Filed under: Accessories, Peripherals, Software, Video
The Tube 2.7: TV Streaming via iChat
The folks who brought you the TubeStick USB digital TV tuners have released The Tube 2.7. Equinux is providing this free upgrade to The Tube, the software component of the TubeStick products. The new version enhances the timeshifting and electronic program guide features of The Tube 2.6, and adds even more functionality. What's new?- Placeshifting -- Share a digital TV show via iChat. If you're running Leopard, just drag The Tube icon to an active chat. Your chat buddies can view or record the show, and you can talk about the show while watching it.
- Enhanced EPG -- The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is updated twice daily, and an open plug-in structure opens the door to other program guides.
- Leopard Features -- Add a stack of video recordings to the Dock, use QuickLook to preview your recordings, and set up Time Machine to avoid backing up your videos.
- Create A Podcast Of Your Recordings -- Any recordings added to a TubeToGo web gallery can be subscribed to via RSS, so recordings can be browsed and viewed on Apple TV.
- Closed Captioning
Note: A bug fix, v 2.7.1, is now the downloadable version of The Tube. Check the version history for details.
[via PRMac]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andrew said 11:18AM on 5-18-2008
Too bad they still don't support DVB MPEG4! Lucky me living in the first country in Europe to use MPEG4 instead of MPEG2.. Go Norway! :(
P.S. If someone from Equinux reads this please put some more pressure on your team to actually do something about it. I would love to use my Tubestick at home.
Reply
ryanwalklin said 7:52AM on 5-19-2008
Just get an Elgato DTT stick. The 3.0.2 software supports NZ/Norwegian h.264/AAC broadcasts.
David Chartier said 2:33PM on 5-18-2008
Brilliant idea with the iChat sharing and chatting. Some apps like Joost let you chat with whoever else is watching a show at the same time, but being able to watch a show with a *friend* is really valuable.
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Seth said 11:10PM on 5-18-2008
iChat is a clever add, but the EPG is damn-near unusable in the US. Equinux "supports XMLTV, you can add any program guide you prefer." Cool! So what's this "xmltv" thing you speak of? Hmm...sourceforge link. That's worrisome. Ahh. PERL scripts. Not liking this... Fink project. Erm.... getting more uncomfortable. X11? Yikes! Surely Equinux has a list of sites to download what I need without resorting to extreme hackery...
http://www.equinux.com/us/products/tubestick/xmltv.html
I see. Only if I live in Germany.
I don't know how much utility sharing my broadcast (IE, network) television with other people over iChat will really be. Me? I'd just like to know what's on without having to go to TVGuide.com... after all, there's a big stupid list of channels on the right hand side. It sure would have been nifty if Equinux had figured out some way to populate their blank spaces with programming.
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DocMacPS said 7:59PM on 8-12-2008
Agreed with Seth. I'm no tech slouch but when I started trying to find out what .XMLTV files are and what would be involved... even NERDS would conclude that Equinux needs to partner with TitanTV. I like seeing competition in the TV tuner market, I like some of the 'out of the box' thinking and innovation going into TheTube software. I like seeing the just-released v2.7.4 add support for a much longer list of tuner devices from Miglia and others. But it's going to take version 3.SOMETHING before The Tube really gets it's basic feature set in place. (I can't even figure out how to add or remove an individual channel!) A tough row to hoe - EyeTV has matured into a World-Class Mac application. A tough act to try to upstage..
Doc - http://www.mac-digital-tv-tuners.com/