My first Mac Mini HTPC attempt was half successful. But let's start at the beginning.
Core setup:
Mac Mini 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, MacOS 10.5 (Leopard)
Acomdata Mini-Pal 500GB external drive
Quasar 13" TV/VCR as monitor (can you smell the upgrade coming?)
Apple Bluetooth keyboard
Microsoft Bluetooth mouse (it was half the price of the Apple one)
What I purchased:
Terk HDTVA powered indoor antenna
Elgato Eyetv Hybrid
various cheapo R59 coax cables
The goal:
Turn the Mini into a hard-drive TV recorder for both over-the-air HD and standard cable
Accomplished: 50%
The search for HD is frustrating. Obviously cable and satellite providers want to push their HD paid packages, but why, when there are OTA HD signals for the cost of an antenna? For some, this is a simple task, but I wasn't that fortunate.
I live about 30 miles southeast of the majority of the TV towers in my area. There is an old 1980s antenna on the roof that does receive good signals, but there isn't an easy way to route the signal to my side of the house. I purchased the Terk HDTVA antenna, which is a powered directional indoor antenna that has good reviews on Amazon. The thought was a separate antenna would be the easier solution if it worked.
I also picked up an Elgato Eyetv Hybrid at Fry's. Unfortunately, it's the older version (version 2 SW, no QAM tuner) so it will have to go back. I hooked up the antenna to the Eyetv and my Macbook for the initial test. Sure enough, the system picked up 20 digital stations on the antenna! Unfortunately, some of them could not actually be watched--the signal wasn't strong enough.
I moved the setup to the Mac Mini and tried again. With some antenna adjustments, I actually got up to 25 stations. However, they had a tendency to drop every so often. I was also missing two of the Big Four networks: Fox and NBC. With the help of Antenna Web I realized that my NBC affiliate was on VHF rather than UHF, but I still couldn't get Fox.
The next day I picked up an in-line signal amplifier from Radio Shack, but that unfortunately did not boost my signal strength. Most stations were somewhere around 50 on the signal meter, which meant they came in but would drop periodically. Also, I had to rotate the antenna slightly to get ABC vs CBS.
After a day and a half of trying everything I could think of, I took the antenna and the amplifier back to their points of purchase. I was, however, able to split my standard cable feed to route it to both the Eyetv and my television.
I don't blame the antenna for this failure. I think the Terk HDTVA is a fine antenna in the right situation. I live in a one story house and I just couldn't get the antenna high enough to get an adequate signal.
Here's what I'd like to try next:
Route the roof antenna OTA signal to my side of the house (probably a dirty mission)
Return the Eyetv Hybrid for the new QAM version
Replace the 13" CRT TV with a 22" LCD (a Samsung LN22A450 would be perfect...if I can just find one that's not so expensive!)
I'll provide a review of the Eyetv Hybrid in a future installment. Until next time....
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1 comment:
I've sworn off Terk antennas. Each one has been a disappointment. For an indoor antenna, I found the Zenith Silver Sensor to be pretty good (in fact, that Terk model you had seems to have been patterned on the Silver Sensor). I eventually moved to an outdoor antenna placed high in a third floor room with a cable running down to the second floor entertainment center. I'm single with infrequent guests so I can get away with this. :)
The AVS Forum often has good discussions of HD such as their Antenna topic.
Sounds like an interesting project, Neena!
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