Please educate me about iMac G5 to be a TV

Hi...

I have a beginner question to ask and am seeking for an expert advise and suggestion.

My plans are;

1) Use my iMac G5 as a TV and watch a regular TV program through iMac (I subscribe a local cable). I can do the opposite; play movies by iMac G5 and watch them with my 52" TV.

2) Whatever the programs I watch through iMac G5, I would like to record (as recording to VHS tape in old days) them such as sports or movies.

3) I would like to convert VHS taped contents to the digital media (burn them to DVD). I have a tons of football videos from the last 15 years. I want to put them into DVDs. I believe this particular information was referenced in MacWorld magazine but could not remember which issue was.

What I need to know are;

Any adapters or software I should get to complete my plans. I recently received a catalog from Macsales and it listed devices from Elgato. It seems they could be a key for this mission but I do not know much about.

I do not have any time limit to finish my project. If someone has a great idea or suggestion that I do not have to invest a huge amount (say over $300), that would be the best.

And if someone has a good success story, similar to what I intend to do, please share it with me...

Thanks for reviewing my post.

I have the elgato eyetv 250 plus tuner and it can do everything you are wanting to do.

Was that a 52' TV? How big is your room?

oops, it was 52"...

Murlyn, thanks for your information. I should look into that device, then.

I have an Elgato EyeTV. It too has an input port that allows recording from S-Video or RCA devices. It is also $50 cheaper than their 250 model.

You need to pay attention to what the requirements are for the device you want to buy. For instance the Elgato lists that OS X 10.4 is required for their solution.

For point 3, remember that most bought DVD and VHS movies have a signal that disallows clean recordings. That requires another box known as a video stabilizer. Keep in mind that this is a very time consuming process.

xstep, thanks for your advise. I've ordered Elgato Eye TV 250 Plus from Macsales. They had a refurbished one available by Elgato and I saved about $50. It should arrive before the weekend. I will keep it posted how it goes. A friend of mine did VHS-DVD on his PC and told me it took very long and the DVD quality was not as good as expected.

To update...

I got an Elgato Eye TV 250 Plus from OWC on Friday and set it up as instructed. This is a great device and I enjoy it very much. Only I need now is a longer coaxial cable. OWC is very fast to ship.

I now can do exactly what I wanted; record TV program and convert VHS to DVD.

I thank Murlyn and xstep for the great advise.