# Help me watch T.V.



## Trip (Nov 10, 2006)

So, at my apartment I get free internet and cable T.V. through the provider MSTAR. Both the internet and the cable T.V. is accessed through ethernet cables which plug into a router.

What I'm wondering is: can I access the television I regularly watch on a T.V. set on my MacBook? I mean, is there some program that would be able to encode the data from the ethernet and let me watch T.V.?

I don't know if it's possible but it seems fairly logical to me, unforunately I can't find anything about it on Google. Hopefully someone here has more knowledge then me in that area.


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## g/re/p (Nov 10, 2006)

You need one of _these_:

http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvhybridna


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## lucidmcmillan (Nov 10, 2006)

EyeTVs are great, the ability to use your mac as a HD recorder is so useful.


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## Trip (Nov 10, 2006)

Wow, pricy.


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## lucidmcmillan (Nov 10, 2006)

They do quite a few different ones.

I'd say that they're your best bet to get TV on your mac and they integrate wonderfully with an online TV schedule, meaning that you can easily set it up to record programs.


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## Satcomer (Nov 10, 2006)

Also there is a new technology out (a new Mac beta) from Slingbox. It looks like a very interesting technology.


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## Thank The Cheese (Nov 15, 2006)

lucidmcmillan said:


> EyeTVs are great, the ability to use your mac as a HD recorder is so useful.



HDTV is only with the EyeTV 500 though (speaking of which -- where in the world can I buy the EyeTV 500? Been waiting for it to come to an australian store for months now)

I've been using an EyeTV 200 for around 2 years now on my iMac. It works great. I bought an EyeTV hybrid a couple of months ago, but returned it. Although it works great, don't believe what it says about the zero latency for game play. Not only was there a latency on my iMac (albeit a small one), but in order to function the software forced me to downscale the video to ~320x240 resolution. It looks terrible at full screen.

However, if you don't plan on hooking up a gaming console to it,you won't be disappointed. THe software is fantastic, and works just as advertised.


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## karavite (Dec 4, 2006)

You know, as I read about all the hassles and effort going in to watching TV on a computer, I can't help but think of one of the most innovative computers ever built, that completely flopped, that was built for video. I had two before I gave up and switched to Mac a long time ago. Any guesses?

Yep, the Amiga. If anyone remembers the Amiga was first in video editing (Video Toaster) on a personal computer WAY before PC's or Macs could even handle simply displaying video. Why? Because the Amiga displayed video as standard NTSC - just like TV. If anyone technical can help understand all this, aren't we simply suffering from the complexity of converting video between different display standards? If true, wasn't the Amiga simple and elegant in adopting the standard broadcast display?


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## eric2006 (Dec 4, 2006)

karavite said:


> You know, as I read about all the hassles and effort going in to watching TV on a computer, I can't help but think of one of the most innovative computers ever built, that completely flopped, that was built for video.


I was going to say the Macintosh TV.. but that's a bit of a long shot.. 


> I had two *before* I gave up and switched to Mac a long time ago. Any guesses?


right.


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