Eye TV Hybrid!

[i.Feature]

Finally they've released what i need to go ahead with my home theatre.. Can't wait to get my hands on one of these.

http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvhybridna

Watch, record, edit, enjoy
EyeTV Hybrid is powered by award-winning EyeTV 2 software:

* Watch analog as well as digital TV on your Mac.
* Browse EyeTV menus in Full Screen mode.
* Rewind, fast forward, and pause digital TV.
* Record hours of your favorite TV shows directly on your hard drive and edit out unwanted content.
* Find TV shows using the built-in program guide (USA only).
* Export clips and entire episodes to your video-capable iPod.
* Connect game consoles and enjoy zero latency game play.
* And much more…

It’s the ideal solution for someone who wants both an analog and digital TV solution for the Mac in one small USB stick.

 

[tipdrill407]

sounds great... still waitin' for the day when they release something that works with HD cable boxes, but to bad that ain't gunna happen anytime soon

 

[Super Macho Man]

Looks nice, too bad no remote. The EyeTV software works with the Apple remote but previous EyeTVs like the 250 and 500 had a remote with more functions.

 

[DavidCar]

Looks nice, too bad no remote. The EyeTV software works with the Apple remote but previous EyeTVs like the 250 and 500 had a remote with more functions.

I thought I read it works with EyeTV remotes as well. What is not clear to me is if it can be used to make digital copies of old VHS tapes. It accepts composite video, but the comparison chart does not flag copying VHS tapes.

 

[Eidorian]

I want to see a review before I jump on this one. It's a lot more interesting then the older Elgato products. Still, I'm a fan of dedicated video encoding chips instead of software. Can anyone give me their opinion on the EyeTV EZ on a Core Duo Mac? How's the encoding on them?

 

[DavidCar]

I want to see a review before I jump on this one. It's a lot more interesting then the older Elgato products. Still, I'm a fan of dedicated video encoding chips instead of software. Can anyone give me their opinion on the EyeTV EZ on a Core Duo Mac? How's the encoding on them?

I found this:

http://homepage.mac.com/chamady/MacMiniReview/

The author connects an EyeTV EZ to a Mac Mini Core Duo and has posted a quicktime video clip of the recording. It appears halfway down the page.

"Unlike the older version of the EyeTV software, the universal binary used much less of the available processor to record at even the highest possible quality. Click HERE to see an example capture that was encoded using H.264 at 29.97 frames per second. I'm pretty much blown away by the quality of the recorded video."

Unfortunately my old iBook won't play the video, so maybe you could have a look and report back. I'm waiting for a Merom MacBook.

 

[DISCOMUNICATION]

Oh hell yes

Dual HDTVs on my desktop here I come. I've had a Samsung set-top-box tuner hooked up to the Dell 2407WFP via the DVI(HDCP) port for about a month now and I am loving it. Now I'll finally have a means of recording digital TV cheap. Gonna hook it up to the Intel iMac to the right of the Dell.... although... I don't like the idea of leaving my iMac on when I'm not home. Maybe buy a mini as a DVR, but now that's no longer cheap.

 

[Super Macho Man]

I want to see a review before I jump on this one. It's a lot more interesting then the older Elgato products. Still, I'm a fan of dedicated video encoding chips instead of software. Can anyone give me their opinion on the EyeTV EZ on a Core Duo Mac? How's the encoding on them?

Well, the EyeTV 500 didn't have a hardware encoder either. For HDTV it's actually an advantage not to have one because the stream is already compressed. For analog, I guess it's mixed - on the one hand you can make yourself a nice low-compression recording for later recompression into a format of your choosing, on the other hand compressing on-the-fly eats CPU. However, Macs have faster CPUs than they did before so this is less of an issue than it used to be. When the 500 first came out, nobody could use it because it required a top of the line dual G5 Power Mac which nobody could afford. Now every current Mac is plenty fast enough to handle it.

I think this thing looks great considering it's HDTV + analog for "only" $150. That's still expensive compared to the PC world, but you get great software with it and it's cheap compared to some of Elgato's older products. Just one year ago they were selling an analog-only version of this thing (ATI TV Wonder or whatever it was called) for the same price. This is like that, plus HDTV. Or, it's like a USB version of the EyeTV 500, plus analog support. Or, it's an EyeTV 250, plus HDTV, minus hardware encoding. However you look at it, it's pretty nice. Now whenever anyone comes on Macrumors again and asks, "How do I get TV on my Mac," we don't have to ask "analog or digital?" first - we can just say "EyeTV Hybrid."

 

[Dr_Maybe]

What if you have analog cable tv, but also want to recieve terrestial channels? It looks like there is only one antenna input.

