My work's illegal, but at least it's honest.

Mal ,'Shindig'


Buffistechnology 2: You Made Her So She Growls?  

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


Jon B. - Dec 30, 2006 7:29:00 pm PST #9962 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

It will be so much fun and much cheaper to convert records to mpgs and then burn them rather than buying more cds.

If you want to digitize your LPs specifically to convert to CDs, then you should save them as .wav files (or .aiff on the Mac) when you record, and not mpegs. Mpegs, especially mp3s, are a "lossy" format, which means you'll lose fidelity in the process of making the CD. Wav and aiff files are not lossy. They will take up more space on your hard disk, but if you're just burning them to a CD and then deleting the files, size won't matter.


NoiseDesign - Dec 31, 2006 12:14:02 am PST #9963 of 10003
Our wings are not tired

Actually you can do .wav files on the Mac as well. Both formats are pretty much the same thing just with a different header on the file. Wave files are more prevalent at this point.


Jon B. - Dec 31, 2006 4:27:14 am PST #9964 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

Say I wanted to take a composite video and stereo audio signal from a TV tuner and record it onto my Mac Mini. I assume I'd need some sort of USB or Firewire device to capture video? What's a good cheap piece of hardware to do that? I don't need the Mini to act as a DVR; I just want to be able to record video and then do some simple editing.


Tom Scola - Dec 31, 2006 4:37:06 am PST #9965 of 10003
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500

Not exactly "cheap", but [link]


Jon B. - Dec 31, 2006 5:03:58 am PST #9966 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

That's a nice looking box, Tom. But it seems like the EyeTV Hybrid gives me what I want, plus DVR functionality I don't need, for less money? [link]


Tom Scola - Dec 31, 2006 5:11:22 am PST #9967 of 10003
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500

Does that have composite input, or just RF?


Jon B. - Dec 31, 2006 5:38:31 am PST #9968 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

EyeTV Hybrid also comes with a break-out cable for composite video and S-Video, enabling you to connect a set-top box for premium channels, digital cable or satellite.

That'll do what I want, no?


Tom Scola - Dec 31, 2006 5:42:42 am PST #9969 of 10003
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500

Do you want to be able to output video?


Jessica - Dec 31, 2006 5:57:23 am PST #9970 of 10003
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?

I'd go with something like this over the EyeTV thingy, personally. (Looking at the breakout cable here, I only see unbalanced audio and S-video, which is fine, but it's not exactly what they say it is.)


Jon B. - Dec 31, 2006 7:16:59 am PST #9971 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

Do you want to be able to output video?

No, except to a TV, which I already do via the DVI monitor output.

I'd go with something like this

Ooh, thanks Jessica. That looks pretty good! And I hadn't seen a close-up of the EyeTV breakout cable; I agree that it's more lame than advertised.