Media Centre Project - Part 2: TV Tuner

Since the Mac Mini doesn't come with an integrated TV Tuner and doesn't have the option to insert cards I looked around for a USB based device. After a little research I hit upon Elgato who produce both the hardware and eyeTV, which is some pretty nice PVR software.

Since I don't have satellite or cable and my over-the-air digital signal can be a little flaky (we're not scheduled to be switched over until 2012 so it may be a while before that's fixed) I decided to get the eyeTV Hybrid which accepts analogue and digital inputs.



As you can see it's not a big device, about the size of the Apple remote but somewhat thicker.
The dark plastic cap covers a standard USB connector, but given the proximity of the various USB ports and the width of the Elgato device they have helpfully added a short USB extension cable. So installation was pretty simple.

The eyeTV software loaded easily and connected me up to tvtv who provide the data for the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). This is a subscription service and Elgato give you a year's worth but you're on your own after that. The software had a look and downloaded a couple of updates and was then ready to go.

Controlling the device is pretty easy. The software provides both a standard OS X interface and also a full screen menu system which can be entered by just holding the Apple remote menu button down for a couple of seconds (this takes a little getting used to as you can often end up in Front Row by mistake - but you do get used to it). Elgato do provide a separate multi-button remote but as this seems to have to have line of sight on the device it doesn't really work for me (as the Hybrid is behind the Mini - and I don't really want to see it). There is an on screen remote available too but this needs the mouse to operate and so it less hand from the sofa (have you tried using even a bluetooth mouse on your sofa?).

Selecting channels and scheduling recordings is simply a matter of a couple of clicks. eye TV provides playlists to help you organise your recordings. Unfortunately scheduling doesn't take account of the vagaries of the broadcasters and so you need to add some time to the start and end to make sure you get the whole programme - this is a pain but the EPG info isn't live and I don't think they send out any signals (like video+) over digital at the moment.

You can set eyeTV to automatically convert the recording for iPod or AppleTV and it will slot it into iTunes for you. Apparently the latest version also allows streaming to iPod Touch and iPhone, but as I don't have either I can't comment.

A direct interface with Front Row would have been nice but other than that it's a nice all round package. Of course now I'm recording TV I think I might need a little more than the 80Gb internal drive in the Mini...