I guess it would be necessary to switch between an antenna for DVB-T and cable for PAL.

 

[Eidorian]

I found this:

http://homepage.mac.com/chamady/MacMiniReview/

The author connects an EyeTV EZ to a Mac Mini Core Duo and has posted a quicktime video clip of the recording. It appears halfway down the page.

"Unlike the older version of the EyeTV software, the universal binary used much less of the available processor to record at even the highest possible quality. Click HERE to see an example capture that was encoded using H.264 at 29.97 frames per second. I'm pretty much blown away by the quality of the recorded video."

Unfortunately my old iBook won't play the video, so maybe you could have a look and report back. I'm waiting for a Merom MacBook.

Wow, that's some great quality. I tried the EyeTV EZ on my iMac G5. I guess I needed more power for software encoding. I remember seeing that review awhile ago. Thanks for the link again.

Well, the EyeTV 500 didn't have a hardware encoder either. For HDTV it's actually an advantage not to have one because the stream is already compressed...

I think this thing looks great considering it's HDTV + analog for "only" $150. That's still expensive compared to the PC world, but you get great software with it and it's cheap compared to some of Elgato's older products. Just one year ago they were selling an analog-only version of this thing (ATI TV Wonder or whatever it was called) for the same price. This is like that, plus HDTV. Or, it's like a USB version of the EyeTV 500, plus analog support. Or, it's an EyeTV 250, plus HDTV, minus hardware encoding. However you look at it, it's pretty nice. Now whenever anyone comes on Macrumors again and asks, "How do I get TV on my Mac," we don't have to ask "analog or digital?" first - we can just say "EyeTV Hybrid."

I didn't know the 500 didn't have hardware encoding. I have to agree for $150 it is the best of both worlds.

 

[ftaok]

The one thing that's missing with the hybrid is QAM support. The EyeTV500 had QAM support and the hybrid does not.

ft

 

[barr08]

I had a generally unimpressive experience with the 250. Hopefully this is a little better. I'll give it a shot.

How much attention from my iMac 2ghz will the non-hardware encoding need? Is it a noticeable drain on the system?

 

[Eidorian]

I had a generally unimpressive experience with the 250. Hopefully this is a little better. I'll give it a shot.

How much attention from my iMac 2ghz will the non-hardware encoding need? Is it a noticeable drain on the system?

PowerPC or Intel?

 

[DavidCar]

What if you have analog cable tv, but also want to recieve terrestial channels? It looks like there is only one antenna input.

I guess it would be necessary to switch between an antenna for DVB-T and cable for PAL.

It doesn't appear the user manual is online yet at ElGato. When it is, then it should be easier to answer your question.

 

[barr08]

Its an intel. It worked fine for a few weeks, but just died one day. I missed Always Sunny in Philaelphia because of that thing!

I do want to give this one a try. The only real difference for my uses will be the non-hardware encoding on the hybrid. That was the nice thing about the 250. It got pretty hot though.

 

[GFLPraxis]

I'm utterly torn on this. I was planning to buy a new iMac w/video iPod (student deal, $179 off an iPod with purchase of a new Mac) and an EyeTV 250.

My uses:

1) Hook up my game systems to record video for my site, nintendoplayers.com (see sig). Preferably 480p, because the Wii outputs that, but I had decided to settle on 480i because the EyeTV 250 tops out there and the EyeTV 500 (digital) has no game mode.

2) Hook up the VCR and record my old video tapes.

3) Hook up my Dish Network DVR- it has 80 hours of recorded videos on it, and Dish Network provides absolutely no way to get videos OFF of it. I was planning to hook the Dish Network DVR into the EyeTV and hit play on the DVR and hit record on the EyeTV to transfer recordings into the Mac, then I could store them or burn them to DVD...

4) I wanted free-to-air HD channels, but decided I would go without.


Now, this device comes out. It's cheaper, can get the HD channels, can record the 480p video...but the product comparison page implies that it CAN'T record video off a VCR (I can't think of any reason why this would be, does anyone know?), and lacks the hardware encoding (so I won't be do HD on my mom's PowerBook, but oh well).

What should I get?

EDIT: And wow, will that look bad sticking out of the back of my iMac.

 

[virus1]

hah. who would buy this with the miglia TVMicro out there? elgato's hybrid is 50% more expensive, has no remote, and is uglier. it runs on the same software, and is compatible with the same signals. the only differences are the ability to play hd content in hd, and the breakout cable. (only $20)

 

[Super Macho Man]

Now, this device comes out. It's cheaper, can get the HD channels, can record the 480p video...but the product comparison page implies that it CAN'T record video off a VCR (I can't think of any reason why this would be, does anyone know?)

