I think it’s either because it’s spring and a man’s fancy turns to gadgets… or the same is true regardless of the season. I’m in need of something new to play with.
Enter the Elgato Eye TV Hybrid USB card, along with a new Terk HD indoor antenna.
Ever since they started making those little sticks with the TV inside, I’ve wanted to get one. I ordered said items yesterday and expect them in the next week. Since I have a 15 month old Powerbook that’s just sitting around most of the time, why not – the thinking goes – use it to watch and record analogue or digital television?
In a few days I’ll have to figure out a way to justify it to the boyfriend who is forced to tolerate my gadget mania. We watch very little television, and almost none of it is “over the air.” Yes, some of it does get transmitted from tall towers, but we see the version that gets fibered from the TV station to the cable company. I can plug analogue cable into the USB stick, but my primary reason for buying it is to watch HD and the SD multicast channels. We haven’t bought a new TV yet – that will happen sometime in the next couple months. So the Elgato will introduce me to… well, HD versions of shows we don’t watch plus scintillating SD options like… continuous local weather information. Oh, the joy.
My local PBS station offers some multicasting. There’s the nearly useless 24 hour PBS HD feed, which one can barely begin to care about. (Nothing against my local PBS station; I work there.) And there’s the Create channel, which finally gives me access to interesting food shows that my PBS station doesn’t offer: Lydia Bastianich, Jacques Pepin, and Charlie Trotter, among others. Eventually, there will be up to 4 multicast channels, including one that offers interesting lectures and events recorded around the state. I’m looking forward to that. Until then, at least I have the tools to feed my need for Jacques and Lydia.
I want to see what I might do with this little stick. Will I use it, and the software that comes with it, as a second TV/TiVo? Will I take it on trips to DC or elsewhere and watch TV in my hotel? (packing the required Terk antenna seems a bit much) Will the stick end up attached to a Mac Mini, feeding my new TV? The last option seems most likely.
I’ll say more about it in a week or two.
Update us in a week, but I would really recommend a better antenna than the Terk thing you have mentioned. Go to antennaweb to check what hdtv broadcasts are available in your area and all the relevant data (distance, CEA color zone, etc) , and only then decide which type of antenna you need
hd antennas fan
Thanks for the advice. I’m about 13 miles away from the four 1500-2000 ft. towers where all of our local stations are housed, which is why I bought the Terk. I didn’t recommend the Terk for precisely that reason – my results are likely to be different than most folks. I’m getting strong reception from all the channels. (I’ve used Antennaweb several times in the past couple years, btw, and it is a great resource!)
[...] Apr 14th, 2007 by Todd Yessiree folks, the Eye TV Hybrid arrived about a week ago, as did the little indoor Terk antenna I ordered. [...]