Each hour of HDTV takes up about
Each hour of HDTV takes up about 7GB of disk space. And because of the
way Elgato?s software stores recordings (in one archive folder) it?s not easy to split
your recordings across multiple disks – although it can be done. Transcoding the
HDTV recordings from their native MPEG-2 transport stream into a format suitable
for watching on DVD or VCD is slow and not always successful. Also, displaying
HDTV on any computer is an incredibly processor intensive task and if you want to
use your Mac for watching HDTV, rather than just recording it to watch somewhere
else, you?ll need a fast Mac, a dual processor G5 is about the only choice if you want
smooth playback. That said, if you just want to use the Mac to record the HDTV, and
G4 or G5 will do the trick, so you can use that new Mac mini as HDTV PVR.
In any event, if you want to use your Mac to record HDTV, do it before July 1st,
because after that, if the FCC has its way, and Broadcast Flag becomes law, it will be a
whole different ball game.
Robert Armstrong is a contributor to The HDTV Tuner – a guide to the kit, the technology and the
programming on HDTV..
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