i need to know how and if possible to record HDTV programming and view it on the mac g4..

what i am trying to say is like this..i ordered a mac g4 on ebay soon it will arrive in like 5 days to be exact..

this is what i currently have..

twc box 3250 with dual firewire out
powermac G4 400mhz 512mb ram 40gb hdd....soon....
22" vga monitor

now i am looking at the main thread and it states i need fire enabled tv to playback...is this true can i not view it on the mac g4??

i dont know where to begin with this i am newb to the mac so please bare with me if i sound like a dunce..lol

i plan on hooking it up like this..is this the correct way to?

twc 3250---->powermacG4----->22"monitor via VGA..

will it work or do i need something else..

and i know this probably sounds stupid but is it possible to record HDTV without a tv tuner??

thats all i can think of for now any help would be much appreciated.

You can use the EyeTV from Elagato that hooks into a USB port and then you plug in your OTA antenna into that.

That's how I plan on doing it with my mini.

i need to know how and if possible to record HDTV programming and view it on the mac g4

Record, yes. But play it back with that same G4? No, it's not possible, a G4, any G4 even a dual 1.25, doesn't have enough ooomph to play back a high def recording glitch-free connected to a high def display. But you're planning to watch this over VGA on a small monitor? What is its max resolution?

and i know this probably sounds stupid but is it possible to record HDTV without a tv tuner?

Your 3250 still functions as the tuner--that's the key to this whole process, the signal passes over firewire IF that port is active--it may or may not be active--and then that's where this method and the special Firewire SDK/VirtualDVHS software process comes into play, emulating the high def recording and DVR function, hence "virtual" DVHS.

You don't need a firewire tv, most folks who do this probably don't have a tv with firewire. The big thread explains your other options.

The tradeoff, though, is that this whole thing is one big hodgepodge, merely a proof of concept which takes a lot of time and effort on your part to understand how to make it work. It doesn't approach the plug and play on an EyeTV device (which functions as a tuner instead of the 3250, and yes you can record OTA HD via one of these devices) and it's much more difficult than learning how to connect a typical consumer electronic device--it's a very sophisticated way to emulate something that even the CE device manufacturers have not figured out how to integrate well.

Do people do it? Sure, but you have to invest a lot of time and intellectual effort to do so.

Why not post on that big firewire thread? All these answers are there, it just takes time to process. But be forewarned, this may not be the best thing for a Mac newbie to jump right ahead to. The EyeTV solution is much more accessible, except your very very old G4 Mac may not even be fast enough to use an EyeTV device with--you should check the specs but 400 MHz might be below the minimal threshold of those devices--and many of these devices need USB 2 which that Mac doesn't have, so you'll need to add it via a PCI card. Good luck...

Record, yes. But play it back with that same G4? No, it's not possible, a G4, any G4 even a dual 1.25, doesn't have enough ooomph to play back a high def recording glitch-free connected to a high def display. But you're planning to watch this over VGA on a small monitor? What is its max resolution?My setup is a bit different than the original poster's, but I found out after acquiring Apple's MPEG-playback component ($20), my old slowish B&W Mac can indeed playback my HD files (in Quicktime). Mind you, it does drop frames, but is watchable and can play 720 and 1080 files fullscreen (haven't tried those HD-trailers at Apple).

I need to mention that there's no audio for some reason (an issue for another thread), but they play nevertheless. The same files choke up Mplayer and VLC, though. I initially acquired the codec in order to edit the files in MPEG Streamclip, which will play them (with sound) to a point before choking up and stalling.

The only reason I need to play these on my Mac is to remove commercials from HDTV-rips, as I'll enjoy them later on a set-top DVD player.

I do realize a mini will fix the dropped-frames issue, but I'm just trying to make do with what I have until I pick one up (hopefully, this summer).