I use the Alchemy DVR by Miglia to record TV to my Mac. It does have a timer function but I don't use it. I got mine at Other World Computing over a year ago and love it. I mainly use the TV tuner function. I have a two monitor setup and leave the tuner on all the time. I can hit the "record" button in a split second if something comes on I want to record. I only had to contact customer service at Miglia once and they got right back to me. Ron/TN