(Welcome to Kelly, one of the "techettes" vying for a blogging position at the upcoming AT:Home Tech. Comment away.)
Throw away your televisions!
So you've joined the Mac Mini revolution, maybe you've purchased the wireless keyboard, mouse, the external hard drive, and crystal clear display all for the sake of design. You may think what is left? How about a way to merge your computer with your television set? Even if you don't have the newest Mini, or the top-of-the-line Apple Cinema Display, this is still a viable option. You are just missing one essential piece of hardware, the Miglia TVMax.
The Miglia TVMax is a digital video recorder that allows you to merge your computer and television into one streamlined unit. It allows you to watch TV and record and edit programs in a Tivo-like fashion. It syncs with TitanTV , an online television program guide, and even exports your recordings to your iPod or PSP. They have also fit everything into a Mac Mini-sized package, allowing you to stack it with the Mini itself.
Sadly, it is not without a few drawbacks. The software the recorder utilizes only works with Macs, so PC users are out of luck. Also, there is no way to schedule repeat recordings. Want it to record House every week? No problem, but you're going to have to manually tell it to do so and update it regularly.
All-in-all, the Miglia TVMax offers a viable way to ditch your outdated television in favor of a compact media viewing setup. Its sleek and small design allows for it to fit effortlessly into your current system and create a powerful, efficient entertainment system for smaller spaces.
You can find it here, for $189.
-Kelly
Apple just released its Apple TV last week, which seems to be the same sort of thing, and from a design POV integrates with the whole Apple aesthetic rather than rips it off like many third-party things do. It was a well-written article, but I'd hope my tech writer would be more current -- I don't think one can write about the Miglia without mentioning the Apple TV.
The AppleTV is not a DVR, and actually doesn't compete with this at all. This is the equivalent of a TiVo in that it takes an input from your cable or satellite or antenna and records it, and can play it back to your monitor.
The AppleTV on the other hand, has a hard drive, and takes an input from your computer. You can send movies you bought from iTunes, or video clips that are on your computer to your television. It doesn't, however, connect to your telveision input at all (satellite,cable,etc.) and so can't use that as a source, The AppleTV very simply allows you to move clips from your computer to your TV.
This device lets you move TV content from one time to another (ie record and playback later).
In fact, these two things might be interesting complements!
Well written article, and I love the consideration of faults and benefits.
Does the Apple TV features a TV tuner? I think that TVMAx let you hook the computer to a TV source and display channels like a regular TV on your monitor. Apple TV connects between the computer (via wired or wireless) and your plasma/lcd. They both share the capability of recording TV shows on their hard drives.
I'm in the process of replacing my living room stereo for a mac mini cinema display combo and stream my musinc via wifi to the system. Look ma' no wires!!!
please, AT, drop the ridiculously obnoxious "techette" appellation. Hasn't it been expressed already how many of us really dislike this designation????
I am technically challenged, but why can't my TV work like my wireless computer? Why must there be a cable? Is this what Apple TV is offering? I am sick of black cords snacking around my house. Any techie suggestions?
Less is more:
Apple TV will not help you there.
If you want cable service on your TV you are currently stuck with a cable (though this year some solutions are coming out to help with that). If you want TV on your laptop lookin into a SlingBox.
As for the technical reasons for why we don't have wireless cableboxes like we have wireless routers, it's a question of bandwidth. Just this year wireless bandwidth is starting to get good enough to transmit HD quality TV in home applications.
I know it's nitpicky, but I'm a copy editor and grammatical mistakes just catch my eye and won't let go. The info presented here is great, but please, please, please remember to give your work a once-over before posting it.
I rarely comment (although read AT daily) but as She Eats Lemons said above, it's insulting that AT has labeled the women candidates for bloggers at AT: Home Tech as "techettes" while the male candidates have not such marker.
Thanks kelly for introducing a new product I wasn't aware of yet. I do have an eyeTV which is a mac based TV tuner with DVR like software. And yes the AppleTV is getting talk (albeit overshadowed; why can the iPhone be i- prefixed but not the TV?)
So I would have liked to see a bit more comparison to other devices, or companion pieces.