In a quandary

[bagleyb]

My cousin convinced me about a year ago that I needed to get a Mac. I'm very computer literate, in fact, that's what I do for a living, but I've never even used a Mac. My plan is to put this in the kitchen (I cook a lot) and use it primarily for surfing and music when entertaining.

Here's my problem. About a 6 months ago I decided on a mini. I have a 19" LCD HDTV, and figured I could hook up the Mac via DVI and get a DirecTV HD satellite receiver to component. That way, I get TV and computer in the living room.

However, once I upgrade the RAM and HD, add a camera (my cousin and I will do a lot of video chat once I have one in the kitchen) and superdrive (I will use it for lite video editing), I'm not too far off the price of an iMac. Obviously, that's a more powerful machine, and comes with a 17" LCD.

If I could hook my sat receiver to the iMac, it would be a no brainer, I'd buy it tomorrow. I'm assuming I can't do that, as I don't see any video input onptions on the iMac.

TV is important, but not a deal killer. I'm not sure the integrated camera will work for me. I like the idea of being able to move the camera to show different room angles.

I just can't decide between the min and iMac, and then you add the pending announcement (if it is really the intel announcement) in January, and I'm all confused.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[eva01]

is there any video inputs on any of the Macs? I don't think so...you would have to get an optional thing for the computer.

However if all you want is to get TV onto your computer it would be getting an Elgate EyeTV would do the job i believe.

 

[NYmacAttack]

Since there is no vidoe imputs on the iMAc you would have to buy an external USB2 Tuner. Not a big deal but it will add more wires.

 

[m-dogg]

If you go the iMac route, check out Eye TV from El Gato. I have the 200 which is for regular cable and it works well. I believe they have other models that support digital/HD/etc...

You can watch TV in a window while you are using iChat, web, email etc..Or when you watch it full screen it will basically turn your iMac into a TV. It also includes PVR functionality and the ability to export the shows you record into various formats.