Apple iMac 24' Frontrow and Freeview

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exportgoldman

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#21031 13-Apr-2008 19:45

Hello Everyone,

I have a iMac and Frontview (Apple TV software) Which I'm in love with, but want to hook up to the land based Freeview service (I'm in Parnell and can see the sky tower.)

I need a USB based tuner with the ability to hook it into Frontview (or if absolutely necessary a robust piece of software which supports the Apple remote control.)

Any suggestions? I have a look through the forum history but couldn't see any clear reccomendations.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

sbiddle

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#123267 13-Apr-2008 19:58

Unless things have changed over the past few weeks there is no way to view Freeview|HD on a Mac as none of the TV programs support the AAC audio used in New Zealand.

eddyg

56 posts

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#123524 14-Apr-2008 21:55

sbiddle: Unless things have changed over the past few weeks there is no way to view Freeview|HD on a Mac as none of the TV programs support the AAC audio used in New Zealand.

The key is to get the MPEG transport stream onto the Mac, once there VLC will play it, H.264/AAC-HE. At some point soonish Handbrake will be able to transcode these into mp4 files with H.264/AAC for playing in frontrow, Apple TV and iPods.

I'm not aware if EyeTV (the usual Mac DTT receiver) will be able to grab the transport streams in the first place, I would be interested in knowing if it can.

It certainly isn't a one stop shop at present.

Cheers, Ed.

Fossie

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#123556 15-Apr-2008 00:26

Apparently they have added aac support into 3.0.1. But still..only the 720p channels work, no frontrow integration...

eddyg

56 posts

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#123600 15-Apr-2008 09:52

Fossie: Apparently they have added aac support into 3.0.1. But still..only the 720p channels work, no frontrow integration...

That's where HandBrake comes in, although it won't be any good for live viewing. For live viewing Perian would need to be updated for AAC-HE, and MPEG TS support, which shouldn't be that hard now that there FAAD2 supports AAC_HE.

Personally I'd be OK with delayed watching only. Use the Mac as a PVR via the ATV and a set top box for live broadcasts.

Has anyone with an EyeTV managed to grab any 720p broadcasts as MPEG TS?

Cheers, Ed.

grant214

11 posts

Geek

#129652 9-May-2008 12:49

FYI.

Elgato has posted an update to their EyeTV software for Mac that how supports NZ DVB-T with H.264 support.

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/support/Update-Start/Update-EyeTV-3.en.html

I haven't tried the update yet but I can tune in to the Freeview demo using the current version and using an Hauppauge HVR-900 USB tuner.

Cheers

Grant

exportgoldman

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#129743 9-May-2008 18:49

grant214: FYI.

Elgato has posted an update to their EyeTV software for Mac that how supports NZ DVB-T with H.264 support.

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/support/Update-Start/Update-EyeTV-3.en.html

I haven't tried the update yet but I can tune in to the Freeview demo using the current version and using an Hauppauge HVR-900 USB tuner.

Cheers

Grant

Sweet, magic mate. And it looks like they now support the Apple Remote Control, so all my issues are fixed, do you reccomend the HVR-900? I was going to get one of the EyeTV Diversity tuners on the assumption that it would work better with their own software?!?!

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.