iTele, DVR software for OSX
This app was brought to my attention recently and I wanted to share it here. Being new to OSX and Mac’s in general I’m a little overwhelmed reading some of iTele’s technical descriptions, but I have a sneaking suspicion some Mac veterans would have no problem wrangling this software in for some DVR goodness.
iTele works with many PCI (mini problematic) and some USB based DVB cards, with Hauppauge prominently among those supported. I’ll likely continue searching for something a little more ‘noob’ friendly, for a DVR solution, but I am interested in hearing what some seasoned Mac users think about this project.
B.Greenway
February 17th, 2005 at 11:26 am
Actually, I was interested in this project some while back. However, most of devices presently supported work with standards used outside Northa America and Japan. I believe the only PCI card that is currently supporting the ATSC standard in North America is the Divco Fusion card. However, if outside North America, the hardware options for iTele are far more plentiful.
February 21st, 2005 at 7:10 am
Hello,
I use it on my G5 with an internal DVB-T board.
It work well but the overall interface is quite simple,
however it has all what’s needed (record, shedule etc).
Thierry
March 5th, 2005 at 5:33 pm
iTele works for me (700 MhZ iBook, Hauppauge Nova-T USB)
The GUI is a little bit basic, but very functional. Supports multiple tuners!
April 30th, 2005 at 7:52 pm
Mirko, are experiencing any problems with using the Happauge Nova-T USB on your iBook??? That Happauge unit was designed for use with Windows. Please clarify your setup – if it really does work then I am going to test it with my PowerBook.
Please reply – anyone?
Thanks!
– don
August 21st, 2005 at 12:11 am
I recently install a DVR card on my window base computer running on Diginet software. I travel widely with my iBook and I need to view my site from a remote area. Unfortunately, the iBook cannot load in the Window base Diginet program. Any solution?
From David
September 13th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Ok, I think I might be on the bleeding edge but some of you out there can comment if you’ve already solved some of my issues.
First, what I have:
Mac Mini 1.66 Intel, 2 Gb RAM, Superdrive, front row
Apple bluetooth keyboard
Logitech bluetooth mouse
Powered USB Hub from Belkin
Miglia TVMini HD – receiving ATSC digital HD broadcasts
Miglia TvMini HD – receiving digital RCN cable
Plextor 402U ConvertX – receiving analog RCN cable, satellite set top box, VCR input
Toast 7 full feature
Final Cut Pro Studio
Elgate EyeTV 2.3.1 (note I actually own four copies of EyeTV because is came with all the above hardware plus I paid to get the full feature version of 2.0)
Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV with HDMI input card
irTrans – ir transmitter
iRed – remote control support for IrTrans transmitter
EyeCaptain – macro automater for EyeTV
EyeTV is the closest thing I can find except for BeyondTV (Windows) to replace my aging (but still works wonderfully ReplayTV 3000). I’ve read the blurgs on computers becoming the next generation of PVR’s. So, I tried to do it with first Windows on a very fast box with dual SCSI u320 drives, Microsoft Multi-Media Edition (XP) and Beyond TV and the Hauppauge PVR 500. Worked great except for the blue screen every few minutes
. I gave up and went with the Apple road since I have yet to see a blue screen on any of my Macs 
The setup above worked great with few hardware devices. First I started with the Plextor since I had it for doing recordings on my Powerbook Pro. EyeTV worked wonderfully. It found the device, found the TitanTV channels and proceeded to work just like my ReplayTV. Nice integrated remote with Apple or the bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Loved it. So, I moved on.
I bought the new Miglia TvMini HD – actually two – one for ATSC HD broadcasts and one for cable digital. The thought of having HD on my HD enabled Mac and my new Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV had me salivating.
As I started to connect the Miglia TvMini HD, things looked and worked great. The Miglia TvMini HD is superb. It comes with a remote, Digital ATSC antenna and USB cable. The Mac Mini found it and EyeTv saw it.
The trouble started on installing the second Miglia TvMini HD.
EyeTV is theory works wonderful – EXCEPT it only likes one of any particular device (e.g. one plextor, one miglia TvMini HD, one of the support peripherals -> http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvmain_compatible).
When you have two, it gets confused on setting up the device so you can’t tell which device it’s actually configuring nor which channels correspond to which device.
I have one HUGE conglomeration of channels. Clicking on a channel and going to that channel just brings up the wrong device and a blank screen. The only way to get it to work is to manually bring that device screen to forfront and tune the channel.
I have written several times to EyeTV (Elgato.com) support and gotten the following response: “EyeTV does not officially support multiple devices of the same type”
I don’t think I’m alone. The cost of these digital devices isn’t so high that one can’t buy 1-3 of them to get several different digital HD inputs (e.g. broadcasts, satellite, cable).
Interested in any others experiences,
Marc