# Recording TV to my Mac-  recommendations?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-tv-to-my-mac-recommendations/231321>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 26, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-tv-to-my-mac-recommendations/231321 "2004-02-26T18:56:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-tv-to-my-mac-recommendations/231321/1 "2004-02-26T18:56:14Z")

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VCRs? TVs? Stereos? I’m over them. I want everything to come through the computer. iTunes is helping me greatly with one leg of this.

Now, how about video? I came across a banner ad (I’m sorry, I’m so sorry) for EyeTV. It seems to be, basically, a cable-ready receiver and recorder for the Mac. Looking over the blurbs, it seems to do everythig that I’m gonna want. Specifically:

-watch live TV/ through the computer  
-record shows  
-edit captured video  
-burn DVD player-ready discs (not necessarily DVD’s, though, which is fine for me)  
-uses an easy-to-deal-with format (MPEG), as opposed to proprietary/obscure.

Basically, I want to be able to record shows and archive them in a computer and DVD-player friendly medium, so I can watch them on the computer at home, and bring them other places and watch on the DVD player. (Can DVD players handle QuickTime?) And it’s gotta be OS X-friendly.

EyeTV seems to do this well, without any extra hardware (aside from the EyeTV itself, and a few wires). But it’s the first thinjg I’ve come across, and I’ve yet to wholly research this. Anyone know anything about the EyeTV, or a comparable system? Whoever gives me the winning recommendation gets an episode of _Seinfeld_ of their choosing. 😉

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**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-tv-to-my-mac-recommendations/231321/2 "2004-02-26T19:04:22Z")

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[EyeTV](http://www.elgato.com/products/).

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**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-tv-to-my-mac-recommendations/231321/3 "2004-02-26T20:30:44Z")

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Sorry \*\* Troy\*\*, but I’m still converting all my old cassettes to MP3s. There’s _some_ quality loss, but it’s not significant.

However when I want to go from DVD to VHS, I’m getting some strange overscanning that I can’t seem to get rid of…

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-tv-to-my-mac-recommendations/231321/4 "2004-02-27T00:44:57Z")

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If you want to import old analog video footage into your Mac, the best way would be to get a Digital Media Converter, like the Dazzle Bridge. I have an older Sony DMCA-2 that goes digital-to-analog and vice versa, and for a while I was using that to import analog footage into iMovie for editing and archiving. I don’t think Sony makes the converter nowadays, but I believe the Dazzle is about $300 or so.

Can’t help with the live TV, sorry. The appeal of watching television while using the computer eludes me.