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Anyone here use Elgado Eye TV Hybrid with their Mac?


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Anyone here use Elgado Eye TV Hybrid with their Mac?
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jattila4
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Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2007-05-22, 21:22

I was thinking about getting the Elgado Eye TV Hybrid...does anyone here have it?

My thought was to connect it to my mac book and have a monitor connected to the computer with spanning, and then fill one screen with the TV program window and leave the other one clear to use the computer. Would that be possible?
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Windowsrookie
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2007-05-22, 21:23

Yes, I have the TV mini. Works great.
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jdcfsu
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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2007-05-22, 21:28

I've got the Hybrid. It's a pretty solid piece of hardware. In my old PC I had a PCI tuner and was always skeptical of USB options but this one runs great with pretty nice quality video on my iMac. I don't have a second monitor, but I don't see why your idea wouldn't work.

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thegelding
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2007-05-22, 21:34

i've been thinking abit about this option for my daughter...she is heading to college...just bought a macbook...she was thinking of getting a tv and dvd player for the dorm...because her dorm is small she was thinking of a tv/dvd combo...

but this might be a better solution...her macbook can be her tv and dvd and computer all in one...what got me thinking about this is see likes certain shows, but wouldn't always be around to watch them...so then that would add a video tape to record....

so, could this one thing turn her laptop from a computer into a computer, tv, dvd player and tv show recorder?

and if you were a college kid, would you prefer to have the tv separate from your laptop?

the one downside i could see is i often multi-take...watching a show while doing some work on my laptop...i gather if you are watching shows on your laptop you won't also be doing homework on the same laptop


g

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jdcfsu
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2007-05-22, 21:39

While in college I had planed to use my old desktop as my TV/DVD player which is why I got the TV card, but it didn't work well for video games so that scratched it. However, if your daughter doesn't play video games, it's probably a good solution, given the screen is a good size for her.

As for having TV and laptop in one, the TV window is at a size that it can be placed in a corner with other stuff going on at the same time, but again this depends on screen size and ultimately to personal preference.

90% of statistics can be made to say anything 50% of the time.
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thegelding
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2007-05-22, 21:43

which is a better product...the EyeTV hybrid or the EyeTV 250?

and how easy is it to record shows when your aren't home?

thanks

g
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jattila4
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Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2007-05-22, 22:08

G you stole my post! haha. No it's all good. I'm in the same situation as your daughter, I'm going to be a freshman at the University of Oregon next year and the dorms are really small. I wanted to get the EyeTV + a second monitor to use as my TV/extra workspace when necessary.

But Multitasking was my other concern, if I was using the Eye TV would it take up too much ram to multitask?

I'm pretty sure you can also hook a video game system up to the Eye TV hybrid as well...does that not work jdc?
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Brave Ulysses
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Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2007-05-23, 06:04

Quote:
Originally Posted by jattila4 View Post
G you stole my post! haha. No it's all good. I'm in the same situation as your daughter, I'm going to be a freshman at the University of Oregon next year and the dorms are really small. I wanted to get the EyeTV + a second monitor to use as my TV/extra workspace when necessary.

But Multitasking was my other concern, if I was using the Eye TV would it take up too much ram to multitask?

I'm pretty sure you can also hook a video game system up to the Eye TV hybrid as well...does that not work jdc?
I used an EyeTV throughout college and now use an EyeTV Hybrid.

Some answers to questions...

I used the EyeTV with my PowerBook and later with my iMac (20" and later a 24") and also a bit with my MacBook Pro. Even with the old Powerbook 667 VGA EyeTV worked well and I was able to multitask.

The quality, especially of the EyeTV Hybrid is incredible. I have a cheap dollar store antenna that easily receives all of the local High Def channels and I get them in 1080i. On the 24" iMac this is especially nice since it's full HD.

The downside I experienced with using the EyeTV with the laptop in a dorm is what has been said, your tv is your computer and therefore if you need to do work, your tv window will be either 1 inch small or constantly covered by windows. A dedicated tv/dvd combo will be relatively cheap and always available for us and may offer a bigger screen in most cases. But you won't get time shifting and convenience, and you'll have more clutter.

Quote:
which is a better product...the EyeTV hybrid or the EyeTV 250?
The EyeTV Hybrid is superior in almost everyway and cheaper. The dual digital and analog feature is terrific and it's HD capability is the biggest feature.

The advantage of the EyeTV 250 (and disadvantage of the Hybrid) is that it encodes the video feed into MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 in the hardware, meaning in real time. The Hybrid records in whatever format the video is in. In the case of HD content this is high bitrate MPEG2 taking up about 6-8GB an hour. For analog content it is a set rate but I can't remember. the EyeTV 250 automatically compressed it to MPEG1 or MPEG2 on the fly saving disk space.

In the end I would definitely go with the Hybrid though. Cheaper, smaller, and more features.

Quote:
and how easy is it to record shows when your aren't home?
Very easy... although not easy if you use it with your laptop since your laptop needs to be home obviously. They have a remote scheduling feature and the tv guide feature allows you to schedule recordings about a week in advance.

Quote:
I'm pretty sure you can also hook a video game system up to the Eye TV hybrid as well...does that not work jdc?
It works. Some question whether it is really "zero latency" but it works fine for me. I have an Xbox hooked up to my 24" iMac and it works for me.

Quote:
But Multitasking was my other concern, if I was using the Eye TV would it take up too much ram to multitask?
I have used it pretty much constantly while doing other work with as little as 512MB RAM and as much as 1.5GB. El Gato writes really good software. Not a resource hog. So you should be fine.



I don't work for them, it's just rare that you really see such consistent quality and support from a company.
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jdcfsu
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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2007-05-23, 09:11

Brave Ulysses summed up the answers pretty well. Like I said before, I would option a second monitor to run the TV on depending on the size of your screen, especially when it comes to multitasking. He and I both have 24" iMac's which have a ton of screen real estate so having things all over the place isn't a problem. On a MacBook things might get cluttered up quickly. Comes down to preference.

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turbulentfurball
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2007-05-23, 09:22

Quote:
Originally Posted by jattila4 View Post
My thought was to connect it to my mac book and have a monitor connected to the computer with spanning, and then fill one screen with the TV program window and leave the other one clear to use the computer. Would that be possible?
I've done this exact thing and it works perfectly. The MacBook doesn't even break out in a sweat.

I have one of these for digital terrestrial TV and EyeTV software which is a great solution for my needs.
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zippy
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Join Date: Jul 2005
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2007-05-23, 11:33

I've got an EyeTV Hybrid running on my 24" iMac, and I love it. Since it's upstairs, and more available than our regular TV, we hardly ever go downstairs to watch TV anymore.

Not only can you schedule it to record shows, you can tell it to repeat every day/week. It's not as sophisticated as Tivo from what I understand: you can't tell it to search for a certain show and record all new episodes - if they move the show to a new time, or do an extended episode, you'll need to manually adjust the recording. However, you can get online to TitanTV (that's the program guide it uses) and schedule a recording from the internet - of course, you will have to set the computer to check for updates on a scheduled basis, so this doesn't work if you are away and suddenly remember that you forgot to set it to record a program that is just about to start.

As for having the computer double as a TV in a dorm room, It would work well on something with a large enough monitor, but on a Macbook, that could get crowded. If it is feasible to hook up an external monitor and span, I'd do that.

And as someone else stated, if you have your laptop with you, away from the dorm room, it won't record the show unless you turn it on, hook up the hybrid and connect it to an antenna that can receive the channel you are trying to get.

By the way, when I first bought the iMac and the EyeTV hybrid, my hybrid didn't work well - turned out to be defective, but was replaced without any fuss by Elgato. So in my experience, their customer service department is excellent.

Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents!
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justG
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: NJ, US
 
2007-05-23, 15:10

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. I've read loads of threads on Elgato's products, but none so valuable as what's been offered here on the EyeTV Hybrid. I've been especially curious about a) its usefulness to me as a TV since I have no cable service (and don't plan on getting any) so would just get "air" channels and b) its quality/reliability when hooking up a game console (wheeeeeee now I can Wii!). I'd heard/read about the lag, but no real-world experiences. As kind of a casual gamer and someone more inclined to spend hours on SSX or a kids' RPG or a platformer than a full-on FPS, I'm thinking whatever lag exists wouldn't be too bothersome. After reading Brave Ulysses's experience with an Xbox, I'm inclined to at least buy it and give it a chance with my existing consoles. Totally cool.
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zsummers
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: New York?
 
2007-05-23, 17:35

Thanks to everyone, especially Brave Ulysses, for the comments. Has anyone used an the Hybrid with a Wii? Any thoughts?
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jattila4
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2007-05-23, 20:02

Thanks for all the replies you were all very helpful!

This is going to be my computer/TV set up for college next year...I think it will work well

MacBook C2D 2.16 (The current middle model) except I will update with 2GB of RAM.
Lacie 320 GB External HD that I have now
Airport Extreme so I don't have to plug in my Internet, HD, or Printer
Elgato EyeTV Hybrid
This Monitor http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ViewS...oductDetail.do

The entire set up will cost less than $2000 with my student discount..
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grep
New Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
 
2007-06-19, 07:50

I purchased the EyeTV Hybrid on the weekend as a solution for streaming the analogue output of my pay-tv set-top box onto my network.

The DTT streaming works great using the CyTV software. Unfortunately the EyeTV hybrid does not generate a stream for the composite or s-video inputs.

Does anyone have a solution for streaming the composite input?
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drewprops
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-08-16, 06:52

I just found this thread.... been considering getting one of these for my Dad to use with his 20" iMac. I have some more questions...


- how often do they update the software (in relation to OS updates from Apple)?
- has anybody used it conjunction with Toast (for archiving shows to DVD)?
- am I right in thinking your computer has to be running to record scheduled shows?
- are there "must have" accessories you need to get WITH the thing?
- where did you purchase yours?
- what did I forget to ask?

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chucker
 
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2007-08-16, 06:56

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
- has anybody used it conjunction with Toast (for archiving shows to DVD)?
http://www.elgato.com/cooler_email/E...t232INTEN.html speaks of Toast integration.

Quote:
- am I right in thinking your computer has to be running to record scheduled shows?
You can set it up to wake your computer up from sleep. If it's off, you can still schedule it to turn on at a specified time using Energy Saver…

Also note this recent thread.
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Eugene
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2007-08-16, 07:19

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
- how often do they update the software (in relation to OS updates from Apple)?
- has anybody used it conjunction with Toast (for archiving shows to DVD)?
- am I right in thinking your computer has to be running to record scheduled shows?
- are there "must have" accessories you need to get WITH the thing?
- where did you purchase yours?
- what did I forget to ask?
EyeTV 2.x has gotten 11 free updates since January 2006. Mostly minor bugfixes, added support for new EyeTVs, new export options like the AppleTV...

I rarely export stuff with any of the presets, and haven't used Toast in years. One of the problems I have is the inability to crop out black bars when exporting SD content shown on HD channels. I always end up exporting to a ultra-high bandwidth codec first, then adding a mask and re-encoding at a lower bitrate/resolution.

Yes, your computer has to be on to record. One nice thing you can do is schedule recordings remotely from TitanTV.com. You just need to tell EyeTV to poll their server every hour, 3 hours or once a day.

Must have accessories? I guess the only thing is an antenna for HDTV. Something like the "Silver Sensor" or a derivative of that design will work pretty well in a major metro.

I got my original EyeTV 500 directly from El Gato when they were running a special at MWSF.
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zippy
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Join Date: Jul 2005
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2007-08-16, 09:25

One thing to note that hasn't been mentioned before is that they have an edit utility that is really easy to use for cutting commercials out of a recording.

As for ripping to DVD, they do have a Toast icon in the Eye TV program, but I don't have Toast, so I haven't ever used it. I'm guessing that it works very well based on the rest of my experience with Eye TV.

