We all know that HDTV is a sports fan's best friend. In many aspects watching your favorite sport on a big screen HDTV in the comfort of your own home is even better than being there live. You get a better view, you don't have to worry about any kind of weather issues, and you control the remote and the concessions. What could be better? With the football season in full swing, we thought we'd take a look at what you need to enjoy the full sports experience at home. Whether you watch college football or the pros, love baseball or soccer, tune in for the world track and field championships or team tennis tournaments, here's what you need to really get all you can out of it from right in your own living room.
HD HomeRun Follow up
We reviewed the HD HomeRun hardware in our
July 13th Podcast. The Review was primarily a hardware review using some rudimentary Macintosh software. Recently we Mac users have gotten something to really be happy about.
El Gato Software has updated its EyeTV application to be HD HomeRun compliant. PC users have enjoyed full featured software like
SageTV for some time now. EyeTV gives the Mac much of the same functionality that PC and LINUX users have. The new software completely changes the way you will use your Mac to watch and record OTA and unencrypted cable digital TV signals. Much of what we are discussing today will apply to SageTV as well. However, SageTV has other features that EyeTV does not and this is not a comparison of the software. Its just stated so that our PC using listeners can appreciate the benefit of the HD HomeRun on their computers as well.
EyeTV digital TV recording software
:
- Watch and record live TV simultaneously or watch two channels.
- Picture-in-Picture.
- Rewind, fast-forward, and pause live TV.
- Record hours of TV shows directly on a Mac's hard drive and edit out unwanted content.
- Find TV shows using the built-in Program Guide.
- Store your collection on an external drive, or burn it to disc.
- Export TV clips and entire episodes to an iPod, iPhone or AppleTV.
And it works flawlessly! We setup the EyeTV library on the NAS drive for all Macs in the house. With this setup we could start a program downstairs and stop and then pick it up upstairs right where we left off. The recordings are a perfect copy of what is coming in over the air. No further compression is done. If you have a Mac with an Intel chip inside you'll have no issues with HD, as long as you have at least one GB of RAM.
The software works like a typical DVR with skip, fast forward, rewind and pause. The Apple remote works well with the software so if you have a Mac set up as your HTPC like our Mini you can use the Harmony 880. But to be honest with you. I use the 880 to switch to the Mini and then use the Apple remote because it feels so good in my hand. You can use any available tuner on any Mac connected to the network. If one computer is using both tuners then the other computers on the network will not be able to watch live TV. But they can watch recorded programs. You can fix this buy adding another HD Homerun.
The only issue we ran into is if you set a recording to take place later; all your computers will want to wake from sleep and start recording. This resulted in some partial recordings. We fixed this by allowing only one Mac (the Mini) to do scheduled recordings. Each computer can select something to be recorded at a later time but only the Mac Mini will do the recording.
But the icing on the cake for us is that with El Gato's software you can edit out the commercials and then burn the full file to a DVD for later viewing on your Mac or have your HD program down res'ed to DVD quality in order to create a standard DVD. We're pretty sure that burning a Blu Ray or HD DVD disc will be possible as soon as The OS supports it. In the mean time you can record and archive full seasons of HD television programs in HD. You can also output the video to iTunes formatted for iPhone. I did this on a recent trip and enjoyed a few hours of television programming via the HD HomeRun and El Gato's EyeTV. The results looked quite good too!
The combination of the HD Homerun and El Gato's EyeTV (and SageTV on PCs and MythTV on LINUX) is like a match made in heaven for the networked home. Its one of our favorite parts of our connected Home Theater!
Getting ready for some football
The View
First, of course, is the TV. Since most sports tend to involve at least some form of action, a good refresh rate is highly desirable. For flat panels, go for plasma or 120Hz LCD, in rear projection we like DLP, such as the one from Mitsubishi that Ara uses, or LCoS, like the JVC Braden uses. As long as it's as big as you can afford and can display an HDTV picture, you're set on this one. Some people may opt for a front projection system. This is the way to go if you like your sports large - maybe even bigger than life size.
The Sound
We don't tend to be big fans of Home Theater in a Box systems, but if you don't have surround sound yet, anything is better than nothing. Believe it or not many live sporting events today are actually broadcast in digital 5.1 surround. Nothing makes you feel more immersed in the action than hearing the crowd all around you, the game in front of you, and the announcer someplace else entirely. It's a very fun way to watch a game. If you do choose an HTiB setup, make sure you invest in a good receiver as part of that. You'll probably want to upgrade the speakers as soon as you can, but hopefully the receiver will last a while longer. Look at Denon and Yamaha for good systems that will function well and last a long time.
The Interaction
You absolutely cannot forget the DVR, or digital video recorder, in this whole equation. It won't be for skipping commercials, since you'll probably want to watch the event live, as it happens, but nothing comes in handier than a DVR. Set it to record the game, just in case you miss it or want to go back and watch it again. If you aren't concerned about seeing the game live, record it so you can fast-forward through the unimportant information. Not to mention the pause button should something unexpected, like a phone call or a knock on the door, happen in the middle of the most action of the game. You know you have to watch it, but if you don't get the door... For the best in class DVR, check out TiVo, otherwise rent the one supplied by your Cable or Satellite provider to meet this need.
The Control
Do yourself a favor and pick up that Harmony remote you've been needing and wanting. Even if the finance committee disapproves, once they get their hands on it and see how useful it is, they won't want to let go of it. It works great for controlling the volume and the DVR without having to switch remotes or control buttons on the remote to toggle back and forth. We tend to recommend Harmony remotes, especially the 880, but Universal and Universal Remotes make some great devices as well.
The Details
You might think it's all set, now that the view, the sound, the interaction and the control are all in place. But what about the snacks? Why not pick up the LG side-by-side fridge with built in HDTV. Not only do you get an HD ready 15" LCD TV, built right into the fridge, you also get the SpacePlus ice system, you just can't go wrong. So whether you're visiting the fridge to refill the dip for the chips or to get another ice cold, refreshing beverage, you don't need to miss a single minute of the action. There something to be said for the ability to watch you favorite team play and to watch your waistline expand, all at the same time. Of course a nacho machine, or a soda fountain would be cool too - but do they have built in HDTVs?
Of course nothing will replace the thrill of being at a live sporting event; the social aspects are the biggest part of it. But once you've got all your gear in place, you can bet all your friends will want to come see the game at your place, so you can create your own social interaction. Not the same, but close. So get some body paint, a crazy wig, and sit back and enjoy your seats.
