Awhile back (Pre-Mac) we were in Future Shop and I saw someone buying something called “AirTunes” or something like that. Kirk sniffed at it and said wireless sound wasn’t any good.
Oh how times change.
Shortly after we bought the MacPro last year, Kirk delved into the Apple TV and started to change his mind a bit.
On the PC I used to use an ATI All-in-Wonder card that had a built in TV tuner. It was supposed to work as a PVR, but it never really worked all that well. It missed shows, crapped out…basically acted like most things do on a PC…frustratingly inconsistently.
So when I got the MacPro I was looking for something to replace it, and did I ever find the ultimate solution. It takes three things.
#1. A Mac computer
#2. The Apple TV
#3. Elgato’s EyeTV 250 Plus and associated software
The Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus is a tiny little box, a bit bigger than a pack of cigarettes (not that I smoke) that connects to your Mac computer via USB. Plug your coaxial cable into the back of it and set up the software.
Set up your AppleTV at your TV and stereo system and plug it in.
Enter iTunes and set up the connection with thee AppleTV.
At this point you can already access and stream all those thousands of mp3 files directly to your stereo and see the cover art on the TV screen.
But wait, there’s more!
Once you have the EyeTV set up, you can access the TV guide right from within it, and just click to record your TV shows, even edit them so they record weekly, weekdays, monthly, whatever your heart desires. You can set it to record at any resolution you want and to send the file to any drive you want (we have a separate external drive just for video). With the right settings, it records, recodes, and exports to iTunes. Then iTunes, because it is synced with your Apple TV elsewhere in the house, wirelessly sends the show to the little box by the TV.
Once you watch the show on the AppleTV, it removes it from the list of unwatched programs, but keeps it in iTunes until you tell it you don’t want it anymore.
It works seamlessly.
And…although we haven’t done this yet, because the system is set up through iTunes and we have an iTunes account, we can peruse and order movie rentals right from the living room…even in HD.
Our VCR hasn’t been used in months…..
Tags: Apple TV, EyeTV, Home theatre, mac