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Suggestions for TV Tuner

M

mwchris

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 12, 2008
155
4
Kentucky
I have searched the forums and not had much luck other than very old threads so I am hoping that someone has experience with tv tuners on a Mac.

I have been looking for a while, and never made a purchase, but really miss the DVR function I had on my old windows laptop. While ultimately I would like to build a media center machine, that is not the intent with my purchase. Basically I want a tv tuner that I can hook up to my MacPro and set it to record shows automatically. I have searched and found several different kinds. I have narrowed it down to two, but I am open to suggestions for others. I don't want to break the bank, as the two I have round I can get for around $100. Let me know what your thoughts, and suggestions are as I would like to make the purchase tonight since one is on sale.

1 - ATI TV Wonder HD 650 USB - (http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder650/usbmac/index.html)

I like this one because it has dual tuners where one can be viewed and the other recorded simultaneously. While this is not a requirement, it is a nice feature. I also like this because for the price I can get it at is does hardware encoding. I have found little information on this device and would like for anyone with experience with it to please chime in.


2. - ElGato EyeTV Hybrid - (http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/hybrid/product2.en.html)

This is the one that is on sale. It seems to have a greater following, but I've heard mixed reviews about the elgato software. It will certainly do the job, but not sure if it is good considering the device mentioned above.


Please offer suggestions to what you think would work best, and be most compatible with my Mac. I would also be interested to an internal card, but have not done a lot of searching for those, but if you have info on those I would be interested as well. Also, at this time I am not interested in purchasing a mini or apple tv, so keep it strictly to tv tuner cards.

Thank you in advance for your help/suggestions.
 
I've had the EyeTV Hybrid for well over a year and love it. The software is very good (I'm still on the 2.5.x software), especially with the Program Guide function. Most people love the software, but will say that it lacks one "major" feature. That "major" feature is a Season Pass like functionality similar to the Tivo. Since I've never owned a Tivo, perhaps I just don't know what I'm missing. To me, it's not a big deal since I only record shows I know I'm going to miss.
 
EyeTV 250 Plus on Windows

Hey, i have the eyetv 250 plus and it is amazin, plus i have managed to get it working in both mac os x as well as windows vista. So you have the best of both world. I believe you can also pkay your xbox/playstation on it while on windows as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZhefN22Q6w&feature=channel_page



mwchris said:
I have searched the forums and not had much luck other than very old threads so I am hoping that someone has experience with tv tuners on a Mac.

I have been looking for a while, and never made a purchase, but really miss the DVR function I had on my old windows laptop. While ultimately I would like to build a media center machine, that is not the intent with my purchase. Basically I want a tv tuner that I can hook up to my MacPro and set it to record shows automatically. I have searched and found several different kinds. I have narrowed it down to two, but I am open to suggestions for others. I don't want to break the bank, as the two I have round I can get for around $100. Let me know what your thoughts, and suggestions are as I would like to make the purchase tonight since one is on sale.

1 - ATI TV Wonder HD 650 USB - (http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder650/usbmac/index.html)

I like this one because it has dual tuners where one can be viewed and the other recorded simultaneously. While this is not a requirement, it is a nice feature. I also like this because for the price I can get it at is does hardware encoding. I have found little information on this device and would like for anyone with experience with it to please chime in.


2. - ElGato EyeTV Hybrid - (http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/hybrid/product2.en.html)

This is the one that is on sale. It seems to have a greater following, but I've heard mixed reviews about the elgato software. It will certainly do the job, but not sure if it is good considering the device mentioned above.


Please offer suggestions to what you think would work best, and be most compatible with my Mac. I would also be interested to an internal card, but have not done a lot of searching for those, but if you have info on those I would be interested as well. Also, at this time I am not interested in purchasing a mini or apple tv, so keep it strictly to tv tuner cards.

Thank you in advance for your help/suggestions.
Click to expand...
 
I was looking at the Elgato to replace my Terratec, and found the feedback on Amazon quite useful. It seems most people find the v3.0 software very good, but there have been hardware concerns. Maybe they're sorted now.
 
+1 for Elgato Hybrid. The Eyetv 3 software that comes with it is excellent. Been using Elgato for a year now.
 
Trying to hook up the ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB HDTV tuner and EyeTV 3 doesn't support it yet it does with the older ATi TV Wonder USB 2.0 device. Where's the tvPortal download?? Good grief!
 
Last edited:
Wow a really old thread. Elgato sold the Eye TV business to a German company Geniatech Europe GmbH in 2016. Perhaps you can check on their site.

www.geniatech.eu

Support | Geniatech EyeTV

Direct from Manufacture & Designer: EyeTV Products, News, Blog, Forum & Support. Eyetv the smart TV platforms for Apple (macOS|iOS|tvOS), TV, Android & PC
www.geniatech.eu www.geniatech.eu
 
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