Warching TV on a Mac
 

With Hulu bridging the gap between TV and computer, it occurred to me that there wasn't really a reason for me to have a TV and computer in the same room anymore. I'd like to watch TV on my Mac.

What I'd like to do is find a composite/component/s-video/hdmi to USB or Firewire cable/thing so I can use my computer as my TV. Looking around online I was able to find something called the EyeTV, but it's set up for recording video input to h.264 or mpeg. I just want to stream live, as if my computer were a TV.

Is there something out there for me?

I'm not familiar with what video cards Macintosh is using, but does it have a DVI in? Almost all modern video cards have 1 or two DVI in..

If so, how about an HDMI to DVI cable or adapter?

Newegg.com - Link Depot 10 ft. HDMI To DVI Cable, Black Model HDMI-DVI-3 - Cables

Cheaper on eBay, too, i bet.

EDIT: I'd also take a really close look at the back of your cable/satellite box. Most boxes new enough to have HDMI out also have 1394 out, and you could just do firewire to firewire..

EDIT x2: A tidbit I found about Mac with firewire connection to cable box:

"If your cable box has the firewire port, then all you need is a firewire cable, a Mac with firewire input, and the magic D-VCR software from Apples development site (free, you have to register though). I think the applications are part of the Firewire SDK kit in the download section of the Apple Developers site. Once you download the Firewire SDK, you will find three applications AVCBrowser, DVHSCap and AVCVideoCap."

EDIT x3: Walkthrough here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=386740

i used to do this on my old windows 98 computer... had a window with TV that I could resize and move around or watch full screen. i had a "tuner card" to receive the actual television cable... i'll see if i can find you any more info.

No DVI in, I'm afraid.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/...206da0.jpg?v=0
The best inputs are going to be the USB 2.0 ports or one of the firewire ports.

I'm getting a new DVR from AT&T this Friday. I'll have to see if it has a firewire port. If it does, I'll be in business!

What sort of TV signal do you have? If it is basic cable or OTA tv, you need a TV tuner.

There are USB TV tuners, I'm sure one of them has mac drivers, espcially since OSX has a linux kernal. A google search for " usb TV tuner mac stream"

If you have digital cable or sat, you need an external video in, and that is outside my realm of knowledge.

---------- Post added at 09:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 PM ----------

Will: I just remembered, I have a Game Bridge AVC-1410 new in box, never opened, that I bought in a woot off months ago and didn't end up needing. It has video and audio in, as well as a standalone tv tuner if you need it for ota, and converts to usb 2.0 out. Google around and see if there are Mac drivers for it, and if there are, you can have it for the price of shipping.

Whoa, that GameBridge looks like just the right thing. I certainly appreciate the offer. So far google tells me there are only Windows drivers for it, but I'll keep looking.

Anyway, it's definitely a digital signal. I've had Dish Network for years and I'm changing to AT&T fiber optic (finally came to my neighborhood!) a week from today.

Maybe this kind of thing just doesn't exist yet.

Look for open source video capture software that works with it, there are a couple packages for windows other than the packaged ones that will recognize it supposedly