Same Mac Station, Same Mac Time: Tune in your Mac TV

Tough times call for all kinds of personal economic strategies to save a buck. With the rising cost of gas forecast for the summer and the United States still on an economic bender we are left cutting certain luxuries out of our lives to stay afloat.

If you want to cut your budget, you have to look at everyday "luxury" costs such as food, utilities, entertainment and communication (telephone, internet, cell). Recently I looked at my cable bill, something I have been happily paying for years after I left school, and looked to see what my bottom-line was. To my dismay I found that after the introductory period had ended it jumped from $29.99 to $50.95, and that is without any extra stations! Unfortunately I was also seduced by HBO, Showtime and the Disney Channel and was spending nearly $100 on Cable TV alone!

Currently I am spending more time at my computer than in front of the television. With cable, internet, and digital phone I was paying $182 and found I could cut that bill down to $82 by dropping cable (even keeping high speed internet).

After the teary goodbyes from my whole family I sought out to find an alternative. This takes some creativity but I looked though my older equipment and found an older G4 677 MHz with a DVD-R drive and with 2GB of RAM. This computer has held its value; you can pick one up used for about $250. Now for the TV part, there are some options that you need to consider, either Internet TV or using a TV Tuner.

Internet TV

There have been a number of improvements in this area, the most recent being Hulu. Hulu.com is really simple considering what it does, a website with TV content that’s free. You simply search, find and play. Hulu offers full screen mode at either 380p or 480p. Another option would be Netflix where you can instantly watch movies and TV episodes online from your Mac.

You will have to get a couple of extras to make it work for your living room. Connecting your TV to your Mac will require a video converter cable. First you will need to determine what type of graphics card you are working with. If you have an ADC or DVI card the Avermedia Quickplay PC Mac-to-TV Converter – for just under $75 – will work. If you have a VGA connection you can use a VGA to TV converter S-Video and RCA out cable adapter (this is only for graphics card that have TV OUT function). Prices range from $1.00 - $8.00.

Additional things to consider are a remote via some sort of mouse keyboard interface. This will run you anything from $30 for a Logitech Keyboard and Mouse to $50.00 for a Logitech wireless keyboard with integrated touch pad. If you have an iPhone you can download the new Air Mouse Pro App and just get a simple wireless keyboard.

TV Tuner

The TV receivers available will connect via USB from your Mac to either an antenna or cable connection and they include basic software. The two front-runners in the US market are Elgato and Hauppauge. The pro on these devices is that they offer a way of allowing your computer to live out its retirement as the centerpiece in your media center. You can use these devices to record your favorite shows like a DVR, or act as a converter for terrestrial Analogue TV. This will cost you a little more, however.

The top product from Elgato is EyeTV Hybrid, a versatile DVB-T/DVB-C/Analogue TV tuner, for about $149.95. The uptake is that you can record what you want from your computer and then transfer it to other devices like your iPhone, Video iPod, iTouch or Apple TV. EyeTV comes with the USB converter, software and a remote control. The con is that it will cost you $149.95. Hauppauge also offers one TV tuner solution for the Mac called the TV-HVR-950Q. With this device you can watch digital or analogue cable, digital ATSC TV Tuner or Analogue and comes packaged with a Lite version of EyeTV application for your Mac that you can upgrade to the full version at any time. It comes with the USC converter, EyeTV Lite software and a remote and comes in at about $75.95.

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