Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with TV and Mac

Can't watch a specific channel on my computer!

mhz — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:17:06 -0800

Why can't my USB TV tuner find channel 11? I have a Hauppauge USB TV tuber (950Q, I think), and I can't get WPIX in New York. I have no idea if it's ever worked, as I've never tried it before. I've scanned repeatedly, but still nothing. This is using EyeTV, on the Mac, and I'm in Brooklyn. All other over-the-air networks work perfectly.

A couple of notes:

It's not an antenna issue; the same antenna finds 11 just fine when connected to the cheap DTV converter I have.

I tried adding it manually with the frequencies I found online, and nothing.

I've tried using a file I downloaded from TitanTV with the frequency, and nothing.

My brother just called me, and he's using Windows (Vista or 7, I'm not sure) with Media Center, and an ATI USB TV Wonder, and he's having the same problem. Neither of us ever noticed this before, because the Giants weren't on WPIX before.

Any suggestions? Again, this issue does not appear to be the antenna, and it's appearing with two different brands of USB tuners, on two different operating systems.

iMe

Hands of Manos — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:13:11 -0800

Could you help me in making my decision to switch to Apple TV My girlfriend has On Demand. We watch about 2 shows, maybe 3 tops during the year (and that being True Blood, Heroes and The Tudors....we have netflix for movies).

Her kids watch a lot of Nick, Disney and the Cartoon Network.

I've played around with an apple tv, I like it and am already sold on it. I think my girlfriend would be too however she'd like for her kids to be able to watch cartoons when they want. Occasionally, she likes to watch Colbert and the Daily Show however she usually watches them the next day after they have aired.

Is it more economical to stay with onDemand or move over to appleTV? Can you give me reasons pro and con to each? (or is there another alternative...somewhere, there's a roku in this house, but it's buried and hidden at the moment)

Thanks

ps-we're pretty much integrated to mac as is

new Macbook Pro to tv?

cgs — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:12:48 -0800

How do I connect a new Macbook Pro to televisions? My question is identical to this older one, but that the new MBP's have Mini DisplayPorts instead of Mini-DVI.

I want to connect mine to my HDTV, as well as to older/regular tv's (composite). How many adapters do I need to buy? I'm guessing mdp -> hdmi for the hdtv. According to the wiki, I need to get two for the composite: mdp -> vga -> composite, which seems excessive to me.

Do any of you have first-hand experience with this? Can you recommend any sites that offer adapters/cables at good prices?

Thanks for your time-
cgs

old mac Mini is too Mini for TV

penciltopper — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:06:44 -0800

I have an old G5 PowerPC Mac Mini that would be just right to repurpose as a DVR/HTPC. But the weak onboard graphics are preventing joy. Is there a way I can offload the graphics processing workload to an auxillary device? It's an old G5 powerpc mini, still works just fine; but it's an orphan at the moment, with no purpose in life.
So I thought I'd try hooking it up to my TV and using it as a HTPC of sorts.

DVI output to my TV at 1080i works for DVD player, torrented .AVIs via VLC, etc.

But if I try to watch Hulu through it, the picture is choppy if it works at all. Especially for 480p streams.

I'd also like to use something like Elgato's EyeTV to capture over-the-air HD TV broadcasts and play them back later. (Watching the signal live is unnecessary, but would be a bonus.)

But I'm pretty sure the Mini can't handle that processing load?

Elgato seems to have a couple of devices like the turbo.264 that mention that they do the transcoding/processing of the video, offloading it from the attached Mac's processor.

Would this help? If not, is there some other kind of external graphics card or add-on device I can use to externalize the graphics processing workload, so the old hardware in the Mini isn't crippling?

Desired end state is that I am able to watch recorded OTA HD shows and "live" Hulu/other video streams

I have a NAS drive to hold recordings, and an XBox 360 (all three are on same wired network) if that helps.

1080i preferred, HD only (I can skip analog)
$250 max budget (so I'm not just going to buy a new Intel Mini)

Anyone have any experience or suggestions?

