Pinnacle + Eyetv + MBP = SUCK

[AndrewLyle]

please help me... this is frustrating

So i just bought a Pinnacle PCTV HD mini stick at circuit city (for about 25% off) and im using Eyetv 3.1 Full, with my unibody 2.53ghz mbp.

This thing is nothing but trouble. first off i know that there is a mac version but they didn't have it and it seems like its the same hardware. secondly i know that my cable works cause i just plugged in a normal tv and it came through instantly with all channels. (p.s. in case it matters i believe im getting decoded directv signal through my university)

I did a auto-tune and it only found about 36 channels (there should be upwards of 70) and those channels only work for about a minute before i get a consistent no signal error. The video is choppy and laggy and sometimes works beautifully for about 30 seconds. i have tried following threads and googling to no avail.

Does anyone have any advice or work with this setup?

p.p.s. has anyone gotten the built in TV Guide functionality working in eyetv? i can't figure out how to sign up. ive done it twice through the setup wizard and both times it says my account is not allowed to download content.

 

[diamond.g]

please help me... this is frustrating

So i just bought a Pinnacle PCTV HD mini stick at circuit city (for about 25% off) and im using Eyetv 3.1 Full, with my unibody 2.53ghz mbp.

This thing is nothing but trouble. first off i know that there is a mac version but they didn't have it and it seems like its the same hardware. secondly i know that my cable works cause i just plugged in a normal tv and it came through instantly with all channels. (p.s. in case it matters i believe im getting decoded directv signal through my university)

I did a auto-tune and it only found about 36 channels (there should be upwards of 70) and those channels only work for about a minute before i get a consistent no signal error. The video is choppy and laggy and sometimes works beautifully for about 30 seconds. i have tried following threads and googling to no avail.

Does anyone have any advice or work with this setup?

p.p.s. has anyone gotten the built in TV Guide functionality working in eyetv? i can't figure out how to sign up. ive done it twice through the setup wizard and both times it says my account is not allowed to download content.

Can you test it on another computer? It looks like the hardware may actually be different.

 

[AndrewLyle]

Ive tried it on a 12" powerbook g4 to no avail

Ive also tried it on a windows7 machine (athough i wouldn't be surprised if there were no drivers for it)

 

[diamond.g]

Ive tried it on a 12" powerbook g4 to no avail

Ive also tried it on a windows7 machine (athough i wouldn't be surprised if there were no drivers for it)

Yeah the tuner should find all the ClearQAM channels when using cable. I don't know if DirecTV will work with the unit (they usually don't). My guess is if it does work in Windows then there must be some sort of hardware difference between the Windows version and the Mac version.

 

[brand]

Ive also tried it on a windows7 machine (athough i wouldn't be surprised if there were no drivers for it)

Did it work on the Windows 7 computer? If so then there are obviously drivers for it.

 

[AndrewLyle]

Sorry i should have said that it didn't work in either case

Yeah the tuner should find all the ClearQAM channels when using cable. I don't know if DirecTV will work with the unit (they usually don't). My guess is if it does work in Windows then there must be some sort of hardware difference between the Windows version and the Mac version.

I will also mention that it is a decoded signal. meaning no set top box. plugging the feed into any tv gets the signal

 

[Consultant]

HD tuners can only record a limited number of channels.

You probably need an external harddrive to record 1080p.

Sounds like you are trying to record and compress at the same time using too high of setting (1080p).

 

[AndrewLyle]

Im not recording anything, nor am i trying to even watch multiple channels

i can't get one standard def channel to decode at all!

 

[diamond.g]

Im not recording anything, nor am i trying to even watch multiple channels

i can't get one standard def channel to decode at all!

Does it work if you use an antenna? (still need to narrow it down to either a hardware or a software problem)

 

[AndrewLyle]

i just rescanned with the antenna and i got 8 channels, they are coming through but they freeze about every 20 seconds and hang for about 2 seconds. i will say that ive tried scanning before without getting any channels, and sometimes i get a couple.


i got a couple of antenna channels, and a handful of cable channels, in the beginning. after a couple of days of owning it, it stopped getting a signal. i contacted elgato, and the only suggestion they had was reseting the pram. after that i got no channels with the cable and now after your suggestion of trying the antenna again i got 8...

however my signal strength seems to be a constant 7% whether or not its cable, antenna, recieving channels or not. my signal quality is hovering aroung 45-55%

in the time it took me to write this it has dropped to no signal twice along with the freezing every 20 seconds

 

[diamond.g]

i just rescanned with the antenna and i got 8 channels, they are coming through but they freeze about every 20 seconds and hang for about 2 seconds. i will say that ive tried scanning before without getting any channels, and sometimes i get a couple.


i got a couple of antenna channels, and a handful of cable channels, in the beginning. after a couple of days of owning it, it stopped getting a signal. i contacted elgato, and the only suggestion they had was reseting the pram. after that i got no channels with the cable and now after your suggestion of trying the antenna again i got 8...

however my signal strength seems to be a constant 7% whether or not its cable, antenna, recieving channels or not. my signal quality is hovering aroung 45-55%

in the time it took me to write this it has dropped to no signal twice along with the freezing every 20 seconds

In this case it seems like the unit itself may be bad. Kinda wish you had access to another tuner to double check with.

 

[AndrewLyle]

I have access to a different brand tuner. I could get a hold of an elgato brand tuner but will that help me diagnose anything?

 

[diamond.g]

I have access to a different brand tuner. I could get a hold of an elgato brand tuner but will that help me diagnose anything?

Well if it works fine with your existing software and the other tuner doesn't it seems to me that the other tuner is suspect.

 

[AndrewLyle]

Ive been on the phone with pinnacle and the tech support lady said that the

PCTV HD MINI STICK is incompatable with mac

but the

MAC HD MINI STICK is the one i really need


i don't believe this woman at all... im pretty confident in my technical knowledge and im pretty sure they are the same tuner!!! (with different software off course)

can anyone verify that they are the same or different?

 

[billib]

Pinnacle TV on my Mac mini

I'm usually late to the party so this may not help AndrewLyle. I had an "EyeTV 250 Plus" and the hardware part (the little white box) was stolen. Out of curiosity I Plugged in a "PinnacleTV" USB device from a PC I wasn't using and was able to get the Elgato software to recognize and control the PinnacleTV. Elgato apparently writes the software for most if not all such devices used on a Mac. Everything works beautifully.
1. You don't need the "Mac version" of the hardware but you do need the Mac version of the software.
2. Your cable signal is good.
3. Auto tune should have found 70+ channels not just 36.
4. The signal should not have been dropped after a few minutes.
5. My processor is 2.33 Core2Duo so your processor is good.
6. My TV guide is wonderful.
7. It looks like you have a Good signal & Good software.
8. It appears your hardware (Pinnacle TV) is bad.
I obviously can't know for sure, it simply looks that way to me.
I hope this will help someone at least a little bit. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!