EyeTV 2.5 – WiFi Streaming to iPhone

Posted in Applications, EyeTV | 0 comments

EyeTV is one of the cornerstones of my Mac home theatre system. I love the program and am eternally grateful to El Gato for continually refining and expanding the features it offers…particularly in light of the fact that there’s no real alternative for Mac users interested in an HDTV viewing/recording system.

Boost AT&T's Signal On The iPhone

Posted in Misc | 8 comments

While there are alternatives to using AT&T as the iPhone’s wireless provider in the US, most us of are on AT&T’s network. And more than a few have found their coverage to be weaker than hoped. Personally, I was using Verizon with much more success prior to picking up my iPhone and I miss their comparably universal coverage. In my house, I guess I was amazingly lucky – Verizon covered me in every room. The best AT&T can offer me in West LA is three out of five bars when placed at a precise angle on a grey chair in my living room. Everywhere else is a dead zone.

Visual Hub Rules iPhone Video Conversion

Posted in Applications | 0 comments

As I’ve mentioned before, the iPhone’s 8GB storage space makes managing which videos to carry a delicate exercise. And file sizes from the iTunes store or EyeTV’s Export feature are significantly larger than they need to be for a clear viewing experience on the iPhone’s screen.

Luckily (as is often the case), a third-party software developer comes to the rescue with an excellent program that allows you to control file size when converting files specifically for the iPhone.

In this situation, Visual Hub is my program of choice. Not only does it have iPhone presets, but it allows control over the final file size…which is huge in my book. For instance, an episode of “Mad Men” purchased from the iTunes store runs about 500MB. Compressed by Visual Hub, I can get a perfectly beautiful file for around 200MB. I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining why this totally rocks. But in the context of the iPhone’s 8GB, Visual Hub has become indispensable for my workflow.

Hacking Sony Reader's Clock

Posted in Misc | 0 comments

Having already gushed profusely over how much I love my Sony eReader, I was deliriously happy to find the following info in MobileTalk’s forums. Basically, there’s a simple procedure one can do on a Mac(!) or PC that activates and displays a clock in the lower right-hand corner…see below for before and after shots. All you need is a SD card, a card reader, and the files included in the post.

HDHomeRun Replaces EyeTV 500

Posted in EyeTV, HDTV, Hardware | 9 comments

When I read about HDHomeRun being integrated into EyeTV’s software, I immediately ordered one from El Gato. I’ve been using two EyeTV 500 units to watch and record OTA HDTV programming for a while on my Mac HTPC and have been quite satisfied with the set-up. So, why the change? A few VERY compelling reasons.