EyeTv Questions

[tennismanclay]

SO my birfday is coming up and i have a few things i want and i just looked at the eyetv stuff. Looks really cool, but i have a few questions.

I searched everywhere and couldnt find exactly how this worked, is it wireless or do you have to plug it into a cable box and you computer.

We have direct tv at my house, and we have a box to go along with all of our tv's. Will it work with this?

My main question is if will work with a direct tv box, and if i plug it into my mac will it automatically pick up the signal, or do i have to have a wire running from the box to the back of the eyetv hybrid (thats the one i read about) and then plug the usb on the eyetv hybrid into my computer.


sorry that i know nothing about this, but help would be appreciated.




-Clay

 

[aristobrat]

It's wireless in the sense that if you live close enough to your local TV towers, it'll pick them up wirelessly.

If a cable/satellite box is involved, you'll need to wire it up so that the output from the box comes into the EyeTV.

The EyeTV has no way of automatically changing the channel on the box without buying a 3rd-party tool that does it. You can read more about that tool here:
http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/508/

If you don't need it to automatically change the channels (i.e. you'll use your satellite remote control to change the channels yourself), then there's no need to worry about that. But if you want to leave the EyeTV software running to act like a TiVo (and record stuff when you're not around), it'll need to be able to change the channel on the satellite box by itself.

Hope that makes some sense.

 

[tennismanclay]

so i can pick up channels if i live near any towers, how close do i need to be to a tower? And how can i tell if there are any towers in my area. So, I dont have to use my box, i can just use whatever is nearby that the eyetv can pick up. Kinda like stealing open wifi, but not really. And if so, how many channels would i be getting, however many the tower has?

thanks

 

[aristobrat]

If you put your street address in the link below, it will tell you how close you are to your local towers, and what stations you can get:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

If you need an antenna, it'll tell you that, too. Where I live, I use a $30 indoor HD antenna (that connects to the EyeTV) and I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, whatever UPN is called now, PBS, and another local channel or two. It's all free and legal. The high-def local channels look very awesome.

 

[jerry1]

Keep in mind the antennaweb is a good guideline. Especially if you use an indoor antenna because they aren't included with the antennaweb data. But any channels that are designated "Green" by antennaweb should be available using an indoor antenna as long as you don't have too many obstructions between you and the tower and you don't live in a deep valley. The only way you will know is by connecting your system where you will use it.

Antennaweb will also show the stations in your area. Most are simulcasting HDTV channels that mirror their analog station programming. If that is the case for you, don't worry about the analog stations. Target your HD channels. The picture is MUCH better.

Also, you should realize that there is no such thing as an "HD antenna". That's all marketing BS. All of the signals are using the UHF/VHF frequency spectrum.

I'm using an $8 RCA indoor antenna that worked just as good as the $40 Phillips MANT-510 I tried.

 

[tennismanclay]

If you put your street address in the link below, it will tell you how close you are to your local towers, and what stations you can get:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

If you need an antenna, it'll tell you that, too. Where I live, I use a $30 indoor HD antenna (that connects to the EyeTV) and I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, whatever UPN is called now, PBS, and another local channel or two. It's all free and legal. The high-def local channels look very awesome.

so with the antenna you get around 7 stations, if i connected it directly to my box would i get every station that my box has? If i did that i would have to change the channel with my remote tho right? What would be awesome is if i could get every channel my box has wirelessly, plug something into my box, plug eyetv hybrid in my computer and it could get everything. I have absolutely no idea if this is possible though.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[aristobrat]

If you connected your satellite box to the EyeTV, set the channel on the EyeTV software to 3 (or 4, whichever channel your box uses), you could then get everything your satellite box could output. You'd have to change the channel on your satellite box manually, unless you rig up that work-around device Elgato talks about.

 

[jerry1]

so with the antenna you get around 7 stations, if i connected it directly to my box would i get every station that my box has? If i did that i would have to change the channel with my remote tho right? What would be awesome is if i could get every channel my box has wirelessly, plug something into my box, plug eyetv hybrid in my computer and it could get everything. I have absolutely no idea if this is possible though.

Thanks for the help guys.

If you have a fast network (internet connection), take a look at this for a wireless TV solution.... http://www.slingmedia.com/