Ordinary Gweilo

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What should I buy?

Yesterday’s SCMP had a brief review of the latest Apple iMac G5.  Given that it has a 20" screen and can burn DVDs, I was assuming that it would also function as a PVR, but clearly it doesn’t.  This seems rather puzzling, though I suppose the obvious answer is that you can download stuff (illegally) rather than recording from TV.

My question therefore is whether it makes any sense to buy the iMac and some sort of add-on box (like this) that will handle TV signals, or to go for a PC with the Windows Media Centre, or just use an ordinary DVD/HDD recorder.  Or maybe wait to Apple to add PVR functions to the iMac?

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4 responses to “What should I buy?”

  1. Lutz.W avatar
    Lutz.W

    Sth you should also consider: Apple will switch to Intel-processors from next year on — which possibly means that further software-updates for any Mac-application will only be published for the new OS. You could end up with no possibilities for decent updates for OS X some one or two years later.
    WIN is such a pain in the ass, it seems to be no real option. I was happily using a Mac for some years now, but I’m also strongly considering to switch back to Windows for the next 2 or 3 years. My advice: it’s not a good idea to buy a Mac at the moment.
    Anyway: if you want to check for more PVR-solutions for OS X, I’d recommend http://www.versiontracker.com — just search for “PVR”, they got some 7 listings there…
    Cheers, Lutz.

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  2. shaky avatar
    shaky

    Hmmm, I can’t see Apple just dropping their old PPC users.

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  3. spacehunt avatar
    spacehunt

    I’ve built my own PVR box with MythTV, though of course Linux is not for everyone.

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  4. Lutz.W avatar
    Lutz.W

    Shaky, you mean like the rich, ongoing support for Classic OS 9? I can’t see any support from both Apple and – let’s say – Adobe or other major software-houses. Sorry, maybe I’m too cynical.
    Sure OS X-applications will still run on the new Macs in an emulation called “Rosetta” (just like Classic-software is emulated in OS X). But I read in some serious Apple-developer’s forum, that Apple’s RISK-processors will be emulated with quite difficulties. And possibly everything more processor-consuming than Textedit will be kinda slow and unstable. I’m wondering how long the software-business will bear the extra-costs to handle that situation…?
    Sorry, I’m getting carried away, LOL… this is not a discussion-board about those things, and we still don’t have an answer if it would be a good idea to buy either a Mac/PC/DVD, huh? 😉

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