" Hi Mike,
I just received my ElGato TV Wonder today and have had a chance to play with it a little. I have a "Gigabit Ethernet" PowerMac that I upgraded to a 1.4GHz single processor (Gigidesigns) and 768MB RAM. Since I needed USB 2.0 I bought an IOGear 2 port USB 2.0 PCI card to connect to the TV Wonder. I had been using the original EyeTV USB for over a year and was hoping the newer version would let me record in higher quality mode when desired.

It seems to work fine with my setup. When I installed The EyeTV software the new USB 2.0 driver was installed and I guess it is working with the IOGear USB 2.0 ports since things work fine so far. (some USB 2.0 cards have native support such as those using the NEC chipset-Mike)

The "Autotune" channel search was glacially slow compared to to my older EyeTV USB. The first time I tried watching TV there was no sound but after quitting and re-running the EyeTV software it works fine.

I set the recording quality to Standard (DVD). The dialog warned that I should have at least a Dual G4 for recording, but it didn't stop me. A test recording seemed to work just fine. The "Activity Monitor" application showed EyeTV using about 40-50% of my CPU during recording (no live display). Watching live TV without recording uses differing CPU % depending on the selected video quality (from 15% at "Good" 352x240 to 40% at "Best" 720x480). If I record "Standard (DVD)" and watch at "Best", the CPU usage is at about 75%. I have had the sound cut out when monkeying around with the settings- I expect that some revisions of the EyeTV software will sort this out.

Other comments:
It is annoying that the recording quality cannot be selected on a recording-by-recording basis. One has to select the recording quality via the "Device Settings" dialog. It would be useful if the quality could be selected in the program recordings setup dialog so simple recording could be at low (VCD) quality and recordings intended for burning to DVD could be at higher quality.

The USB cable provided is pretty short- it won't reach from my desk down to the computer on the floor underneath.

Switching channels seems quicker than with my older EyeTV USB. My current CyTV server/client system seems to not work, but I haven't had much time to fiddle with it.

The TV Wonder unit does get pretty warm during use.
Regards, Erik. "

" I saw the debate about using the EyeTV Wonder with at USB 2.0 PCI card. I don't know if that will work, but I asked Miglia the same question, and they confirmed that EvolutionTV should work just fine on my MDD G4 with a USB 2.0 PCI card. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm considering buying it since I'm a satisfied user of their AlchemyTV DVR, but would like to have a hardware compressor instead.
Regards,
Rene N. "

I asked if he bought one to report back on how well it worked. (EvolutionTV has hardware encoding where the EyeTV Wonder uses the Mac CPU for that.)

" http://www.cgnusa.com is selling the mezzanine board and antennas for the mini's airport and bluetooth. Not cheap, but if you gotta have it, they have them in stock. They even have the screw kits listed in your part list.
-felix "

A past posting on the Mac Mini page here has a list of parts for Airport and Bluetooth.

• NoLimits Rollercoaster Sim 1.5.5
• Winswitch 3.0 (replacement for Apple's Fast User Switching menu)
• First Look: Powerbook G4 Evolves (PCworld)
• Retrospect 6.0 Updater 6.2.102
• Samsung shows 82-Inch LCD (PCworld)

Combo DVD-CDR Drives:
• IDE Toshiba SD-R2212 in iBook 2001 (OS X 10.3)
  (noted native burn support)
  
  DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• Firewire (cased) LG GSA-4163b used w/iBook G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (Using Patchburn 3 for iApps burn support.)
• IDE Sony DRU-710A in G4/AGP (OS X 10.3)
  (Using patchburn II, which is no longer available - replaced by Patchburn 3. Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT and B&W G3 Macs)
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE Fujitsu MHT2040AH 40GB in (pismo) Powerbook G3 2000 (OS X 10.3)
  (PB G3 Pismo illustrated HD install guide here)
• IDE Hitachi Travelstar 5K80 (5400rpm) 80GB in iBook 2001 (OS X 10.3)
• IDE (serialATA onboard) Hitachi 250GB in iMac G5 (OS X 10.3)
• IDE (serialATA onboard) Maxtor 300GB in iMac G5 (OS X 10.3)
• IDE Seagate ST9100823A 100GB in iBook 2002 (OS X 10.3)
• IDE Seagate (7200rpm) 160GB in (MDD) Dual G4 DDR (OS X 10.3)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)

• Daystar G4/550 in (Pismo) Powerbook G3 2000 (rated 10)
• PowerLogix G4 1GHz in (sawtooth) G4/AGP (rated 10)
  
  (Full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades compared to stock CPUs, including real world apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked at the CPU upgrades page. OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand).