Mac HDTV Jukebox #1 = Front Row
As my obsession with HD programming grows, I’ve been on the lookout for a way to organize and playback the growing number of legally-obtained HD movies I have in my archive. Unfortunately, Quicktime’s .ts playback is amazingly weak. Nonexistant, actually. So that precludes iTunes, an otherwise-excellent library manager from helping.
And Front Row seemed doomed to the same fate, since (like iTunes) it uses QT to handle video playback. But that’s without the addition of DVD Assist, whose latest version allows one to launch HD files from within Front Row, that then playback via VLC…AC3 signals and all!
The great thing about using this app as my video jukebox is DVD Assist and the way it allows me to keep alises to both VIDEO_TS files (ripped DVDs) and HD files (.ts, in particular). Although they launch in different apps, starting from the same place allows the tightest integration one could ask for between the two file types.
Of course, there’s a downside. While it’s admirable that VLC can playback .ts files, the feature set it offers is weak at best. No jumping forward or back. No bookmarked playback position. The digital audio output has to be manually selected to fully utilize AC3. But it does play the files back consistantly…something no other Mac video app can do.
Read MoreWhy Dual EyeTV Tuners Are an "Unsupported Feature"
It’s with great sadness that I report my dual EyeTV tuner set-up is providing less-than-stellar stability. Of course, I knew going in this wasn’t something El Gato had spent time refining – they even go out of their way to let customers know using two tuners is an “unsupported feature.” The only official guideline they offer is not to use more than three of the same tuners on one machine.
The good news is El Gato is planning on adding this feature set in the future…here’s a promising note from them about using multiple tuners:
“We’re starting to gear up to finish this feature, but I’m not certain when. When it is done, it should be quite robust.”
So we know that the future is promising. But for now, there are a couple of recurring “features” I wanted to update EyeTV users about.
1. Kernal Panic/Unannounced Shutdown: The hallmark of a serious Mac App problem is it’s ability to force a system shutdown. When I used to work on Windows machines, this was a fact of life with a lot of tasks. But it’s a rare occurance for me in OS X.
And that’s why I know the recent “You must restart your computer” messages are directly related to the multiple EyeTV units. My Mini only runs EyeTV, DVD Assist, & FR (when I need it) and there were zero problems with a single EyeTV 500 plugged in. But since hooking the second unit up, I’ve had to restart the computer three times…all at unrelated times of the day and during differing tasks. I haven’t missed a recording. Yet. But that’s the event I’m dreading, because I know it will force me to chose either stability or dual-recording.
2. Losing Dolby Digital Signal: One of the features I heralded most during EyeTV 2′s release was it’s new ability to manage my Mini’s Digital Audio signal.
Pre-2.0, using DVD Player/VLC/whatever to play back digital audio involved jerking the sound from EyeTV and forced users to reaquire it upon returning to EyeTV. Version 2.0 fixed this and effortlessly switched the signal behind the scenes based on which app needed it.
So you can imagine the sickening feeling I got seeing the same “Lost Digital Audio Signal” error message pop up twice since setting up the dual tuners. It was easy enough to fix, but unsettling nontheless. And like the first note, it’s got me thinking about life with a single tuner should the problem persist.
So what WILL I do? Leaving things the way they are for now seems like the short-term plan. Perhaps El Gato will release a more stable version in the near-future. Either way, I’ll keep record of it all here.
Read MoreDual EyeTV 500 Fixes
Since I’ve been using dual EyeTV 500s, I found solutions to two of my initial complaints. It is in fact, quite easy to reopen a second tuner window: either via the File Menu (thank you, Mactor) or clicking Apple+N. Very embarassing oversight.
The second is switching between tuners. I needed to look no further than the EyeTV’s own remote which has a key that swaps between any open EyeTV window. I found the EyeTV remote to be simple in design, but packed with useful INFRARED commands….meaning it can teach any of these commands to a universal learning remote! I just mapped them directly into my Sony remote and eliminated the afore-mentioned problems straight away.
Dual EyeTV HDTV Tuners
The ability to record two shows at the same time is a highly addictive PVR function thatâs sorely missed when itâs absent. And my EyeTV 500/Mac Mini combo simply didnât have the capability.
Until I got my second refurbished EyeTV 500 day before yesterday, that is. And now Iâm running a dual-tuner PVR that allows me to watch and/or record two HDTV programs simultaneously. Unfortunately, this feature is officially ânot supportedâ? by El Gato and there arenât many simple guides to what two tuners can (and canât) accomplish. Hence the following description of what I came across.
EyeTVâs software integrated the second tuner without any additional installation steps…I just powered down the Mini and daisy-chained it to my first 500 and external hard drive. Upon restart, EyeTV opened automatically and displayed two separate tuner windows (albeit playing the same station).
I have EyeTV set to always open in Full Screen mode, so one tuner filled the screen and the other sat in front in a smaller size. I switched the smaller station and confirmed both were playing without any dropped frames.
The Preferences didnât offer any new options beyond acknowledging the number of units attached. The Menus also stayed the same.
I immediately began recording whatever was playing on each station to see what would happenâ¦and the recordings went directly into the Recordings folder. They both played back (again) without dropped frames. So far, so good.
