Macmall - Item Compatibility Aaarrggghhh

[evought 0]

Just got done shopping for a new PVR (Personal Video Recorder) for my Mac Powerbook. I settled on the Hauppauge MyTV.PVR USB; I'll put up a review of the product later, but this is another story.

 

While looking for this product, I spent a good deal of time digging through the MacMall[/u] site examining different options. One of the most frustrating things is that I kept running into XP specific hardware like the ATI TV Wonder or the WinTV.PVR. On a Mac-specific site, they were giving me Windows-specific hardware in search results.

 

Of course, if you know anything about MacMall, they are essentially an alter-ego of PC Mall and probably share the same hardware database, but one would think they could at least bother to mark Wind-specific, Mac-specific, and/or Mac-recommended hardware in some obvious way. In many cases, however, you must dig through the listing to find the exact requirements. Many products out there (particularly external drives) are Mac-compatible without particularly advertising it. Similarly, some products do not make clear their Win-specific nature. Wading through all of this can be a major pain.

 

As a counterpoint, [url="http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Dog Electronics told me straight off exactly what I was getting and what it was compatible with. It also did not show me any Windows-specific items in the search.

 

Anyway, just my minor rant. I'll get off of my soap box now...

Edited September 7, 2006 by evought (see edit history)

[unimatrix 0]

At one time ATI built a Mac specifc TV wonder card (internal)Let me know how well it works at capture. I'm looking into getting another capture device as this Cannapus box is getting a few years old now.

[evought 0]

At one time ATI built a Mac specifc TV wonder card (internal)
Let me know how well it works at capture. I'm looking into getting another capture device as this Cannapus box is getting a few years old now.

I have posted the review here.