Elgato's EyeTv Hybrid

[yoak]

Just hooked mine up to my brand new 2 foot iMac .
I used my sd cable and was a bit dissapointed with the picture quality. Guess the screen is too good. W´ll get digital next year here, so should be ok then. The software is great though

 

[virus1]

haha.. your 2 foot imac eh?

 

[Project]

I ran my PS2 through the thing and got motion sickness playing a game. Very disorientating. Dont know if it was flicker or the frame rate etc as im not an expert on these things. I took it out after a couple of minutes

 

[JTStarkiller]

Hi. I'm sorry, after reading the posts, I'm still a little confused. I'm looking to replace my VCR, as it's old and sucks. I just wanna make sure I get all the right equipment.

What I have: regular old 20" TV, my G5, two coaxial cables.

First off, what is the difference between the Hybrid and the 250? I see that the 250 comes with some kind of remote, which might be nice, but I'm still having trouble figuring out what else I would get with that one.

I was also reading on the first page about the HDTV antenna (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006FXR9/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/002-2060217-6393633?ie=UTF8) that someone mentioned. Is this really all I need to receive HD programming on my Mac? It'd be nice to see 24 and Lost in widescreen on my widescreen monitor.

Lastly, is their some sort of splitter that goes into the cable outlet on my wall to have one cable go into the EyeTV and one into my TV, that way I don't have to switch every time?

Thanks for your help.

 

[bommai]

Hi. I'm sorry, after reading the posts, I'm still a little confused. I'm looking to replace my VCR, as it's old and sucks. I just wanna make sure I get all the right equipment.

What I have: regular old 20" TV, my G5, two coaxial cables.

First off, what is the difference between the Hybrid and the 250? I see that the 250 comes with some kind of remote, which might be nice, but I'm still having trouble figuring out what else I would get with that one.

I was also reading on the first page about the HDTV antenna (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006FXR9/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/002-2060217-6393633?ie=UTF8) that someone mentioned. Is this really all I need to receive HD programming on my Mac? It'd be nice to see 24 and Lost in widescreen on my widescreen monitor.

Lastly, is their some sort of splitter that goes into the cable outlet on my wall to have one cable go into the EyeTV and one into my TV, that way I don't have to switch every time?

Thanks for your help.

Is the 20" TV the only TV you have? What size monitor do you have connected to the G5? Dell Widescreen monitors with DVI can be had for $395 for a 20".

Depending on where you live you will or will not be able to get OTA HDTV. OTA stands for Over-The-Air. I live near Kansas City and am able to get about 8 HDTV stations through my eyeTV Hybrid.

Go to http://www.antennaweb.org and put your address and zipcode and it will show you all the TV stations that are near your area and how far they are and what direction you need to point your antenna.

I am currently using a cheap $8 walmart antenna to get all my channels. Contrary to advertisements, there is no such thing called an HDTV antenna. The manufacturers are just getting on the HDTV bandwagon. OTA HDTV uses the same frequency range (channels) as analog TV. An antenna is used to grab the signal of the air. So, if is built well with particular geometric characteristics, it will pull-in certain frequencies very well and that is all that is need for the eyeTV Hybrid or any other HDTV tuner including those built-into HDTVs.

With eyeTV Hybrid, I am now able to schedule HDTV programming to be recorded into my hard drive in advance. Using http://www.titantv.com and a free account, I can even schedule my programs remotely since eyeTV software logs into my titantv.com account and checks any remote schedules that I might have made.

So, if you have only a 20" TV, I suggest you just use your computer monitor as your HDTV along with an eyeTV Hybrid. If you live in a small town and there are no HDTV transmissions near your area, then you are out of luck!!

 

[JTStarkiller]

Right, I was going to use my Apple monitor as my TV. It's also 20", but an LCD widescreen monitor, the previous model.

I really appreciate the help with the HD stuff, but I am more interested in the differences between the Hybrid and the 250. Just wanna make sure before I spend the extra $50.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Motley]

Right, I was going to use my Apple monitor as my TV. It's also 20", but an LCD widescreen monitor, the previous model.

I really appreciate the help with the HD stuff, but I am more interested in the differences between the Hybrid and the 250. Just wanna make sure before I spend the extra $50.

