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Elgato EyeTV Question

Bass

Bass

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 13, 2005
129
96
UK
Hi all,

Just got a few questions about the Elgato EyeTV product. I'd especially appreciate any replies from people who own the above product in the UK.

With the offer that Apple has on at the moment where you get a free Iomega 160GB hard-drive along with the EyeTV product I am thinking about purchasing one. I will buy either an EyeTV 410 or the EyeTV 200. I just have a few questions about which one would be best for me.

I just want to clear up how this EyeTV actually works. I'm guessing that I would just have to connect the antenna that runs into the back of my TV into the back of the EyeTV. Is this correct?

If the above is correct how many channels will I be able to recieve? Will it just be the 5 UK channels (BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 & Five)? Or does the EyeTV open up the possibility of me being able to recieve more, I mean does it search for other channels that I am able to recieve? I ask this as I don't have Freeview or Sky in my bedroom where my iMac is so I just want to clear it up.

Any other help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Lee
 
the 200 has a jack to connect your cable tv/antenna cable. I have mine connected to the cable wire and it gets the same 70 or so standard cable stations that come in on the other TV's in the house. it allows you to search for station signals via the software.

note that the 200 allows you to record in mpeg-4, but it is not HD-ready. I think the 410 does support it, but don't know for sure...
 
StokeLee said:
lee, hi,, ive just ordered and the eyetv 410 and hard drive from apple,
should come tmrw,
ill post what its like,, see my spec below,,,

regards


Lee
Click to expand...

Sweet Lee, thanks a lot man.

How will you be using the EyeTV, just through your normal TV antenna like me or through anything else?

Anyway, let me know what you think of it. I would appreciate it :)
 
I've got an EyeTV 410 Firewire. The built-in aerial in my house doesn't work unfortunately, so I have to use the dinky little radio-like one that came with the EyeTV, which means that reception isn't great.

However, one thing I can clear up is that the 410 receives all the Freeview channels likc BBC3, BBC4, ITV2, UK History etc., which is one of the main reasons I bought it. If you have a built in aerial and it can receive Freeview channels (you can check your postcode at http://www.freeview.co.uk/) then I reckon it should pick them up perfectly. After all, I get all the BBC channels crystal clear and I'm using what is effectively a 12" piece of wire stuck into the back of the EyeTV!

I've already used the EyeTV with Toast to burn DVDs of some great films that were shown on BBC4, plus other Storyville documentaries and so on - I'd be over the moon with it if I had a proper aerial to plug it into.

One other thing that I havn't tried is to plug the aerial out into my TV, but I think that even if you don't plug it into your Mac it can function as a Freeview box - it comes with a remote control too, so if you want to watch something on TV while working on your Mac you can do that.
 
right its arrived,,, pretty quick really, ordered it on monday, come today, very quick.
its up and running, ive checked freeview, its in my area, strong signal, etc, but the little antenna doesnt work for me, but i think thats because the actual connector wasnt soldered correctly and its well loose, so ive unplugged my TV aerial, and plugged that in, (not digital compatible) and i can pick up 28 stations, but when i click on them some dont work, (thou i think this is because some channels have start times.)

So it looks like im going to have to get a digital aerial. Ive seen a set top one in argos catologue that looks pretty decent, ill find some reviews and post them. but otherweise it looks pretty good.

Just recording *ahem* home and away. (channel five is perfect)
i brought Toast too,
and he bundled hard drive was no problem.

Lee
 
If you're geting "Channel Unavailable" that means that the channels haven't started yet; if you're getting "No Signal or Encrypted" then the signal isn't strong enough.

[edit]Actually, thinking about it, you're not getting enough stations - I'm in the middle of London and get at least 40 or so. Guess you must be right about your aerial.[/edit]
 
Signal not strong enough then, i think its the aerial. its years old, but the aerial it came with is definately broken, going to seee if i can send just that bck and get a replacement,

thank you for your feedback about the no signal thingy
 
Thanks a lot for all the input and advice guys, it has really helped me.