The most common complaint I came across about dual EyeTV units involved scheduling, so I tried scheduling two programs at the same time. No problem. And the Program Guide reflected two simultaneously scheduled recordings, something that obviously wasnât possible before.
At the scheduled time, both recordings went off without a glitch. The tuners each changed from different stations and dropped both finished recordings into EyeTVâs library. No dropped frames during playback.
While the recording seems to be working effectively, there are a couple of rough edges worth mentioning that make the experience fall short of Tivoâs ease-of-use. Navigating between the two tuners requires a mouse or keyboardâ¦ending the single Apple Remote I was able to use with a single tuner. This sucks when youâve just gotten pumped about dropping the âcomputerâ? aspect of a Mac Mini PVR.
Iâm also unable to locate the second tuner if I close it after the program starts up. Iâm sure thereâs a way to re-open a second channel window, but trying to actually accomplish this can be frustrating when one tuner is recording. Itâs not impossible, just not as intuitive as Iâd like.
Itâs should be noted that Iâm using EyeTV v2.3.0 instead of the most current release 2.3.1. I upgraded to 2.3.1 and ran the same tests in that environment and saw no difference in features or ability from 2.3.0 during dual-tuner activity.
Overall, Iâm very excited with the new set-up. Being able to record two shows at once is a huge gift going into the new fall season!
Read MoreLaunch VIDEO_TS in Front Row
Front Row is an excellent application with a nagging problem irritating more than a couple of users…the lack of support for backed-up DVD files (aka VIDEO_TS folders). In order to play a DVD in FR, one has to actually insert the physical disk. Ironically, Apple’s DVD Player CAN play these backed-up files with no trouble…it’s just FR that won’t play nice.
With the cost of hard drive space so low, most of the movie fans I know have been archiving onto their HDs and storing the discs elsewhere. But accessing and playing these files in OS X meant either breaking out the mouse and keyboard or adding a third-party app followed by programming macro commands into a universal remote.
All that changed early last week. A developer at the AVS forums created a small program called DVD Assist that allows one to launch a VIDEO_TS folder from within Front Row and play it through Apple’s DVD Player. Coupled with the Apple Remote’s ability to control that DVD player and there’s now no reason for another input device!
I use my Mini primarily to watch HD programming through EyeTV 2.3, which is integrated nicely into Front Row. And I wanted to show how easily I’m now able to move between TV and a backed-up disc, so I posted a small movie at YouTube that shows how simple the entire process is!
EyeTV 2.3.1 Review
As much as I loved EyeTV 2.3′s exponentially-improved functionality, El Gato’s latest update (v2.3.1) has taken some startling steps backwards that are worth noting. In fact, by the end of my trial with this version, I ended up downgrading back to 2.3…despite the presence of a major feature upgrade I had contacted El Gato about (chronologically-sorted recordings).
The crux of EyeTV 2.3′s functionality (at least for me) was the full integration with Front Row. It allowed seemless transitions from one program to the other. El Gato took the dark coloring from Front Row and made transitions similar as well. If I was showing it to a PC user, there wouldn’t appear to be any difference between the two.
Which is why El Gato’s decision to adopt a new theme based on blue is puzzling. The immediate reactions I read noted a creepy similarity between the new “El Gato Blue” and Windows MCE’s similar shade of royal blue. I hesitate to say that El Gato is taking design leads from Redmond instead of Cupertino, but I personally want black back…or at least added as an option. I’ve included screenshots for comparison and think the contrast speaks for itself.
Another “seam” created in this version affects the actual move from EyeTV to Front Row. In version 2.3, users navigated to the main menu and linked to Front Row that way via (again) a very smooth transition.
In 2.3.1, clicking the Apple Remote’s “Menu” button ANYWHERE inside of EyeTV calls up FR. Previously, the Menu button just activated the EyeTV menu…now you need to hold down the button to access EyeTV.
It’s important to note that starting up Front Row takes a moment which seems like nothing if it’s what you intended. But if you’re in the middle of an important game or show, believe that you’ll be pissed as Front Row lumbers into view after a too-short click of the Menu button. El Gato overamplified this feature and needs to remove the possibilty of accidentally launching FR in EyeTV.
And for some reason, switching to Front Row in 2.3.1 takes EyeTV’s screen from full to half size before switching to FR, exposing the desktop for a moment. A small mistake to be sure, but one that wasn’t there in the first version.
But perhaps the most annoying addition in the blue theme is the “crumb trail” and logo text in the lower left side of the screen. While it’s a nice idea, overscan is something lots of LCD and plasma owners deal with to fill their screen. And it can be difficult to map the exact desktop resolution without the help of thrid party apps like DisplayConfigX, leaving a sliver of the Mini’s picture cut off on all four sides for most users.
This hasn’t been a problem in the past, because there wasn’t ever anything really noticeable being cut-off. But 2.3.1 magnifies the problem with all of it’s new, superfluous text.
* 2/2007 Update:I detailed my fix for screen overscan in this subsequent post.
UPDATE: I’ve posted a copy of 2.3.0 for EyeTV users looking to downgrade from 2.3.1. You can pick it up here. EL GATO HAD THE DL FILE PULLED FROM RAPIDSHARE. SORRY TO THOSE WHO MISSED IT.
