Updated: 2004.02.12

AlchemyTV™ FAQ

Q: What are the minimum system requirements to run AlchemyTV?
A: You will need a PowerMac G4/400 or higher, Mac OS X 10.2.4 or higher and QuickTime 6.4 or higher. AlchemyTV is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3.2.

Q: Are the G4-only and G4/G5 'Silicon' versions similar from a technical point of view?
A: The G4-only and 'Silicon' versions do not use the same tuner chip. While the G4-only version relies on a traditional high performance Philips analogue tuner, The G4/G5 version uses the 'Silicon' Tuner. The latter requires only 3.3V to operate and is compatible with XServe and the PowerMac G5.

Q: Is FM tuning available on the G4/G5 (Silicon) card?
A: No, this feature is not implemented on the hardware side and is only available on the G4-only card.

Q: Is the G4/G5 version a PCI-X card?
A: No. It is a Universal PCI 2.3 card which fits into a standard PCI slot as well as a PCI-X slot.

Q: What standards are supported by the AlchemyTV card?
A: The G4-only version exists in PAL/SECAM (Europe) and NTSC (North America, Japan) versions. The G4/G5 'Silicon' version supports NTSC, PAL and Secam.

Q: What version of AlchemyTV is compatible with the XServe?
A: The G4/G5 'Silicon' (DVRPCI-SIL) version is required for the XServe.

Q: Is AlchemyTV compatible with Cable TV?
A: Yes, as long as you are using a 'traditional' analogue cable service. Premium and digital channels cannot be received directly by AlchemyTV and you will need to connect the card to the Cable receiver box.

Q: Is AlchemyTV compatible with Digital Satellite Receivers?
A: AlchemyTV works like a cable-ready analogue TV and cannot receive digital signals directly. It will therefore be necessary to connect AlchemyTV to your satellite receiver (most likely connection is via S-Video IN).

Q: Does AlchemyTV support the French TV signals (Secam)?
A: Yes, the European version of the AlchemyTV supports Secam.

Q: Are Ceefax/Teletext or Close Captioning supported?
A: No.

Q: What QuickTime codec’s are supported by the Alchemy software?
A: All QuickTime codec’s are selectable, however due to processing power constraints on some Macs, MJPEG and MPEG-4 will probably give the best results. Capturing straight to DV-25 or higher is not recommended.

Q: Will scheduled recordings be implemented in a future software update?
A: This feature is only available with AlchemyTV DVR and will not be part of the AlchemyTV package. An upgrade from AlchemyTV to AlchemyTV DVR is available from our online store.

Q: Is AlchemyTV compatible with Mac OS 9.x?
A: No, the software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 and higher only.

Q: What is the maximum viewing size?
A: The full viewing size of AlchemyTV for PAL is 752*576 and 640*480 for NTSC. A G4/400 processor is usually sufficiently powerful to watch TV in full screen mode.

Q: What is the size of captured videos
A: Capturing videos to your hard drive requires significantly more processing power than just viewing them. Slower PowerMacs should use the M-JPEG codec for best results. Faster PowerMacs can use the MPEG-4 codec. A PowerMac G4 Dual 800 MHz can capture a M-JPEG movie in 752*576 at 25 fps (50% quality).

Q: Can I capture straight into iMovie?
A: iMovie 4 allows to capture from QuickTime compatible devices like AlchemyTV. However, the automatic conversion from the captured footage to DV format is a lengthy process, even on a PowerMac G5. Note that you do not have any control over the image settings or quality. Capture via iMovie 4 with AlchemyTV is therefore not recommended nor supported by Miglia.