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uypeterson
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Los Angeles
 
2005-11-10, 16:06

Sorry for not getting back to the thread sooner.

I studied the Elgato website and the different EyeTV units available. I liked what I saw. Until I joined this forum, I never knew a device like this existed for the Mac.

You won't need a separate tuner card since the EyeTV unit incorporates a tuner. From what I understand, you connect a coax connection from an antenna or satellite/cable box into the EyeTV. Then, connect a Firewire cable from the EyeTV to the Mac. Run some setup discs and you're copying away. Easy enough.

The 30" display requires a dual link DVI card, which your PowerMac has. Since HDTV maxes out at 1920x1080p (resolution of most 23" and 24" displays), dual link isn't required until the bandwidth exceeds 165 MPixels/s. The highest resolution I've seen on single link DVI cards is 2048x1536. Because a great many video cards are capable of those resolutions, it is unlikley a dual link version will be made available unless the HDTV specification improves.

(By the way, max bandwidth on a dual link DVI connection is 330MPixels/sec. Check out this page for a little more info - http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2573)

According to Elgato's site, the EyeTV 200 works with antennas, cable or satellite boxes; recording any data received at the best resolution possible from coax or composite signals. Although excellent images can be obtained from composite connections, for HD displays (especially the 30"), the resolution may not be enjoyable enough. The highest analog resolution from the EyeTV 200 is 720x480, essentially that of DVD. One good thing I like about this unit is that it can record in MPEG-4, so you can save the recorded programs in QuickTime 7, then export the videos to a video iPod.

The output could be good enough, considering the many positive comments from EyeTV users.

The EyeTV 500 will deliver high quality images at up to 1920x1080i because it has an HDTV tuner. However, you're limited to the free stuff and MPEG-2 recording. It's not as flexible to use as the 200 is, and it costs more.

Since I'll soon be in your shoes, I would purchase the EyeTV 200 and connect it to the 30" equipped PowerMac. When one considers that DVDs do look decent on the 30" display, it can be hoped that a signal from a digital satellite or cable box will yield similar results. The bonus is being able to move the recorded shows from the computer to an iPod.
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