Help connecting a MacBook to a TV

alitorbati — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:33:00 -0800

How do I connect my white MacBook to my TV? My intention is to be able to watch movies I have on my computer on my TV, or just use my TV as a monitor. I have these cables:
Mini DVI to VGA
VGA to RCA (yellow)
3.5mm headphone jack to RCA (red and white)

Audio works fine, but I cannot get my MacBook to display anything on my Sony Bravia. I have no idea what the issue could be. I've used the Mini DVI to VGA cable to connect to a projector before and that worked fine. Please help me sort this out. I've tried this with two tvs, still no success.

Could my new Airport Extreme be causing weird sounds on my TV?

The corpse in the library — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:45:15 -0800

Could my new Airport Extreme be causing weird sounds on my TV? I recently got a new Apple Airport Extreme. Since installing it I've had two problems which I think are related, as they didn't happen with the old Airport:

1. My TV set makes a VVVVUT vvvvvvut VVVVVVUT vvvvvvut sound (if only this were "Car Talk"), for about a minute, several times an hour.

2. My WiFi radio is having problems picking up signal. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it just doesn't connect.

Any suggestions for fixing these problems? My computer skills are limited, but I'm happy to tinker when given good directions. Going back to the old Airport is not an option, as it caught fire.

can front row be bookmarked?

luriete — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:16:35 -0800

Can Front Row be run in a window, or can videos being played in front row be bookmarked? I hate to have to try to skip back to where i was in a movie or tv show after doing something else...

Yet More Mac Mini-DVI Hearbreak

ChasFile — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:13:26 -0800

MacBook DVI output connected via adapter to my TV results in nothing. I'm pretty handy with a Mac, but I guess not handy enough.

I'm trying to get a MacBook (model A1181) to play a DVD on my TV (its an exotic region code, otherwise I'd just use the DVD player). And first off, the DVD plays fine on the Mac's LCD, so that's not it.

So I went out and got a mini-DVI-to-Composite-Video adapter, which I plugged into my MacBook, and then connected to the TV, which is a fairly old standard NTSC 4:3 CRT set, a Panasonic. What I see is a slight change in the margins around the TV's "blue screen of no input" and occasional flickering. Changing the resolution on the Display Control menu in the toolbar results in a slightly different flicker in the blue screen of inputlessness. The options said menu offers me are "800x600, 60Hz" and "640x480, 60Hz." Again, neither produces anything other than than the flickering blue screen.

In my attempts to solve this myself, I've Googled around and found some people who say putting the Mac to sleep and then waking it solves this. I tried this and several full restarts and the output on the TV is always the same. I also tried using DisplayConfigX to detect the TV and set the output, and it wanted to use 100Hz, which I tried but only resulted in (predictably) higher frequency flickering. I've hit "Mirror Displays" and just about every other button I could find in the display control panel, and nothing changes much. I bought an s-video cable and used that (this adapter has both composite and s-video outputs) which again resulted in a slightly different flavor of flicker but nothing substantial.

So, um, any ideas?

TV tuner for MacBook that works in US and Japan

DoctorFedora — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:49:06 -0800

Looking for a TV tuner, but here's the catch: it has to be compatible with a MacBook (so USB or FireWire only), and I'd really prefer if it supported both US and Japan over-the-air broadcasts (bonus points for HD).

Watching free over-the-air digital TV with a Mac-compatible solution.

cahlers — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:18:40 -0800

What is the best system to watch over-the-air digital TV with a Mac-compatible solution, and utilize the Mac as a DVR? I'm interested in using my Mac with a for-Mac digital tuning system to watch free, over-the-air digital TV signals, and to utilize DVR functions. I currently do not subscribe to cable. Will Miglia, Formac Studio TVR, or Elgato Systems EyeTV allow me to watch free, over-the-air digital TV signals? Which are best, and do they all allow integration with Titan TV? I am a newbie as far as this is concerned, so clear explanations without too much jargon are very much appreciated. I currently have a G4 1 GHz Powerbook, but am considering getting a Mac mini or iMac if I can be persuaded of the advantages. Also, I have a relatively old Sony analog TV - could I use this as the monitor?

I apologize if this has been covered before, but I did not find too much relevant to this particular question in an Ask MeFi search.

s video to rca

LizardOfDoom — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:28:20 -0800

A friend bought me this monster cable to hook my ibook g4 up to my TV, but my tv has composite video. i haven't been able to locate a working converter-- anyone have any ideas?