Thanks a bunch.

For the differences elgato's website has a comparison chart. The main differences:
-the 250 does not do any high-def, the hybrid can recieve over the air HD signals
-the 250 has a hardware encoder where the hybrid does not, it uses your computer to do the encoding (important depending on the speed of your comp).

Comparison chart

 

[JTStarkiller]

Perfect. I was looking all over the site for a chart like that. Thanks.

 

[bommai]

For the differences elgato's website has a comparison chart. The main differences:
-the 250 does not do any high-def, the hybrid can recieve over the air HD signals
-the 250 has a hardware encoder where the hybrid does not, it uses your computer to do the encoding (important depending on the speed of your comp).

Comparison chart

Again, it all depends on whether you are located near HDTV signals or not. If you are, you will love the HD quality. Also, recording HD takes no processing power at all since there is no encoding done. The hardware encoding is relevant only for analog signals. I am assuming a G5 would suffice. I use a dual processor G4 machine and I have not used it to encode analog yet. I am staying 100% digital right now since all local channels have an analog and a digital feed here.

 

[Milanista]

Anyone try this on a MBP with an Xbox360? Any lag?

 

[vlawillie]

Everyone can check out my (brief) review on the Digital Video board https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/242437/

I am very happy with the hybrid, and a definite advantage over the 250 is hdtv which is incredible! Mine pulls in 20 channels with a cheapo antenna from my radio

It does not matter what system you hook up to this, there is no lag through RCA, s-video cable, or coax, which are your options. Every system outputs the same video so there will be no lag with your 360 milanista.

 

[oliath]

Hi
I recently purchased this device (Hybrid) to use on my imac G5 20" with my xbox360 and have to say that unfortunately there is a bit of lag.

Its not huge... and you can put up with it, but its possibly enough to make online gaming frustrating.

I wired my tv into the xbox AT THE SAME TIME and the imac display was a teeny bit behind... not much... but enough to make things like aiming and jumping at the right moment awquard which is very dissapointing as this is the only reason i purchased this product.

Now i am not 100 percent sure that the problem does not lie with my machine or my setup.
I have emailed elgato support and am waiting for a response.
Ill keep you posted on what they say and IF this device can be made to work.

To summarise... it DOES work with the xbox 360, and it DOES offer widescreen. The image is nice... a bit soft if you turn on de-interlacing (its a UK version).
The lag is enough to make rappid accuracy an issue in online games (tested on Ghost Recon AW and Halo2) as you tend to 'over steer'

By this i mean that if you are aiming to the left, and then stop when your crosshair is over an enemy, in reality (due to the small delay) you will actually aim past them and miss....

Like i said.. you can learn to compensate, but for a little bit more cash than this costs you could also just get yourself a 19 / 20 " LCD with no latency whatsoever.


EDIT:
--------

Ok so i heard back from Elgato:

Thank you for contacting Elgato Systems.

EyeTV Hybrid has a latency of a few milliseconds - effectively zero, when compared to encoding products with a latency of over a second.

No uncompressed video product has zero milliseconds of latency. It's not possible - preparing the video takes a bit of time.

Therefore, EyeTV Hybrid would be the best solution for playing game consoles on your Mac. Other products would not have better performance.

If you took "zero latency" literally, and want to return the product, then let me know. I'm sorry about any confusion.


Riiiiiiight..

So basically im an idiot for assuming that they were telling the truth when they said it had zero latency.
My advice is if you want it for gaming... stay away.

Good news is that i got a full cash refund for it.

 

[Jopling]

Thats very dissapointing. I was hoping to hook my Wii up to my Mac Pro and 23 inch cinema display

 

[demallien]

Elgato sings praises about the zero latency with this for when you play a game system through it?
Have you a system to try running through it? I know a few of us would like to know your results. Lag or no lag? With their other systems they claim zero-latency because it lets the computer do the processing rather than the device itself, but people claim that the lag still exists.

Cheers!
gB

I use the EyeTV EZ (analog), which does pretty much the same thing (encoding done by the Mac). I have my PS2 permanently hooked up. There is no latency (at least none that I have been able to detect), and I've used it on snowboarding games, combat games and 1st person shooters... If that's what you want to do with your EyeTV, I can give it a big thumbs up

 

[simie]

The latest update allows Pinnacle users to operate their equipment, I have my PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick plugged in.

