New Elgato Episode Hits the Airwaves

• Want to watch and record TV on your mac?
• Want to use a "Front Row" intergrated interface to access your TV guide and recordings?
• Want to use your Apple remote to control Live TV and recordings?
• Want to edit your TV recordings to remove ad breaks?
• Want to make DVDs and VideoCDs of your TV recordings?
• Want to convert and copy your TV programs to your iPod automatically?

This screencast shows you how to do all this by utilising the amazing new EyeTV 2 software from Elgato Systems. In the show I also demonstrate the new EyeTV for DTT device just launched by Elgato in Europe. It's basically a Freeview tuner that's the size of a memory stick and plugs straight into your USB2.0 port, turning your mac into a powerful PVR. Even better is that we're giving one away as a competition prize (kindly donated by Elgato Systems)

Most Recent Shows - ScreenCastsOnline Shows

The new screencast on the Elgato EyeTV2  software has just been published. Quite a challenge with all the full screen stuff and Live TV I had to capture but I think it works! Anyone fancy digging this ;-)

technorati tags:elgato, eyetv, frontrow, demo, prize, giveaway, mac, tv, recording, mpeg, ipod, dvd, screencast

Click to read more ...

iPhone - nah iPod!

I think that Apple, should they ever come out with a phone, will call it the iPod. iPod has nothing to do with music, so why should they try and build another brand when they already have a winner?

iPhone not going to be called iPhone? - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

I never thought about this but I think Scott McNulty over on the TUAW is right.

technorati tags:ipod, iphone, mac

Click to read more ...

Another WTF Moment - Zune

So this is the first official contact with the Zune project - Hmm! Doesn't do a lot for me really. I've signed up for the newsletter to see what's going on.

In case you haven't heard Zune is the official name for Microsofts assault on the current dominance of the iPod and iTunes in the digital music space. They've got some heavyweights previously involved in the successful xbox 360 developement including J.Allard so they're pretty serious about it.

We'll see how it goes but it's a pretty big mountain for them to climb and they certainly won't do it with a single device. Interesting times ahead.

I wonder if Apple will leapfrog them each time like they do with their operating systems? OK, so microsoft hasn't released an OS for a while but you know what I mean :-)

technorati tags:zune, ipod, microsoft, apple, music, mp3

Click to read more ...

Scoble loosening up?

Engadget has more on the rumored Microsoft portable media player.The reactions in the comment area on Engadget are pretty interesting.Looks like the readers are focusing on hard drive space. I think that’s the wrong place to look.

At Gnomedex I was going around asking people how many megs they had stored on their iPod. Average answer was around 8GBs. So, having only 30 isn’t necessarily a deal killer.Second, it’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft has a wifi exclusive for very long. If Apple lets Microsoft have that for more than a month you’ll see people saying that Apple is dying again.

I’d take a 30GB player with Wifi over a 60GB player without any day of the week. Why? Cause I hate wires. But, with Wifi I could listen to streaming audio or video again. And, Microsoft is more willing to bring me a subscription music service than Apple seems to be. I’d rather have a player that gives me a choice on that account.

As for not working with “Plays for Sure.” Well, this is cause that program had no teeth. I heard that players were released that wouldn’t play for sure and that made that program unusable.....

Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger » Reading the Microsoft portable media player tea leaves

I had mixed feeings when Scoble left Microsoft as I enjoyed reading what was going on within the Microsoft space as relayed by an insider. I felt that we'ed lose access to informaton we couldn't get anywhere else.

But Scoble being unleashed is good and the scope and range of his blog has been refreshing of late. It's noticible that he's still loyal to Microsoft especially after leaving but is this post a sign that we might get some juicy "microsoft" snippets as time marches on!

And as regards disk space, I bet the majority of people at Gnomedex didn't have fifth generation iPods - once you start hosting video files on your iPod 30GB isn't that much!

technorati tags:scoble, ipod, microsoft

Click to read more ...

Blu-ray or HD-DVD

The competition between the competing next-generation optical disk technologies of Blu-ray and HD DVD has entered a new phase, as optical drive makers start rolling out the first products based on the rival technologies. As products based on these formats begin to arrive in stores, one major question for Mac users is: When will Apple integrate this new technology into its computers?The question is more than just idle speculation. Apple enjoys a long track record of embracing emerging technologies—think FireWire, Bluetooth, and wireless networking, among others—and incorporating them into its offerings. Also consider that Apple is on the board of directors for the Blu-ray Disc Association, and it’s not hard to envision a future where Macs are sporting Blu-ray-based drives.As with any future product, Apple is keeping its plans for Blu-ray under wraps. But industry analysts don’t think we'll have long to wait before Apple puts a Blu-ray drive in an Intel-based Mac.The most likely candidate? The as-yet unreleased machine that will replace the Power Mac as Apple’s professional desktop offering.

Macworld: News: Analysts: Blu-ray looms in Apple's future

So if the speculation is right and Steve announces a new Mac Pro range of desktops at the WWDC in August (3 weeks to go!), will the new machines sport a new Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive?

Do we need either?

I would say yes and the driver will be consumer produced HD movies. Apple have included HD support in all their video products from high end in Final Cut Pro to consumer versions in iMovieHD and the missing piece is what to do with the final product.

iDVD does a fine job of compressing your HD movies into Standard Definition automatically (even supporting dual layer DVDs) but if you've gone to the trouble of creating a HD movie, you want to see it in HD. The only option at the minute is to link your mac up to the TV and play via FrontRow directly from the hard drive - which works remarkably well by the way!

But I want to archive my video to optical disk. Even just the data. My last HD project was a 2.5 hour movie at 1080i which came in at 25GB in Quicktime format.

So I think the answer will be yes but perhaps only as a build to order and not as a standard component purely on the cost issue. But which one?

Surely Blu-Ray must be the favourite with Apple being on the board of directors for the Blue-ray Disc Association or will Steve's new role at Disney have any bearings on future Apple strategy ... ooh hang on....

Disney's home video operation, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, said it will ship "popular new releases and classic pictures" on BD when suitable "hardware launches in the North America and Japan". This is expected to take place in a year or so.

Disney backs Blu-ray | The Register

Ah well, any bets on Blu-ray then!

Click to read more ...