I have a Mac Mini as part of my home theater, so I can websurf on the big screen. I just switched from DISH to DirecTV and moved up to HD while I was at it--now have an HR21. When I had DISH, I was able to send a coaxial output into a Miglia TVMicro, which converted the signal and sent it to the Mac via USB. That allowed me to both channel and web surf at once, with the TV signal in a separate window.

Since the HR21 doesn't have a coaxial output, I now am looking for the best way (or any way) to send the signal to the Mac. Preferably, I'd like to send component video (I'm sending HDMI to the projector) so I could see the HDTV signal on the Mac. If that's not possible, I could switch back to S-Video or composite.

So, I'm looking for any ideas in terms of hardware/software to do this--any thoughts?

I'm using EyeTV 3 with an EyeTV 200 and a s-video connection between the EyeTV 200 and my H20.
For the channel Changing I wrote some software that interface with EyeTV and listen to the channel change event and with a mac- usb-serial-null modem -serial -usb - H20 apparatus (i.e. 2 usb serial adapter and a null modem cable) I can set recording in EyeTV and have the whole thing work by itself.
You can grab the channel changer for free on my website along with the instruction on how to hook your mac to the HR21 : http://www.rti-zone.org/macosx_channelchanger.php

There is no device with component input that can be used on the mac to record HD (yet). Aja has expensive ones that need firewire 800 and aren't integrated in any PVR software.
Hauppauge has a not yet release device that will have component input and will connect to your computer via USB-2 but there is no world on Elgato's side to wether or not they will support it.

Rodolphe

I'm not all that concerned about recording to the Mac (although it would be nice)--just want to view whatever is coming off the DTV unit so I don't have to switch back and forth between Mac and DTV.

What happens if I am viewing an HD channel (or watching an HD recorded show) and send it out through S-Video? Does it just not work, or does it somehow downgrade it?

I'll keep an eye on Hauppauge--thanks for all the info!

You will see al HD show in SD (640x480 interlaced). All output are on on DirecTV STB.

Rodolphe