Apple Mac Mini – Elgato EyeTV/Terratec Review
Wed 14 Feb 2007Filed Under: Apple Computers
Yes I finally got a TV tuner for the Mini! Not many manufacturers make them for Apple. I hoped that it wouldn’t be a dud.
Curiously the box it came in says EyeTV but the tuner case is labelled Cinergy – Terratec T2 but the software is called EyeTV2. The tuner box is a tiny thing (I’d put up pictures but I don’t know how to do it with this software just yet but I’m working on it.) It’s coloured silver like the mini and has a blue LED on the front. I connected it up installed the software without any problems and I had TV!
Now connecting to the Plasma was a bit of an issue since it could on recognise certain screen resolutions. It’s a high defninition unit but not a true one. I don’t really understand the whole Hi-Def concept anyway – not really interested either. As mentioned in an earlier post I recevied the weird out of range error – which doesn’t tell me much. It wasn’t the Mini’s fault or the Plasma I guess it’s me not understanding what resultion to set the thing to. I guess it would have been easier if the Plasma manufactuer had better error messages. After sorting out what resolutions the Mini and the Plasma where both happy with everything was now fine.
The early versions of EyeTV, although worked where not as good as the latest version. The current version although has an annoying media center like interface when turned has much better aspect ratio controls. I can’t find the controls to turn the menu thing off! I’m sure other may find other interface issues with it but I’m happy with it – so far.
The picture quality is good and the recording is easy to use and works fully automatic. Even when I went away for a few days it turned everything on and off flawlessly. Combined with the Mini’s flawless sleep function I was completely satisfied.
My conclusion is that if you want a reliable media center the combination I have really works.