Now that I’ve made the leap to HDTV, I had to find a way to record HD shows. I thought that I’d turn a Mac Mini into a media center with El Gato’s EyeTV. I bought the EyeTV 250 Plus, hooked it up and was immediately disappointed. I’m used to TiVo and the user interface is second to none for using and scheduling. While my wife isn’t technology adverse, sometimes she’s a bit slow in adopting the technology I throw at her. It took awhile for her to accept the TiVo, now we don’t know what we’d do without it.
The EyeTV software is computer software and not consumer software; scheduling basically needs to be done with a mouse. I can use Apple Remote Desktop and schedule from my laptop, but that kind of makes it more difficult to program.
I looked briefly at the HD TiVo and the price tag didn’t faze me, but there are 2 things about the device that basically killed it for me. First, I have basic cable which also gets me 6 or 7 digital HD channels. The HD TiVo requires CableCARDs to get guide data for the digital channels. The second is that the HD TiVo cannot record 2 HD channels using basic cable at once. This completely baffles me, but their FAQ tells me this. TiVo has actually confused basic cable and digital cable like I did. (The guide with the EyeTV provides guide data for the digital channels I get over basic cable.)
I had hoped to ditch my TiVo and retire my Apple TV to switch to a Mac Mini, but at this point, it looks like I’m going to keep the TiVo so my wife can program it for most shows and use the Mac Mini for HD shows. We’ll see how this works. So far, the HD recordings are nice, but the scheduling is not easy to do without using Apple Remote Desktop.
Oh well. I think that this is a conspiracy to get me to get me to buy “Digital Cable” from my cable company; something that I refuse to do as I’m unwilling to pay an exorbitant amount of money for TV when we watch just the regular over the air channels.
Not sure what the TiVo FAQ was all about – we have a TiVo HD and record two HD shows at once without any problem from our digital cable.
Also CableCards work great in the TiVo HD – cable set top boxes are evil.
I think that the TiVo FAQ ignores Clear QAM channels which are digital channels on basic cable (which is what I have). In my case, without the CableCARDs (and without the desire to get them as my monthly cost would go up), TiVo says I can’t record 2 HD shows at once. So unless I want to increase my monthly costs, there doesn’t appear to be a good solution.
I’m working on a comparison chart of my options.
I left TiVo last year for DirecTV HD and couldn’t be happier. It may be pricey to what your paying now (that I don’t know) but the things like setting to record from my Blackberry and solid 1080p on most channels you just can’t beat.
Well, for the standard definition TiVo (a Pioneer 810H), I have lifetime service and the box/service was given to me. For cable TV, it basically costs me $8/month since I also have cable Internet. I know I could go with an over the air antenna, but when I scanned the channels with a small antenna, I got 2 stations. So I could go with OTA, but that’s a headache that I left years ago (I know with digital, you either get it or you don’t).