Elgato EyeTV HD DVR for HD cable and satellite TV

View Larger Image Average Rating: Lowest Price: $169.99

• Captures premium television content in full HD from cable and satellite receivers
• Records in pristine H.264 format for a crystal clear digital picture
• Includes an infrared remote and channel changer cable (IR blaster) for automatic control of the set top box.
• Comes with EyeTV 3 software for Mac; cables for component, composite (RCA), S-Video and stereo audio

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About This Product

Eyetv hd is the only solution that gives you full access to all your premium content by connecting your mac directly to your cable or satellite receiver. Eyetv hd comes with an infrared remote and channel changer cable (ir blaster) for automatic control of the receiver. Eyetv hd also features a unique dual-format capture mode that records in the ipad and iphone formats at the same time. This feature supports super-fast exports to itunes from eyetv and facilitates the streaming of live and recorded tv to an iphone or ipad using the optional eyetv app.

Customer Reviews

• Wish I got this years ago

• Rating:
• Review: The EyeTV HD is an outstanding little product.
  
  I purchased the EyeTV HD after waiting patiently for several years for DirecTV to offer their DirecTV2PC service to Mac users. After using EyeTV, I realized that I wouldn't want DirecTV2PC even if it were available. EyeTV's DVR software is far better than TiVo or DirecTV DVR, granted that's mainly because it can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, but also because of additional features like custom channel lists and advanced searching.
  
  I originally thought I wouldn't be able to use the EyeTV HD as my computer was slightly slower than the product's minimum system requirements (2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, I have a 2.16GHz). I contacted Elgato asking if it would still work, and received a prompt response explaining that I may not be able to use progressive deinterlacing, which is indeed the case (unless I have absolutely nothing else running). The motion-adaptive deinterlacing works just fine, though.
  
  My only complaint is that the only audio in is stereo RCA, and does not support digital audio. I'd also like to see a dual tuner model, although I'd need a new competur before then.
  
  I was skeptical of using component video (HDMI is not possible because of copy protection). I use a Samsung P2770HD display, so I can switch between EyeTV and my DirecTV reciever (HDMI direct to display), and EyeTV actually looks better.
  
  This product does everything I need it to and more. Bottom line: EyeTV HD is a great product and value.

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• Great product

• Rating:
• Review: This lets me watch TV in the corner of my Mac screen while still doing other things. Allows me to record to iPhone or AppleTV and it dumps the video into iTunes. Got with the USB Zephir so it automagically programs the cable box to the right channel. Must have!

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• Fantastic New Mac DVR

• Rating:
• Review: elgato's biggest release yet. I attached a DirecTV HD box to this device - component video, IR blaster (to change channels and NO AC power needed - all bus powered. I have recorded so many things in HD that have come out beautifully. Movies, sports, TV shows - you name it. This device is the best on the market. Only complaint is that saving files in a format big enough for an Apple TV or iPad will result in very large files - a typical 2 hours movie will convert from a huge, 10GB file to a 3GB plus file for Apple TV and iPad. But that shouldn't even be a complaint - files recorded on eyeTV should be sent to an external firewire drive anyway, and since you've already added them in HD to your iTunes library, in most cases you don't need to keep the original eyeTV file. Regardless, you can't go wrong with this great DVR.

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• EyeTV HD review

• Rating:
• Review: All in all, I'm very happy with the EyeTV HD. I use it with a DISHNetwork HD DVR and a 24" iMac.
  
  My particular installation might be of interest to others. I was able to run 56 feet of USB 2 cable from the EyeTV HD to my iMac. This is longer than recommended for a USB run, but I have had no issues with it. I used a powered USB hub on each end of the run. There are three 15 foot cables between the hubs and shorter cables on each end. The signal is very good, true 720P quality. It looks outstanding on my iMac, although it is not Blu-ray (1080P).
  
  The one issue I do have is that when trying to change channels with the EyeTV HD from my iMac, my DISH DVR will sometimes change to a PayTV channel and I can't change to another channel. This could be something that that DISHNetwork has done with the component outputs of their DVR to discourage copying of programs. Still, it is inconvenient to have to go to another room and change channels with the DISH remote.
  
  The EyeTV HD is a quality unit and the included software is top-notch, other than the above-mentioned problem.

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• If you have modest expectations you'll like this product

• Rating:
• Review: I've had eyeTV tuners on my macs for a long time. Most recently an eyeTV hybrid. It was ok with mediocre video quality (in small screen. Horrible in full screen on my 23" iMac), but I just wanted to be able to see a small TV window to glance over at when I was doing other things on the computer. When Elgato released the eyeTV app for the iPhone and iPad I bought it ($5) and tried to configure the SW to stream on my wireless network and over 3G. I could not get it to work reliably on WiFi and was completely unsuccessful getting it to work on 3G. I kept getting a message saying my router was incompatible (which was nonsense because I had other remote access SW that works fine).
  I read about the EyeTV HD and thought this would be interesting to try out. If it stunk on ice, I'd send it back to Amazon and return the HD tuner to my cable company. The hook up (between the cable box, EyeTV HD box and mac is pretty easy. I was having problems with the video stuttering until I realized I was using one of my external HDs as the EyeTV DVR disk. Once I switched to the macs internal drive the video cleared right up. I was able to record and stream HD programs to my iPhone and iPad on my home network with pretty good results. Its still a bit buggy in that sometimes have to go and re initialize EyeTV on the mac before I can stream. Otherwise I get a "channel not available" message for no apparent reason.
  I could not get the 3G streaming to work at all and the tech support for Elgato didn't help very much. Its difficult to describe a wireless routing problem when you are not well versed in all the set ups configuration lingo and what the effect would be on your system. I finally googled around enough and found an article on Wikianswers that lead me to the solution. You have to port forward port 2710 (I think that's the one), reserve an address for your computer on your wireless system (assuming you're using DHCP), and next thing you know you're streaming over 3 G.
  So, now that you have it working you can see where you need to have your expectations set right so you don't get disappointed. Most of the time I can stream in my house to my iPad with very good results. I can carry my iPad around and view any of my regular or premium pay channels anywhere in the house. That by itself was worth the money to me (even though occasionally I need to reset the EyeTV Sw on the mac to get it going). Streaming over 3G is another story. Sometimes the quality is very good. It stalls once in a while, but not too bad. Sometimes the quality is so poor its unwatchable. You can dork with the quality settings to try to improve the image, but if the network won't sustain the data stream there's not much you can do about it. I would assume this is the same problem any Slingbox type streaming video would have. Its interesting to note that the quality of recorded video on the EyeTV is much better and consistent than the streaming video. So you could remotely tell your mac to record a show and then watch it later (much later because you have to wait for the rendering during export to complete which can take hours if you recorded a long show).
  The other complaint I have is that the file size is huge compared to movie files you can rip from DVDs using Handbrake and the like. A full movie in iPad resolution done with Handbrake is on the order of 1.3 Gig. (for a two hour movie). With the EyeTV you are getting file sizes around 5 Gig per hour. That gets pretty hefty if you are recording a Nascar race or a football game.
  Hope this helps people decide if this is a product that's worth their time and money.
  

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