Yeah, been thinking about buying a Macbook to replace my G4 mini, but will probably wait until OS X 10.5 is released. Anyway, when I do, the question arises of what do do with my 2 yr old mini.
I was wondering if anyone is running Elgato eyeTv on a G4 mini, and if so, how well it works.

Specifically, my hardware is 1.42 GHz with 512 MB RAM, 80 GB disk and superdrive, but no frontrow remote. According to the elgato web site, this is adequate, but I would appreciate some "real world" feedback. Does eyeTV come with a decent remote control? Will I be able to record one show while playing back another, or will that max out the CPU? Any other gotchas?

Thanks in advance.
P

I tried to install EyeTV on my older iMac G4 (800Mhz model) and my first problem was that I had USB 1.1 and EyeTV 2.2+ needs USB 2.0

It still let me install it, somehow, so I thought I'd use it as a backup machine to edit and compact files offline... boy - SLOOOOWWWW as anything. Playback was choppy and stuttered - obviously due to my slower hardware environment.

I currently use my MacBookPro with EyeTV as a PVR - works just like advsertised - just read up on the right way to put your computer to sleep else it won't record.

Make sure you have lots of free space or a way of getting the recorded files off your hard drive.

Ang

Poster has a G4 Mac Mini, which has USB2 ports, so they will not have a problem with using USB 1.1 ports vs USB 2.0 ports like yourself.

I run an EYETV DTT (first gen) on my Mac Mini G4 1.42ghz through s-video to my SD tv.

Runs fine, even runs HD content (sure it pipes up and makes some noise) but it's great. I use it for everything now: Channel BT playback, DVD's etc.

The first gen DTT came with a remote, which works fine, but I believe all the current EYETV devices do not ship with a remote (please correct if I'm wrong) - as they're meant to work with perfectly with the Apple remote. Personally I just run a keyboard and mouse (and with your Mac Mini you can run Bluetooth, which is handy).!

That's all correct. There's no Elgato remote, but they work with the Apple Remote.

Thanks for your response hawker. Do you get any fan noise when recording or playing back SD content? Typically how busy is the CPU? I don't anticipate that I will be trying to record too much HD content, since my existing TV is analog and would not be able to display it.

I'm disapointed to read that the eyeTV DTT does not come with a remote, as my mini does not have an apple remote, and I don't believe it can be retrofitted. Nor am I keen on the idea of using a keyboard and mouse in the lounge room either - too much clutter.

However, according to the Elgato website, there are two current models that DO come with remotes: the Hybrid (digital & analog tuner), and the Diversity (dual digital tuners). They are about $130 more expensive, but might be worth it. I like the idea of the Diversity - being able to combine the two tuners into one channel if the signal is weak.

I'm surprised it ran at all, and you got video

JB

No fan noise whatsoever when playing back SD. HD makes the noise, which is only audible when sitting either right next to the mini, or having the TV on mute or very very low. I also recommend in EYETV, not having the playback set to Progressive, as this works the CPU harder, I set mine to motion adaptive!

Personally, I'd fit your machine with 1GB of ram to give you some more head room. It's great to have that extra RAM, when you're watching TV, copying stuff in the background etc.

I have also used my same EYETV DTT with a CoreDuo 1.66ghz Mini, and playing back HD the mini was just as loud as the G4, so I can only see the point of having a dual core if you want to be doing stuff like: watching HD, exporting HD at the same time etc etc...

I am running the Miglia TV/Max on my G4 mini. I have to give it top marks. I am still a bit confused on some of the setting's

What is better to record a show in mpeg2 or mpeg4 I convert everything to iPod format after. And it seems to take longer to convert when I record in mpeg4 ?

Is TVMax analog? Does it use the same eyeTV software as the Elgato products?

TV/Max only has an analog tuner & uses EyeTV. But newer models use that new rival to eyeTV.