Forums | MacLife

Damn it!  Today has been a day of mixed emotions.  It came early... but it doesn't include a freakin' power cord?!?!  What's up with that?  The damn thing says that it is bus powered with "most Macs."  Most?  What the smurf is most if my Quicksilver doesn't work with the damn thing?!?!  Oh well...  I guess I have to get a damn power cord.  Grrrr 

And there's a BIG, and I mean FRIGGIN BIG difference between the two.  Composite has been around ever since they invented the VCR and looks like crap, whereas component is a TV watcher's wet dream.

DVI input is now the TV watcher's wet dream. Most of the latest HDTVs have it...

Really.... are there any HDTV recievers out there that can output DVI?  Isn't component just as good (or better?)

There are several HDTV receivers and a few DVD players that have DVI output. Examples:

Sony SAT-HD200

Samsung DVD-HD931

DVI is better because it's a digital signal, whereas component is analog.

I still prefer the eyeTV. At least it has a power cable. So what if it's USB.

There's nothing wrong with eyeTV. But the Formac TVR has far superior video quality, and it allows you to transfer all your old VHS tapes to DVD for archiving (provided you also have a DVD burner).

You know, the magazine that's attached to this place?  Cursed unsubscribing freeloaders!

Oh, I remember those. Never watched them. They always seemed kinda stupid. (Sorry staff, that's not meant as a dig at you. I know you're probably forced into it by the publisher...they make editors do all sorts of stupid smurf like that).

And I let my subscription lapse because I got very bored with Mac magazines. Why bother subscribing when I've already read everything I'm interested in online?

I usually read it from front to back (skipping the parts of no interest to me), the day that it arrives.  It doesn't usually take me longer than about an hour and a half.

have you tried using the firewire cord?

When I ordered my Formac, the guy said that I needed an external power cable, when I told him I was using an iMac.

I was surprised to find out that my firewire cable gave the TVR all the power it needed!

When I try to use the Firwire cord, the green power light flashes very briefly, then nothing happens.  I try to start the software and I get an error that says the unit is not connected.  I was thinking about trying a powered Firewire hub.  I could use a hub anyway.  Oh well, sooner or later I'll get this thing working. 

I still prefer the eyeTV. At least it has a power cable. So what if it's USB.

There's nothing wrong with eyeTV. But the Formac TVR has far superior video quality, and it allows you to transfer all your old VHS tapes to DVD for archiving (provided you also have a DVD burner).

Well, eyeTV can do that too. And if I had one, I'd do it right now. I have a bunch of tapes I'd like to get rid of, but I wanna keep the video. If I could make them into DVD's or VCD's, I'd be set. So long VCR!

But I have neither an eyeTV or a DVD burner. And if I had money for both, I'd go with the more friendly eyeTV.

Screw it.

I'm sending all my videos to you. You do it for me. I give up.

I don't give a crap about most of the quality on these videos as the tapes are old anyway, I just want to have them. And I heard the eyeTV is 640x480.

Hey everyone,

My 2 cents on the Formac experience -

I bought one VERY excited to record all my shows and burn lots of DVDs for fun and profit - and after MUCH FRUSTRATION with the Studio, I bought a Canopus converter (which has been EXCELLENT).

Anyway, I bought one, it "worked" the audio would fall out of sync, it wouldn't tune stations well, and the software was, shall we say, inconsistant.  The big problem was that there were about 4 bands of differing contrast and brightness vertically on the screen - rendering the image totally unusable! 

I returned it, got a replacement, and the replacement wouldn't even be reecognized by its own software, on multiple machines.

J&R Musicworld was very good to me through the whole process, and I got all my money back, but none of my time.

I wound up buying the Canopus converter - no TV tuner but if you can't figure out how to pump TV through this thing you shouldn't be allowed to own one 

And the Formac Tech Support was email only, and how do you even tech support such a useless product anyway?

DS

I am still wondering why no one has mentioned the analog to DV converters built into many DV cams nowadays.

My Sony Digital-8 bought in 2000 has an analog to DV realtime hardware converter built into it that I use to convert ANY analog source for editing on my Mac.

I connect a source and then connect the cam via FireWire to my Mac.

No tape required.

I understand that that doesn't provide the PVR capabilities but if you already own a cam with the inputs, the price cannot be beat.

ndugu