[X4U] X4U Digest, Vol 65, Issue 11

[William Northcott]

On 19/01/2010, at 7:00 AM, Dave Bonhoff wrote:

> I have an older Mini (2006 vintage) connected to a 50" (127 cm) plasma TV using a DVI to HDMI cable, and to a home theatre system using Tos-Link cable. I'm running Plex <http://plexapp.com/> for media playback and it has been approved by my wife as easy to use (she doesn't manage it though). I haven't added a TV tuner yet, but some research into this has suggested that Elgato's <www.elgato.com> EyeTV products and software are good.

EyeTV is a superb app for watching and recording TV on a computer.  It leaves a lot to be desired in full screen mode controlled by an IR remote.
The major problems:
1. Dual tuner support is broken.
2.  The IR control and on-screen-display are badly thought out and executed.  'Cobbled together' might be a good description.  Many functions of the software can't be reached at all, and too many others are difficult and clunky.
3.  There is a potentially great piece of software called Remote Buddy, which lets you remap IR codes to different functions, many not provided by EyeTV or Front Row.  However, its integration with the other software is a disaster right now.  All the developers seem to blame each other and it is not getting fixed.

It would be good if more people could join in pushing the developers to fix things, or maybe someone could add TV to Plex and avoid the problem.  There used to be some open sourced tuner drivers so maybe it would not be too hard for someone who understands this stuff, which I don't.

The hardware is great for the job particularly recent versions.  You might find older models challenged by HD TV.

Bill