I can't imagine why it wouldn't, unless Elgato means it can't record commercial tapes due to Macrovision or something. As long as it's composite video, seems like they'd have had to put in a huge effort to make it NOT work for some reason.

 

[Super Macho Man]

The one thing that's missing with the hybrid is QAM support. The EyeTV500 had QAM support and the hybrid does not.

Interesting, I did not realize that. That makes me feel a little better about keeping my 500.

 

[tipdrill407]

I'm utterly torn on this. I was planning to buy a new iMac w/video iPod (student deal, $179 off an iPod with purchase of a new Mac) and an EyeTV 250.

My uses:

1) Hook up my game systems to record video for my site, nintendoplayers.com (see sig). Preferably 480p, because the Wii outputs that, but I had decided to settle on 480i because the EyeTV 250 tops out there and the EyeTV 500 (digital) has no game mode.

2) Hook up the VCR and record my old video tapes.

3) Hook up my Dish Network DVR- it has 80 hours of recorded videos on it, and Dish Network provides absolutely no way to get videos OFF of it. I was planning to hook the Dish Network DVR into the EyeTV and hit play on the DVR and hit record on the EyeTV to transfer recordings into the Mac, then I could store them or burn them to DVD...

4) I wanted free-to-air HD channels, but decided I would go without.


Now, this device comes out. It's cheaper, can get the HD channels, can record the 480p video...but the product comparison page implies that it CAN'T record video off a VCR (I can't think of any reason why this would be, does anyone know?), and lacks the hardware encoding (so I won't be do HD on my mom's PowerBook, but oh well).

What should I get?

EDIT: And wow, will that look bad sticking out of the back of my iMac.

Just because it says it can't record from a VCR doesn't mean you can't do it. I'm sure you can hook up your vcr to the hybrid using a coaxial cable then tune the hybrid to channel 3 and record.

 

[barr08]

hah. who would buy this with the miglia TVMicro out there? elgato's hybrid is 50% more expensive, has no remote, and is uglier. it runs on the same software, and is compatible with the same signals. the only differences are the ability to play hd content in hd, and the breakout cable. (only $20)

Hows the recording on this one? I just need one of these things to schedule recordings for when I'm not around. Can I use the titan tv scheduler with this?

 

[DavidCar]

Now, this device comes out. It's cheaper, can get the HD channels, can record the 480p video...but the product comparison page implies that it CAN'T record video off a VCR (I can't think of any reason why this would be, does anyone know?), and lacks the hardware encoding (so I won't be do HD on my mom's PowerBook, but oh well).

What should I get?

EDIT: And wow, will that look bad sticking out of the back of my iMac.

My assumption is that the comparison page does not list recording off a VCR because the quality is dependent on your computer, and not on their hardware, so they don't want to make promises. But see the example posted above of a recording made with software encoding with a signal from an EyeTV EZ using a Core Duo Mac Mini.

I don't understand what lack of hardware encoding (of the analog signal) has to do with watching HD (no encoding needed for the digital signal) on your Mom's powerbook. I don't think the hardware encoding or lack thereof has anything to do with the HD signal.

There is a short USB extension cable provided so the Hybrid won't stick out of your iMac, according to the MacWorld article: "... (an extension cable is provided, in case you might otherwise block an adjoining port)"

http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/08/16/hybrid/index.php

 

[virus1]

Hows the recording on this one? I just need one of these things to schedule recordings for when I'm not around. Can I use the titan tv scheduler with this?

i wish i had one. it uses elgato's software, so the software is exactly the same.

 

[GFLPraxis]

I don't understand what lack of hardware encoding (of the analog signal) has to do with watching HD (no encoding needed for the digital signal) on your Mom's powerbook. I don't think the hardware encoding or lack thereof has anything to do with the HD signal.

The HD doesn't matter- her PowerBook is 12" anyway But for analog NTSC, it probably wouldn't be able to keep up without me turning the quality down, and it'd take everything the CPU has, which makes me worry about choppiness in recordings if I'm, say, browsing the web at the same time and hit a flash site that slows down the computer for a second while it's barely able to keep up with encoding.

 

[LifeIsCheap]

Digitise those VCRs!

My assumption is that the comparison page does not list recording off a VCR because the quality is dependent on your computer, and not on their hardware, so they don't want to make promises. But see the example posted above of a recording made with software encoding with a signal from an EyeTV EZ using a Core Duo Mac Mini.

Check out the FAQ, looks like that's a thumbs up!

...and something for all of us Down Under:

Bonus for Australians: Do you plan to use EyeTV Hybrid with a Dual PowerPC G5 or an Intel Core Duo processor? Then enjoy watching 720p or 1080i HDTV (MPEG-2) in addition to the other digital television standards.