Plextor Corp. on Monday added real-time, hardware-based DivX video encoding to its ConvertX Personal Video Recorder, a feature previously available only to Windows users. Now available for free to Mac users, this functionality cuts down on the file sizes created through traditional MPEG-2 encoding while retaining DVD quality. ConvertX uses Elgatois EyeTV 1.8.1 software.
ConvertX is a US$229 device that enables users to record broadcast, satellite or cable TV programming on their computers and replay it from those machines or burn it to disc. It connects to the computer via USB 2.0 and features Composite Video, S-Video, Composite Audio and RF/Coaxial inputs. EyeTV is compatible with iMovie, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, Roxio Toast and other applications.
System requirements call for a G4 or G5 processor running 500MHz or faster, 1 USB 1.1 or 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.2.8 or v10.3.5 or higher and 20MB free hard drive space.