Your computer does need to be running to record a show, but I'm quite positive that if you have a recording scheduled, and your computer is off - it will turn it on for you. A few weeks ago, I had shut my iMac down because there was a lightning storm rolling through. It was late, and so I went to bed. A while later - before I was fully asleep, I suddenly hear that familiar "bong" indicating that the iMac was just booted up. It was right at 1:00 am - the time that I had set to record Poker After Dark.

I can't remember where I got mine. I think I ordered it directly from Elgato. Yeah, I'm sure I did.

There are a couple of issues that I keep wanting to pass on to Elgato for product improvement. The one that I can remember right now that really bugs me is this: Say you sit down to watch a show that is currently recording, but you are behind the live feed so that you can skip commercials. When the live feed is done, and the recording stops, it abruptly jumps you from the recorded show you were still watching, to the new live TV feed. You have to go back, re-open the recording that you were in the middle of, find where you left off, and then resume watching. It's very annoying.

Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents!
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Eugene
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2007-08-16, 09:50

Quote:
Originally Posted by zippy View Post
One thing to note that hasn't been mentioned before is that they have an edit utility that is really easy to use for cutting commercials out of a recording.
Oh that's another gripe I have...the editor won't do GOP editing like Womble can, so it's not very precise. If you don't want to risk accidentally cutting portions of your recording out, you need to give each cut about a 2 second berth.

Quote:
Your computer does need to be running to record a show, but I'm quite positive that if you have a recording scheduled, and your computer is off - it will turn it on for you. A few weeks ago, I had shut my iMac down because there was a lightning storm rolling through. It was late, and so I went to bed. A while later - before I was fully asleep, I suddenly hear that familiar "bong" indicating that the iMac was just booted up. It was right at 1:00 am - the time that I had set to record Poker After Dark.
To my knowledge, EyeTV won't boot up your computer. Even Chucker's link indicates it won't wake a computer from an actual C3 sleep state, but rather when you've set the display and HDD to power down.
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drewprops
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-08-16, 10:30

What's a GOP Womble??
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Eugene
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2007-08-16, 10:47

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
What's a GOP Womble??
The video you get straight out of EyeTV is MPEG-2...a video format that is hard to edit because it makes use of GOPs. Basically you have a bunch of successive frames that rely on a single keyframe. Womble MPEG Video Wizard is a Windows app that can edit within a GOP rather than just cutting in between them like EyeTV does.
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zippy
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Join Date: Jul 2005
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2007-08-16, 11:15

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eugene View Post
Oh that's another gripe I have...the editor won't do GOP editing like Womble can, so it's not very precise. If you don't want to risk accidentally cutting portions of your recording out, you need to give each cut about a 2 second berth.


To my knowledge, EyeTV won't boot up your computer. Even Chucker's link indicates it won't wake a computer from an actual C3 sleep state, but rather when you've set the display and HDD to power down.
LIES, LIES, I tell you...

I have really good luck with editing - I just set the editing to "Fine", and I can select frame by frame. I'm not sure how long each frame is, but I'm pretty sure that each is a fraction of 1 second.

I'll have to test the waking of a turned off computer, because I know it did it that one time. I usually just leave the computer on, so there hasn't been an opportunity for it to do it other than that.

Of course, I could have ghosts...

Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents!
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Taskiss
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: St. Louis, MO
 
2007-08-16, 11:39

In my opinion, DVD Recorders are a better solution for TV recording. There are even models with hard drives too. I ran PVR software on my PC for several years and got really tired of the hassle. They can be gotten for less than $100.00, models with hard drives cost more, obviously.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-08-16, 14:10

You know, I find myself agreeing with Taskiss.... especially since it's going to be my DAD I'm buying this unit for.... he simply won't remember how to do work the thing on his computer.

He won't.
He makes a new folder to hold a news article.... his machine is a disaster of organization and I'm afraid to turn him loose with a DVR device.

His current machine is a Panasonic DMR 80H and he's good with that... it works well for him because it forces him to record to a DVD or to the internal hard drive.

I posted a thread over in Purchasing Advice, looking to find out what happened to the standalone set-top boxes that have HDD/DVD and nobody replied to it... so I'm still looking.



.

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