It turns out I was wrong about the Mac Mini being able to handle full 1080i or 720p video from the EyeTV 500. What actually happens if you have less than a dual-G5 is that the video is scaled down to half-resolution (4 pixels become 1). So 1080i becomes 960x540 and 720p becomes 640x360. Then the video is blown up to fit the window or screen you're using.
This winds up looking as good as it does because the scalers that El Gato uses are really, really good. But any way you slice it, you're really winding up with EDTV rather than HDTV - or something that's approximately DVD quality.
Of course, the recordings are at full resolution. So I am going to, one of these days, install the software on my dual G5 and copy a recording over the net from the mini and see what it looks like. Alas, my dual-G5 machine doesn't have the 23" cinema display, it only has the 20", so the resolution is only 1680x1050 - I still won't be seeing actual 1080i.
It still looks plenty good to me. Certainly good enough until I can get my hands on an HD DirecTiVo. But when I do, I'll be switching back and forth between TiVo and the Mac a lot more than I do now, which will be a bit of a shame.
Posted by nsayer at March 11, 2005 09:20 AMGreat info, thanks. I've been toying with a mini-Mac/EyeTV 500 HDPVR setup myself. Sounds like the mini isn't there yet in the full-HD horsepower range, but there's hope for the future. Since I don't even own an HDTV yet, that's no great loss for me, but I'm sure now that I'll grab a "500" before the broadcast flag deadline...
Posted by: Will Collier at March 18, 2005 04:34 AMThanks for posting this info. I read a ton of other forums and haven't seen this pointed out clearly anywhere.
Posted by: PW at April 27, 2005 10:28 PM