 20, 2007
11,720
2,835
OBX
So I got the final go ahead from the wife on replacing our old 19" tube TV with a 24" iMac. I have picked up two Pinnacle 80e tuners and am looking into using EyeTV 3 (hopefully within the frontrow interface if that is possible) to watch unencrypted DigitalQAM. My question is which 24" iMac should I be looking to get. Note any TV shows that we miss by using unencrypted DigtalQAM we hope to be able to get from iTunes.
 
Man tv shows are available on hulu.com. This is great for watching tv on a mac. I use my MBP with my 32 in samsung in my bedroom with hulu and it is great. I have a pinnacle hd stick for mac, and have only been able to use it through eyetv, not frontrow.
 
diamond.g said:
So I got the final go ahead from the wife on replacing our old 19" tube TV with a 24" iMac. I have picked up two Pinnacle 80e tuners and am looking into using EyeTV 3 (hopefully within the frontrow interface if that is possible) to watch unencrypted DigitalQAM. My question is which 24" iMac should I be looking to get. Note any TV shows that we miss by using unencrypted DigtalQAM we hope to be able to get from iTunes.
Click to expand...

clickgr gave me a tip on PyeTv, which looks like it would integrate EyeTV with Front Row pretty nicely:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7217781#post7217781
 
At one point I wanted to get a 24" for the bedroom as our tv. But then I wised up and realized I would be spending $1200+ for a 24" tv. Sure I would have used it as a desktop, but mainly I wanted it for doing just what you are going to do.

I opted for a 32" plasma instead for $450 :p
 
Excactly, you could get a nice 46-50' 1080p Plasma for the price of these 24' iMacs. Depending on what way you go, you may have enough left over for an Mini, surely an Apple TV.
 
VoodooDaddy said:
At one point I wanted to get a 24" for the bedroom as our tv. But then I wised up and realized I would be spending $1200+ for a 24" tv. Sure I would have used it as a desktop, but mainly I wanted it for doing just what you are going to do.

I opted for a 32" plasma instead for $450 :p
Click to expand...

shfreelance said:
Excactly, you could get a nice 46-50' 1080p Plasma for the price of these 24' iMacs. Depending on what way you go, you may have enough left over for an Mini, surely an Apple TV.
Click to expand...
True, I that thought has crossed my mind. I also will be getting a Mini to replace my server in the basement. It was also going to take the place of our DVR. I guess the point to getting the iMac was so I didn't need to get another device to watch digital TV. Going to Hulu is great, but I was looking for something that can be controlled with a remote.
 
Why not just buy a nice TV and a DVR box to go with it?

That's not going to cost anywhere near as much as the iMac.
 
neiltc13 said:
Why not just buy a nice TV and a DVR box to go with it?

That's not going to cost anywhere near as much as the iMac.
Click to expand...

I am looking to give the cable company back their crappy DVR. Plus I would also like an easy way to watch shows that we do purchase off iTunes and Clear QAM all in one box. So unless the AppleTV magically grows a tuner and quite possibly a screen the iMac is where I am leaning. Of course I could just get the HP Touchsmart, but I really wanted to go all Mac in my household.

I am really surprised everyone here is trying to steer me away from a Mac solution that doesn't require an actual TV.
 
diamond.g said:
Who said the cost of an iMac was a problem? I am looking to give the cable company back their crappy DVR. Plus I would also like an easy way to watch shows that we do purchase off iTunes and Clear QAM all in one box. So unless the AppleTV magically grows a tuner and quite possibly a screen the iMac is where I am leaning. Of course I could just get the HP Touchsmart, but I really wanted to go all Mac in my household.

I am really surprised everyone here is trying to steer me away from a Mac solution that doesn't require an actual TV.
Click to expand...

Lol, yeah everyone leave him alone. TV's ... bah! Boxes ... bah! Things that connect to TV broadcasts ... bah!
Good luck choosing your iMac! :D
 
Why not get a DVR which isn't provided by the cable company and which doesn't require a fee. You know, like eyeTV but for a TV!
 
I am starting to explore other options with my wife. Ideally an iMac would be my first choice, but now I am seeing if a Mac Mini, a TV and an AppleTV would be enough.
 
Actually I was looking at
  • Mac Mini
  • Tivo HD
  • AppleTV
  • Samsung 22" HDTV
  • Quite possibly a Time Capsule
The first 4 would basically be the cost of an iMac. I would get rid of the cable box, and my Windows Server. And we would still be able to watch AppleTV (with the Boxee hack) and normal TV.

What do you guys think?
 
Are there really no DVRs on sale in the USA which work without a subscription?

What I'm talking about are things like these which you can get in the UK:
http://direct.tesco.com/q/N.1998521/Nr.99.aspx

You buy the box and it has a built in hard drive and you can record all the TV you want without paying any money to anyone after the cost of the box.
 
neiltc13 said:
Are there really no DVRs on sale in the USA which work without a subscription?

What I'm talking about are things like these which you can get in the UK:
http://direct.tesco.com/q/N.1998521/Nr.99.aspx

You buy the box and it has a built in hard drive and you can record all the TV you want without paying any money to anyone after the cost of the box.
Click to expand...

Tivo (with lifetime service) and Moxi are it in the US. Others are PC Based.
 
diamond.g said:
Actually I was looking at
  • Mac Mini
  • Tivo HD
  • AppleTV
  • Samsung 22" HDTV
  • Quite possibly a Time Capsule
The first 4 would basically be the cost of an iMac. I would get rid of the cable box, and my Windows Server. And we would still be able to watch AppleTV (with the Boxee hack) and normal TV.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Why do you need the ATV if your mini is hooked up to the TV?
 
Could someone help me out as well?

I'd like to get the eyeTV thing, but something isn't clear to me. I have a G5 with the ADC 23" HD cinema display...will the G5 processor get HD over the air?
 
Yes, it's a dual 2.5 PPC G5

I'm concerned b/c the technical section of their website says:

Note: 720p or 1080i HD features require an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Analog TV recorded and processed by a software encoder; quality depends on processor performance.
 
larrymarshall2 said:
Yes, it's a dual 2.5 PPC G5

I'm concerned b/c the technical section of their website says:

Note: 720p or 1080i HD features require an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Analog TV recorded and processed by a software encoder; quality depends on processor performance.
Click to expand...
Interesting because the requirements for EyeTV3 just lists a Dual PPC G5 or Intel Core Duo. It may be that the Hybrid doesn't get the HD channels via digital. I do notice it mentions the whole Analog TV thing.
 
the question is do you have a strong signal at your house for the HD signal?

Signal at my house was terrible and I only got 1 HD channel and 4 digital channels
 
This is the website I read the information from:
http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/hybrid09/product3.en.html

And what is the eyetv3? I thought it was the same thing as the eyetv Hybrid.

How does one find out how many channels they can receive with eyetv3 or eyetv hybrid? Is there a site for locating what's available based on zip code or something?

I ordered the 24" iMac (obviously has intel) though it's not to come for 4-6 weeks. Was wondering if this tuner would work to tide me over until it comes on my current G5 setup...since obviously it will work once the iMac comes in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back