My last post on this subject was me bitching about the response time to a question I sent to Plextor’s sales department in an email. While I was disappointed with how slow they were to respond, they did eventually answer my questions.
I was asking why their ConvertX PVR didn’t seem to be available in their Canadian online store. They replied with the following:
Unfortunately, the CovertX TV402U is not available in Canada yet due to a limitation of the EPG. There is currently no software support for the channel guide/listings for Canada. We hope to have a resolution in the near future. Please stay tuned!
When I asked if there was somewhere I could buy one if I didn’t care about the guide, they replied telling me that they were available at both CDW and Tigerdirect.
I checked both places and noticed that they only sell the PC version of the product (and just as an aside, Tigerdirect was WAY cheaper). After checking Plextor’s site, I came to the conclusion (with the help of friends Boris and Dave) that the only difference between the two units was the software that came with it. The Mac version comes with Elgato’s EyeTV software which is available for download off their website.
I downloaded the EyeTV software and was all phyched up to purchase the PC version of the ConvertX, but after installing EyeTV, I noticed that an Activation Key was necessary to get the software to talk to the Plextor box. This put a stop to my purchase pretty quick.
While chatting with Boris, he found that NCIX was also selling the ConvertX and they were in fact selling the Mac version. Guess what? It was more expensive. Actually, it was comparable to what Tigerdirect was selling the PC version for, but Tigerdirect had a $30 mail in rebate.
I’ve since fired off an email to both Plextor and Elgato asking if it is possible to purchase an Activation Key separately for the EyeTV software. I’ll post back here when I hear back.
Update: While I was typing this up, I got the following response to my email to Elgato:
Hi
ConvertX is available in the US and comes with our software.
Please check http://www.plextorshop.com/
If you happen to have problems, please let us know.
Thank you and best regarde
Tina
Well thanks for not even coming close to answering my question Tina!
I replied back to her asking again if it was possible to purchase an Activation Key. Hopefully this time she will actually read what I wrote.
Well I’ve got to say this, Elgato is much quicker in responding to customer questions than Plextor is. Here is the reply I got from Tina the second time.
Kevin
my apologies – I misunderstood.
We are currently working on a software only release but at this time I
am afraid and sorry we cannot sell EyeTV software seperately – but I
will check with my collegues of sales why plextor isn’t available in
Canada
Once again my apologies
best regards
Tina
She still doesn’t really get the fact that I was saying I could find the PC version of the ConvertX here, but she esentially answered my question so I’m not going to complain too much.
Now I’m just waiting to see what Plextor has to say…
After thinking about things a little more, I can’t really see much advantage to getting the PX-TV402U over the PX-M402U. I realize the TV402U includes a TV tuner, but since I wouldn’t be using that anyways (I would simply be using the output of the satellite reciever which does the ‘TV Tuning’ for me), it’s not really necessary. My only dilema would be finding capture software for the mac that would work with the M402U…
It would be nice if the Elgato software worked with the M402U, but since they don’t seem willing to sell it separately as of yet, I’m out of luck there.
Just thinking out loud here…
In other news, I was checking out the MythTV site and there was mention that support for the frontend running on Mac OS X was added in the latest release. Can’t say that I know what that means right now, but it’s piqued my curiosity. Now I need to do some serious reading on this MythTV project…
Got a response from Plextor about the Activation Key for the EyeTV software:
Hi Kevin:
Unfortunately, the key for EyeTV software cost $49.95 (El Gato Royalty Fees) and you may purchase it from Plextor.
Thank you,
Plextor Sales
Visit http://www.pricegrabber.com … and type part number for “PX-TV402U-NA/MAC” under “Product Search” for a list of our dealers.
Not sure if that is CAD or USD, but my guess would be USD. Right now it’s looking like my best deal is to go with NCIX.
Oh, I also heard back from Plextor saying that the M402U will not work with EyeTV and that they don’t have mac software for the M402U.
Hi, well what do ya know… after spending the last few hours myself scouring the net looking for the best deal in Canada for the ConvertX PVR (for my yet-to-arrive PowerBook), I stumbled upon your site.
