Watch TV on MacBook?

Hello,
Does anyone know if it is possible to watch TV on your MacBook, for free? Like, is there something you can buy or download to use as an antenna to catch your local broadcast channels? Something along those lines. Any help, thanks... Have a good weekend, stay safe.

I have an eyeTV hybrid by Elgato. It can tune both analog and digital from the air and also analog from the cable. Also it has an input capability so you can convert those old VHS tapes you've made.

The over the air analog sucks for the most part. Perhaps that is partly due to my antena. Digital either works or doesn't or worse. I've been mostly lucky with digital but it does matter on the signal strength you can pick up.

There are other similar products. Keep in mind you need the right software for Macintosh. In my case that is EyeTV.

The hybrid does NOT have an internal MPEG2 encoder. What the means is that when watching or recording an analog signal, the computer is doing all of the encoding. So which ever product you choose, check the specs. By the way there is no need to encode a digital signal as that is already encoded.

Hi,
Do you have to subscribe to a monthly service, like say a cable company or do you just plug this thing in and veg?

It essentially turns your Mac into a TV, so you'll receive all the TV channels you normally do without charge. If you already have cable you should be able to plug your box into the EyeTV Hybrid and be able to watch those extra channels too (since I'm not familiar with how it all works I couldn't say exactly what the limitations/requirements of that are).

So I have to buy a seperate box w/ software? Does this box include other type of inputs? COmponents, VGA..etc?

Since my MBP's screen is HD, I wanted to play some 360 and PS3 on it. I know the laptop itself doesnt have any inputs.

jaywong87 said:

So I have to buy a seperate box w/ software? Does this box include other type of inputs? COmponents, VGA..etc?

Since my MBP's screen is HD, I wanted to play some 360 and PS3 on it. I know the laptop itself doesnt have any inputs.

Click to expand...

Look it up on the vendor sites.

As far as I know, none of these basic devices have HD imput. From the Hybrid page; "EyeTV Hybrid also comes with a break-out cable for composite video and S-Video, enabling you to connect a set-top box directly to your Mac".

brooklyn431 said:

Hi,
Do you have to subscribe to a monthly service, like say a cable company or do you just plug this thing in and veg?

Click to expand...

For now Elgato has a free deal for channel listings in the US and parts of Europe I think. It makes it easier to set recording time but isn't required. No other service is needed.