I have just checked my postcode via the Freeview site and it says that I probably need a new aerial but it is available in my area.

I've just bit the bullet and ordered an EyeTV 410 with the Iomega 160GB HD. Fingers crossed I will be able to pick up the Freeview channels although knowing my luck I won't.

Thanks again guys.
 
I bought the EyeTV 200 last christmas , not to use the UHF antenna input, but mostly to use the video input functions. I have it connected to my Sky digibox VCR scart and I dump the odd program to the my (Mac mini based) PVR for timeshifting (I bought the Crossfire 160GB drive from Applestore). the EyeTV also works great for re-encoding VHS , Hi-8, Digi-8 and yes , I still have a working Betamax!. I had some EyeTV start-up issues, but Elgato quickly solved them via e-mail with me, and anyway , they seem to update their EyeTV software every month with new features and improved functionality!!. Good piece of kit! Output looks GREAT on a (yes) Dell W2600 26" 720p HDTV

I haven't connected the UHF antenna because I don't want to have too many potential lightning paths into my Home Media setup! I've already lost an iMac DV SE, coffee machine, epson printer, central heating system valve, answerphone, ISDN terminal etc etc...in the last couple of years. Now I have just one (very grounded) satellite cable input and a (very filtered OVP'd) 230V. All internet etc is Airport WiFi and Bluetooth.
 
cyclotron451 said:
I haven't connected the UHF antenna because I don't want to have too many potential lightning paths into my Home Media setup! I've already lost an iMac DV SE, coffee machine, epson printer, central heating system valve, answerphone, ISDN terminal etc etc...in the last couple of years. Now I have just one (very grounded) satellite cable input and a (very filtered OVP'd) 230V. All internet etc is Airport WiFi and Bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Where do you live? :eek: Wherever it is I'm not going there :p
"No signal or encrypted" also means that the station either hasn't started broadcasting for that day - usually later on, or it's a Pay TV channel.
 
eyeTV 410 its gotta be for me.. :)

One thing, whats all this shiazz about "included attena offers iBook and powerbook users full mobility" HUH? :p
 
XIII said:
eyeTV 410 its gotta be for me.. :)

One thing, whats all this shiazz about "included attena offers iBook and powerbook users full mobility" HUH? :p
Click to expand...
It means that you're not shackled to a hard wired aerial. The whole thing is portable (just)
 
lol, just is just not enough,,, helps if the acutal end of the aerial isnt broken, thou i dont think it works, properly,, ive got way less channels than i should have using the portable aerial, im going to invest in one from argos.
 
Got my EyeTV 410 this afternoon along with the Iomega 160GB Hard-Drive. At first I used to Aerial provided to try and pick up channels but this was to no avail. Then I used my own Antenna, whacked it in the back and I am now able to view about 50 channels including Freeview.

Quality of the picture is excellent, sound is very good so overall very pleased at this moment in time.

Unfortunately the Iomega Hard-Drive seems to have a problem with it's Power Button. It simply won't turn off! So I'm going to have a look at that in a moment.
 
So no freeview on EyeTV200?

Hi Guys,

Very new to mac and loving it. I bought the EyeTV200 after much conversation in the Apple Centre on New Oxford Street on Tuesday (I should have checked on here first), because I wanted the flexibility of connecting either cable of satelite to it (I have neither at the moment as I'm moving house). Anyway, I was sure he told me it was the best one as it could add cable or sat', and would receive "all free to air services".

I can only get the standard 5 channels and was wondering - should I be able to get freeview with 200? is it because my aerial is old? or would I need 410 for freeview.

I see from here that you guys are getting up to 50 channels with 410, but not sure anyone conlusively stated whether 200 can access freeview. This website says it should: https://www.mycomputerbits.co.uk/acatalog/TV_Cards___Tuners.html

Many thanks

Bryan

:confused:
 
bryanvic said:
Hi Guys,

Very new to mac and loving it. I bought the EyeTV200 after much conversation in the Apple Centre on New Oxford Street on Tuesday (I should have checked on here first), because I wanted the flexibility of connecting either cable of satelite to it (I have neither at the moment as I'm moving house). Anyway, I was sure he told me it was the best one as it could add cable or sat', and would receive "all free to air services".

