EyeTV
When I got my new iMac G5, I also got an EyeTV for DTT. I saw these units being demonstrated at MacExpo, and was really impressed by the quality of the recordings, and by the tiny size of the box. We’re constantly having problems trying to record the Freeview-only channels on our VCR, so it seemed like a great idea.
As I mentioned, the hardware box itself is tiny—-about the size of a chunky box of matches—-and is bus powered via the USB2 cable. There’s a standard coaxial aerial socket on the back, and they provide you with a dinky little mobile indoor aerial. Since we don’t have access to the aerial cable upstairs (and the roof aerial is pretty dreadful anyway—-we have Telewest cable TV), we’ve been using this little aerial, and I’ve been amazed by the quality of the signal. The only problems we’ve had have been with the digital radio stations, which mostly seem fine, but then suddenly drop the signal altogether. Oddly, this doesn’t seem to happen with the TV channels. I’m sure that this would be much improved if we got an amplified indoor aerial.
