Comments on: Mac Mini Media Center

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:59:59 +0000

Being pedantic here, but s-video actually consists of two signals – chrominance and luminance. The poster above is thinking of composite video.

By: Mick

Mick — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:24:25 +0000

Just a little comment,
S-Video is analog, it’s basically
the 3 component video streams rolled
up into one cable.

And also, maybe there’s a Linux solution
that would probably beat Windows and OSX.

By: Eric Faller

Eric Faller — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 04:27:31 +0000

None of the shows get recorded on the hard drive of the 3412 (at least in my setup). But, all of my channels seemed to be broadcast in digital, so my Firewire port worked for everything I needed to, so having a 3412 instead of a 6412 was not actually a problem.

By: George

George — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:55:05 +0000

I have been considering a Mac Mini for this purpose, but I planned to use the firewire port and OS X, with the macteen guidance referenced on this page: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Firewire. Although I haven’t tested it, I am confused by the comments on analog vs digital in the 3412 vs the 6412. I understand the 3412 is basically the same as the 6412, except the 6412 also has analog tuners for the cable systems that mix the two. If you have a 3412, that should mean that all of the channels are rebroadcast by your cable system in digital. Regardless, since the program is recorded on the hard drive, and played back, shouldn’t all of the output from the playback be available at the firewire port?

By: Eric Faller

Eric Faller — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:58:22 +0000

Once I got everything set up, I just recorded digitally directly over Firewire, so I’m not sure what the tuner settings were.

By: SamW

SamW — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:23:13 +0000

I did more research. Another option might be this one for your digital TV.

WinTV-HVR-950

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr950.html

Some say it’s the same as the Elgato EyeTV that they make especially for the MAC OS.

http://elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvhybridna

By: Sam W

Sam W — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:22:31 +0000

Oh, this is strange. For the regular version, they say that the tuner can record at 12Mbit/second but on the MCE version, they say that the tuner can record at 8Mbit/second. I wonder if that’s a typo.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvrusb2mcekit.html

“Over USB 2.0, the WInTV-PVR-USB2 can record at up to 8MBits/sec”

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvrusb2.html

“Over USB 2.0, the WInTV-PVR-USB2 can record at up to 12MBits/sec.”

Which is the correct one? I hope its 12MBit/second.

By: SamW

SamW — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:10:56 +0000

Are you using the highest recording quality (12Mbit/second MPEG2 CBR) setting for the TV tuner? I’m about to buy a Mac Mini running MCE with that USB TV tuner as well so your blog has been very helpful.

By: Eric Faller

Eric Faller — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:10:03 +0000

These are the directions that I used:

http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/2006/04/07/Heres+How+I+Did+It++Mac+MCE.aspx

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:01:51 +0000

Eric,
Can you help out on how to burn and mce dvd install disc for bootcamp?