eyeTV Hybrid vs. Multimedia TV HDD Player

Hello,
I am curious but what would be the difference between these media players (Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Hard Drives,External Hard Drives,USB 2.0 / Ethernet / WiFi USB Dongle) and the eyeTV hybrid hooked up to my core duo with an external hard drive attached or to an older ibook maybe? Obviously one system would look better, but am i missing any features one or the other would have... or any flexability one limits? They seem the same to me... obviously the eyeTV hybrid would need a computer attached but other than that they seem the same. Am i wrong?

They both provide different functionality.

The EyeTV is a video capture / TV tuner device.

Those drives are storage devices and media players that you would have attached to your TV instead of your computer to play the video you capture with the EyeTV. None of those drives have a TV tuner in them.

If you are wanting to record live TV, you'll still need the EyeTV or similar.

The drives accept a regular old composite audio/video in connection. Personally, wouldn't want to be capturing TV in HD and then turning around and recording it via composite. Or, you still capture the video on your computer with the EyeTV and then transfer the resulting files to the Media Player which you would leave attached to your TV for playback. Have not looked at those in particular, but it appears they may capture other media that you can connect via composite only as would the EyeTV.

So if i got one of those hard drives i could only playback unless i hooked up a eyeTV too it? Those drives act as external hard drives as well too besides playback onto tv and wireless (i think) point so i could put stuff from my macbook onto it without hgooking it up? Could i use time machine to back up onto it as well Cause if so it might not be a bad idea to get one. Use it with time machine and as hook-up to playback stuff on my hard drive on the tv. Then get a eyetv hybrid to record that tv. Or am i still getting this wrong?

I re-read the post and looked around more, and i understand now i believe. Now it's just which route do i want to go. I'll probably go the macbook pro (computer) hooked up with an eyeTV to a computer, just because it will be a cheaper way to do things for now (this is for a college setup, not sure if i'm doing it yet just thinking about it)

the only thing i feel the multimedia hdd would be good for is if i set up the eyetv and had it recording to the multimedia hdd it would take out a step since that is plugged straight into the tv... whereas If i set up eyetv for my computer i would be using my computer to encode the show but i would end up having my computer then hooked up to a tv so it seems a little extra.. i guess i could always get a better recorder for instead of the eyetv that encodes it so maybe i could hook that up straight to the tv then.. idk.

Haven't had time for a detailed response - maybe tonight or tomorrow - exactly what is it that you plan on recording or do you? Knowing what you want to do would help in suggestions as to how to get there rather than just comparing different devices.

Recording tv from cable (tv or movies on tv).