AppleTV…Why Not?
When the AppleTV was announced last year, one red flag immediately flew up in the feature list… what about HDTV? Not “near-HD” quality or “DVD quality”, why wasn’t Apple talking up what was a rapidly-becoming-mainstream format?
Because it’s not natively set-up to deal with HD. No recording and watching live content. Let alone an ATSC tuner. So it’s not really the same type of machine as a Tivo.
Hence, my current static situation with EyeTV, DVD Assist, VLC, & Front Row continues to sate my longing for Tivo’s Best of Breed interface.
Read MoreEyeTV Hybrid Review @ MacWorld
Macworld offers a pretty thorough review of the EyeTV Hybrid. I shied away from this model due to the USB connection and the reviewer doesn’t mention the 500 (which I use x2), so it’s not entirely complete from my POV.
Regardless, it does sound awesome for folks on the road with Intel laptops…no way I’d drag a 500 with me on a trip.
Read MoreMac 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 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!
Universal Binary Media Server Software?
I’ve used Mac verisons of Linkserver and Neuston’s Media Server software without any problems on my G4 Quicksilver since hooking a Linkplayer up to my home network. I even had the luxury of rejecting Eyeconnect from El Gato, since it cost $50 and the other two were free.
But since moving over to an Intel iMac, I haven’t been able to navigate past the initial screen:
Selecting “Video” recycles the screen and never lets me move forward. My workaround has been running the server software on my wife’s G4 iMac and using aliases in her movie folder pointed towards files on my Intel iMac’s hard drive (and external Firewire drive).
Whew!
That is functional (so far), but there’s a noticeable response lag to remote commands and also adds a totally unnecessary third computer between the files and Linkplayer.
The problem is, neither Neuston nor I-O Data (Linkplayer & Linkserver’s manufacturer) are particularly attentive to updating their respective software and the current versions obviously don’t work under Rosetta. And other solutions (like Wizd & Swiss Center) are too technically advanced for me to even try and install.
So I’m starting to imagine the solution will cost me $50. El Gato seems to be responding to Mac users with updated versions of EyeTV’s software and I’m hoping they’ll offer a Universal Binary version of Eyeconnect at some point in the future. Until then, I’ll take solice in full-frame HD playback on my computer’s screen…something I couldn’t get from my old G4.
UPDATE: El Gato released a Universal Binary verison of Eyeconnect on 3/17/2006, which is running flawlessly with my Linkplayer. For $50.
