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ATI TV Wonder 650 TV Tuner Finally Debuts for Macs
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 1:10 PM on November 14, 2007
ATI's TV Wonder 650 TV tuners have been out for PCs for a bit, but a Mac version of the Combo USB variety's arriving just this month for $149, and it comes in a special white case—guess they didn't get the memo silver's the new white. It's also sporting a polished new interface and parental controls, though spec-wise it appears to be the same as before (OTA Analog and HD, Clear-QAM, etc.), making it a pretty decent solution for a Mac mini HD PVR setup. This way for more photos.
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EMoShunz
Posted 8:52 AM 15/11/07
i just figure in today's available technology, one machine should (and from the ps3's specs, can) do all of that for me. blu-ray/dvd/cd, games (less important for me), pvr, iptv, wifi media connect...
i pay $45 / month for ok tv. if i payed 'sony' $20 / month for iptv (real networks and movie stations, even ppv for brand new dvd releases) i would pay for the system itself in a few yeas at most, plus have a bunch of other great features in the process.
EMoShunz
Ted13
Posted 1:33 PM 14/11/07
@CRYCRY " It records shows in different codecs and bitrates (depending on your hardware) but they can only be played in EyeTV."
This is utterly false: EyeTV records OTA or clear QAM digital streams without altering them in any way -- they are kept in their native MPEG2 transport stream format and they may be played back in VLC without any changes.
Yes EyeTV software has bugs, but in my experience, by and large works very well. FWIW, I am using it with one HD HomeRun and one EyeTV 500 device, which between them allow me to record three simultaneous channels, while playing back another recording on my Mac Mini.
I've definitely seen reports on the wake from sleep problem, but keep in mind it doesn't hit everyone -- I've never experienced it. My main complaints are digital audio out bugs: lip sync, not releasing audio out when done playing, etc. And recently I've had intermittent problems with the EyeTV not seeing the HD-HR tuner until I stop and restart the EyeTV software.
Ted13
tyo1997
Posted 10:32 AM 14/11/07
BOSTONK wrote if it is possible for a 360 to work with this... I wonder the same thing, except for my PS3. I dumped all my TVs and only have my 24" iMac. I forgot I had a PS3 (since there are really no games for it yet) and now cannot play my PS2 games anymore. This would be the perfect solution for running my PS3 again (to play my PS2 games). BTW, why would anyone want this thing for anything else?
tyo1997