Here’s a short list of places I’ve never heard of before today that have the Mac version in Canada:
http://www.cendirect.com/main_en/tech_specs.asp?rPart_no=JOG48986
http://www.vibecomputers.com/index.cfm?loc=iview&if=n&vID=201805
http://www.directdial.ca/ca/shopPlextor/item/PX-TV402U-NA%2FMAC.html
Hope that helps,
-Anonymous Total Stranger Passing By
Well “Anonymous Total Stranger Passing By”, I certainly appreciate the fact that you took the time to post that list.
I just ended up purchasing the unit from Central Direct. The main reason I went with them is because they didn’t charge me PST and they also listed the $30 (USD) mail in rebate.
Can’t wait to get my new toy now!
I bought the PC version for my Linux MythTV setup (Plextor has released open source drivers for this box for linux and they are AWESOME!!!) for $149 from NCIX, then sent in the mail in rebate downloaded from Tigerdirect (it is not vendor specific) and got the thing for about $120 Canadian. PS: Support for the M402U was added to MythTV on March 19th.
Well, when I bouht the PC version, I bought it because I thought I could download and use the EyeTV software for free. Not so. I can’t even get hold of a key here where I live. It is not being sold in Europe. Only the PC version of the damn thing. Still waiting for a reply from both Plextor and ElGato, but something tells me I’m going to have to wait for a loong time. Boy, do I feel stupid.
Hi all. This whole issue of software/hardware not being the same price on a mac as a PC has caused me no end of headaches. While on holiday in the US I bought an ATI USB2 believing it would work on my mac. Got home to the UK to discover that I could get hold of the software but not the activation code.
Scouring the web I found sites like this with users screaming for a code. I agree with those of you who disagree with software piracy but equally am annoyed at Elgato charging $79 for something a PC user get for nothing. I sucked up my pride and bought one of the new Elgato Cinergi devices (£99) hoping that the code that came with it would allow me to use the Cinergi when I went out and about and the ATI hardware (good because it has the s-video etc) when I’m indoors. Fat chance.
So here I sit. I’ve spent good money supporting Elgato and still they prove to be unhelpfully restrictive.
So, I have a code that works with the Terratec Cinergi hardware if someone has a code for the ATI USB 2. Please… This is getting stupid. Well done ATI for srewing Mac users, and thanks Elgato for the same.
Anon
Send any replies to the last mail to:
anonmacuser@hotmail.com
I’ll then reply from that address.
I know this is a bit ‘cloak&dagger’ but I’m just trying to get this stuff to work.
Anon
Using EyeTV for some time now. I was tired of waiting for Elgato to add EPG data for Canada, so I did it myself.
I detailed how I achieved it here: http://www.pommepause.com/online.html
If anyone wants to try it, email me and I should be able to get you EPG data for your TV provider in Canada. Address: epg att abuserz dot com
Bye,
- Guillaume
Thank you SOOOO MUCH Guillaume for the help. I randomly found this web page (thanks to you too Kevin) and followed your link to EyeTV EPG Proxy and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for. It was slightly difficult to follow the installation directions but I finally managed to get it working and it’s PERFECT!!
You should sell them the code so they could integrate the service into their program! Could make some dough =D
regards,
Evan
Hi Kevin,
Just a quick note to find out what you finally ended up purchasing as a Mac PVR.
I would like to do the same. Please let me know what you ended up doing and where you purchased from and how it’s working out.
Thanks.
Hey Jim. As I mentioend in one of the comments above, I did end up buying the ConvertX TV-402U and I got it from Central Direct. Check out the links mentioned in the comments above for a direct link to Central Direct’s page on the ConvertX.
Note that I just checked and it’s listed for $250 on their site. If you check the Plextor site, they list it for $229 but that may be USD so… Also, you may want to check out the Elgato site – they sell hardware that does pretty much the same thing but I’m not sure of prices – it’s been a while since I looked.
As for how it’s working out – it’s great. The nice thing about this unit is that it comes with Elgato’s EyeTV software and their latest version, 2.0, is fantastic! Highly recommended by me for sure.