Trying to use the Mac as a digital video recorder

Commenting on El Gato's EyeTV 200, one of the few options out there for getting a Mac to double as a digital video recorder, Julio Ojeda-Zapata remarks that when it comes down to it, PCs do a better job when it comes to recording TV shows.

El Gato Systems is trying to fill in the gap with its new EyeTV 200, an external device that offers TV-recording
functions, and its EyeHome, which provides access to a Mac's multimedia content (EyeTV recordings along with other
digital video, plus pictures and music) via a TV or stereo... But hold off on EyeTV and EyeHome purchases for now
because El Gato is in bug-eradication mode. First, EyeHome control screens on a TV appeared only in black and white.
That hardware glitch got fixed, but a recent EyeTV defect has prevented some TV shows from being recorded as
scheduled... Even when all the hardware problems are resolved, though, El Gato will need to overhaul its increasingly
long-on-the-tooth EyeTV recording features, which pale alongside the more automated and user-friendly Media Center PC
equivalents. This is one area where Windows still has the upper hand.

Apple could easily sell a ton of media center Macs if it wanted to, especially given how popular its multimedia apps like iPhoto and iTunes are. There isn't any indication that they're planning one (and in fact Steve Jobs has made lots of statements to the contrary), but we'd ecstatic if they changed their minds about this one. Besides which, we're gonna want something to sync our video iPod to.