 

[Aperture]

Not to revive a semi-old thread, but I have a question.

I may be getting an Xbox 360 and an EyeTV Hybrid.
I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, so will I be disappointed by the performance? I have an iMac G5, 1.8Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 17'' model.
Like I said, I probably won't notice the small details but will it be greatly affected by the lag / image quality?

I've seen screenshots of people using a game cube with it, but does anyone have any screenshots of the Xbox connected over the Hybrid (or like products)

Thank You!

Kevin

 

[vlawillie]

I have also been thinking of buying a 360 and have thought of a solution that you 360 guys might be interested in - microsoft has a first party vga cable that does high def on crt or lcd computer monitors. I was interested in getting it to HD since it is capable and CRT's are dirt cheap on craig's list as a reaction to lcd's being the only thing anyone wants nowadays.

And if you have it, most lcd's have a vga port anyway.

Seems like a cheap solution.

 

[Aperture]

Thanks for the answer! I wonder if there is some type of converter I can use like to convert the VGA > Firewire or something, so I can use it on my iMac. Then I can just use some app to show the Xbox feed in full-screen.

Can you please post a link the the adapter?

Thanks Again!

Edit: Think I could use this Female/Female VGA Connecter so I could get a CRT/LCD and take the vga cable that is connected to the back of it, put the connecter on the end and plug the 360 into the other side of the connecter.

 

[vlawillie]

search xbox vga on any gamestore website such as gamestop.com

i'm not sure about vga to firewire...let me know if you find a way. this is I think what makes the eyetv hybrid unique, because it is the only way to connect games through usb or firewire. good luck

 

[Racktacular]

Can someone help me out here, I'm confused.

This EyeTv Hybrid thing allows you to watch TV on the Mac. I get that, but how?

Do you have to connect it to your tv first and then watch it later on the mac?

Does the EyeTV Hybrid allow you to watch LIVE TV on the mac without having it connected to any tv?

I'm just confused as to exactly how it works and what it does.

TIA!

Rack

 

[zwida]

This EyeTv Hybrid thing allows you to watch TV on the Mac. I get that, but how?

Plugs right into your USB port. You attached cable (or an antenna) directly to the little guy, launch the software that comes with it, and start watching TV.

Do you have to connect it to your tv first and then watch it later on the mac?

Nope, just connect it to some signal source, and you're good to go.

Does the EyeTV Hybrid allow you to watch LIVE TV on the mac without having it connected to any tv?

Exactly. And it may be geeky, but it's pretty awesome.

 

[Racktacular]

I see, but you can't watch live TV wirelessly then. Right?

 

[bigjimbob]

Can somebody with an Intel Mac give us a comprehensive runthough of how well gaming works??

It makes sense a g5 might lag a bit - but elgato seem to be talking up the gaming feature, Hows it work with Mac Pro or c2d macbook???

 

[isight]

Ok Guys,

I have read all the posts. I am little bit confused. Please, let me know if it works?

I have HDTV connection in my home. I have another connection in my office room and my cable company said will give me another HDTV box. Can i use
EYE TV Hybrid and get the HDTV channels?

I have 17" intel core2 duo mac, 2 ghz processor.

I get 20 Channels now on my HDTV through my cable company.

Please, let me know.

 

[jsw]

Ok Guys,

I have read all the posts. I am little bit confused. Please, let me know if it works?

I have HDTV connection in my home. I have another connection in my office room and my cable company said will give me another HDTV box. Can i use
EYE TV Hybrid and get the HDTV channels?

I have 17" intel core2 duo mac, 2 ghz processor.

I get 20 Channels now on my HDTV through my cable company.

Please, let me know.

No, the Hybrid will only receive over-the-air HD signals. Technically, your cable company could stream those to you over the cable, but it's very, very unlikely that they do. However, the odds are good that you live in an area with plenty of HD reception, and all you need is a cheap external antenna to hook to the Hybrid to get it.

On the other hand... download iRecord, connect your Mac to your HD cable box with a Firewire cable, and you can record anything currently showing on the cable box with your Mac. Not bad for free.