I've been looking at the USB connected ATSC tuners like the Pinnacle TV for Mac HD Stick and the Elgato Systems EyeTV Hybrid. Both claim you need a G5 or better to view HDTV with them. I'm here with a lowly last of the Power Mac G4 MDDs, that seems to be a little under their system requirements for HDTV.

Just wondering if anyone on this thread has run one of they HDTV USB devices on a Mac of lesser horsepower. Can one get HDTV on a dual 1.25 GHz MDD G4 (the 2MB L3 version)? I'm running OS 10.4.10, have 2 GB RAM, and a Radeon 9600 video card.

Comments on real world experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Carl

Carl, you'll record the file at full res just fine. So no problem "getting" HDTV. It's just when it comes to playback, EyeTV will automatically downscale it to 1/4 resolution. I've played back ATSC high def EyeTV recordings with both a single G4 1GHz Powermac (the MDD FW800 model) and a 1.25 G4 mini--and both play back at 1/4 res just fine. (This was with firewire and a 500.) A USB device is going to sap more from the CPU and create overhead, but my guess is your dual MDD will still be flawless at 1/4 res and these files can look quite good since the original full res version was so good; I don't believe there's any way within EyeTV to force it to play back at full res (and deal with some stutters or dropped frames) if your specs aren't up to snuff. I think it automatically defaults to 1/4 res.

Better to use your MDD to record, store and serve the files, then use a cheaper core duo Mac or other extender for playback.

Thanks for the reply. I really wasn't concerned with recording the HDTV signal, just with watching HDTV on my Mac. If the EyeTV system automatically downrezs the HDTV signal when a "lesser" system is detected, then I'll probably just skip buying one of those USB-to-HDTV devices for a few years.

Go ahead and buy the eyeTV hybrid. Make sure you have a USB 2.0 PCI card though. I had such a system for over a year. Worked great. I had a dual 1.25GB G4 MDD with ATI 9600, 1.25 GB RAM, and USb 2.0 PCI card and eyeTV Hybrid. Worked great. The quality was not bad at all. It does down rez but on a 20" Dell monitor I could not tell the difference. I just sold this mac on craigslist and am waiting for the new imacs to come out. I am computer-less now!! Apple, please hurry!!!

Yes, I have an ADS Tech Dual Link USB 2/Firewire card that otherwise works wonderfully with my MDD G4 (I bought it originally for a Beige G3; worked great, but the G3 has been retired). I'm using a 21" widescreen LCD Samsung monitor.

So does the down rez shrink the picture size or convert the 16:9 widescreen to 4:3 full screen and/or reduce the resolution from 1080i to 480i? It doesn't appear that the EyeTV Hybrid can convert the 1080i broadcasts to 720p like most ATSC tuners can or am I mistaken?

It's just scaled down to 1/4 of the original (true) res and the aspect ratio is unchanged. You'll still be able to adjust aspect ratio from the View dropdown, and even at fullscreen the EyeTV500 did a great job scaling, those 1/4 res images still looked pretty good--excellent content seemed slightly better than dvd. I can't vouch for what the cheaper USB devices would do, but a 21" display isn't big enough to sweat the difference. The value in doing this now, rather than waiting for a few years, is that you'd still be able to record and archive the true HDTV content--and you could just move anything you wanted to save off to hard drives and have it ready for when you do get a core duo Mac and/or a better display.

It's just scaled down to 1/4 of the original (true) res and the aspect ratio is unchanged. You'll still be able to adjust aspect ratio from the View dropdown, and even at fullscreen the EyeTV500 did a great job scaling, those 1/4 res images still looked pretty good--excellent content seemed slightly better than dvd. I can't vouch for what the cheaper USB devices would do, but a 21" display isn't big enough to sweat the difference. The value in doing this now, rather than waiting for a few years, is that you'd still be able to record and archive the true HDTV content--and you could just move anything you wanted to save off to hard drives and have it ready for when you do get a core duo Mac and/or a better display.

Well said. I have the USB eyeTV hybrid and it is very good. I used it with the MDD G4 until I sold the G4 last month. I have the hybrid still, just waiting to put it into a brand new iMac.