I can't connect this iBook to the TV

mattbucher — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:28:18 -0800

I am trying to connect my G4 iBook to my TV, but apparently I don't have the right combination of output cables. I need some advice here. I bought this iBook in March 2005. It came with a VGA cable and I bought a red composite audio output wire that plugs into the headphones jack. The audio is working fine. I wanted to run the video out through S-Video to my TV, but this apple adapter doesn't work (it has a female end and I need a male). Is there another Apple adapter that will work with my iBook to output S-Video? Maybe through FireWire or USB? Do I need to use my VGA adapter and then get a VGA to S-Video adapter?

Watch Cable TV on a MacBook?

HotPatatta — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:57:34 -0800

Can I watch and record Cable TV on a Mac? I am a PC user and have decided that I'm going to buy a Mac right when Leopard--the new OS--is released. But here's my question:

I once saw a device for P.C.'s that connects to your cable television connection and will actually transmit the signal to your computer (by WiFi? Bluetooth?). You can set your computer to record the signal and I guess it basically makes the PC a TiVo. Is there something similar for a Mac? I think the new AppleTV is different because you transmit content from your computer to the TV. I want something that does the opposite.

By the way, I have DSL.

ALSO, I know that you can get a TV tuner for your desktop or laptop PC, so that you can watch live non-cable TV. Is there something similar for a MacBook? Thanks, MeFites!

rigging a used G4 as a media centre

iTristan — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:39:15 -0800

I am going to rebuild a used G4 as a media centre and have a few questions for anyone who might have done this My main concern is component output to analog TV. I'm unclear as to what is really necessary, and best, to make this work well. Is it just cables I need, or actually a conversion box, or perhaps a PCI video card?

prices?

Additionally:
- I plan to add a USB2.0 card for syncing with my iPod ($80?) and possibly to hook up to some Elgato device; although PVR capabilities aren't that necessary so this is optional (optional $150 - 200)
- am leaning towards a Keyspan Express as remote control; will enable Front Row on the box to make control easy for family: $60
- will get bluetooth adapter and keyboard/mouse, to surf from the sofa: $100
- will probably eventually accelerate the box with a 1.8GHz Giga card, they work pretty well: $250

So, for roughly $500 (plus output video cost) I'd have a customized entertainment box complete with large HD etc etc

Anyone have thoughts on the output, or my specs/plans?

iBook tv adapter problem a go-go

popcassady — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:28:57 -0800

Why won't my iBook's tv adapter work? This problem has been bugging me for months. I've asked the question in nearly every mac forum I could find -- but no one has offered me a solution. Surely metafilter can come to the rescue?

So, cut and pasted from another forum:

"...I bought a video adapter from the apple store.

For the first few weeks, it worked fine. After plugging the adapter into my iBook (G4, 1.2 gigs, 10.3.9), I had the option to change my display preference between NTSC/PAL.

One day, whilst using Quicktime (I think I was launching th application at the time) I unplugged the adapter. When I plugged it back in, the picture on the television became flickery and scrambled.

I looked at my display preferences and instead of having the NTSC/PAL option, my iBook was now detecting the adapter as an external VGA display and I was given a load of resolution and refresh rate options... but no NTSC/PAL.

This continues.

I've tried unplugging, restarting, unplugging in sleep mode, restarting plugged in/un-plugged, resetting PRAM, repairing permissions... nothing seems to fix it..."

Anyone?

57 channels and nothing (on my G4)

docgonzo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 16:24:18 -0800

I want to watch cable television using my old G4/500 and new 21-inch flatscreen monitor. How? All I want to do is plug the cable into the back of my G4 (OSX 10.3) and have the video appear on the screen -- preferably full-screen. What card or box do I need? I don't want to record the video, so most of the boxes I've found (and this askMeFi answer) are (over-priced) overkill.

Watching and Recording TV on My Mac.

rossination — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 17:28:25 -0800

I'd like to be able to watch tv and record it on my G4 iBook. I know that there are a plethora of ways to do this on the PC side, with a special card or whatnot. Is there a (cheap!) way to do this with my mac? It has to be external, obviously, since I'm going to be using it with the iBook.

OS-X TV tuner software

kenchie — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 04:30:25 -0800

Anyone know of a decent software soultion for my Hauppauge USB tv card and my new Mac mini please?