I can only get the standard 5 channels and was wondering - should I be able to get freeview with 200? is it because my aerial is old? or would I need 410 for freeview.

I see from here that you guys are getting up to 50 channels with 410, but not sure anyone conlusively stated whether 200 can access freeview. This website says it should: https://www.mycomputerbits.co.uk/acatalog/TV_Cards___Tuners.html

Many thanks

Bryan

:confused:
Click to expand...
That's interesting. The Apple Store doesn't say anything about Freeview, nor does Elgato's page. According to that the 200 is analogue only, the 310 is for satellite and the 410 for terrestrial digital TV. The guy at New Oxford St misinformed you (they're not an Apple Store BTW, they're owned by Square Group), so you might want to take it back and complain
 
I bought mine at the Regent Street Apple Store (the official one) and although they didn't seem to know a great deal about which one was the best, they did admit that they didn't really know. :rolleyes:

I agree with the post above - I think they're all differentiated by analogue / digital etc. and that the 200 only has an analogue input. If there was an EyeTV with both analogue and digital I'd have bought it as I also wanted to digitise my VHS collection... :(
 
I was a little disappointed when I found out that I couldn't record HDTV through my cable box. O well. If I get the EyeTV 200, then will I be able to import the MPEG-4 footage directly into iMovie or will I have to convert it first.
 
adriantoll said:
One other thing that I havn't tried is to plug the aerial out into my TV, but I think that even if you don't plug it into your Mac it can function as a Freeview box - it comes with a remote control too, so if you want to watch something on TV while working on your Mac you can do that.
Click to expand...

I was talking rubbish. I tried it this morning and it appears that it's just a throughput so you can connect it to other things afterwards. :rolleyes:
 
I own the 410 and it works very well and with a tvtv subscription I can record my favourite programmes when I'm on the late shift, the only gripe is with the antenna, it sucks unless a transmitter is on your doorstep so portability is a bit misleading, unlike Freeveiw you can't receive DAB radio, digital text and the interactive buttons don't work, but all in all it's great watching tv while surfing the web, writing emails etc, it uses quite a lot of CPU though, try having EyeTv playing in the background and watch a DVD (like PiP) and it all gets a bit choppy.
 
Useful thread !!

Thinking of a 410 myself...some questions :)

- Can it operate in such a way that it makes the Mac behave just like a TV? i.e. turn power off from remote, menus etc...

- Does the box had an inbuilt programme guide? or do you have to subscribe to tvtv or the like?

- Single tuner only I'm guessing, so no watch and record.

Plan is to use my iMac as a TV/PVR in my bedroom to cut down on space needs.

Cheers,
Adam
 
monty77 said:
Useful thread !!

Thinking of a 410 myself...some questions :)

- Can it operate in such a way that it makes the Mac behave just like a TV? i.e. turn power off from remote, menus etc...

- Does the box had an inbuilt programme guide? or do you have to subscribe to tvtv or the like?

- Single tuner only I'm guessing, so no watch and record.

Plan is to use my iMac as a TV/PVR in my bedroom to cut down on space needs.

Cheers,
Adam
Click to expand...

Hi Adam.

You can't turn off your Mac or control anything else (except EyeTv) with the remote.

You'll have to sign up to TvTv (or subscribe if you want to record Tv programmes via TvTv schedule, which is quick and easy) or any other Tv listing site and manually input the programmes you wish to record, I got a years free subscription with my EyeTv.

Single tuner yes but you can watch a pre-recorded programme while recording live Tv.

Also worth mentioning is live Tv can be time shifted i.e. pause and rewind can be used and that about 2GB of space is needed, recordings take up a lot of space as well 1 hour is approximately 1.5 GB.
 
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