Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

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Level 1

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Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

I'm not sure where to ask this but...

I have a MacBook Pro and head off to college next week. I currently DVR TV shows all the time and would like to continue to do so. Rather than spend the expensive monthly fee on a TiVo, I was considering the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid.

It allows you to record shows directly onto your Mac.

Has anyone had any experience with this device? What can you tell me? Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz

Posted on Aug 29, 2009 5:02 PM

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Answer 1

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Aug 29, 2009 6:29 PM in response to Neal Patten

I've got an EyeTV 'Diversity' (Two digital channels, PiP etc) and it works great 🙂

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Answer 2

Solid

Level 5

4,370 points

Aug 29, 2009 9:54 PM in response to Neal Patten

Neal, I have the Elgato EyeTV hybrid. I can't compare it to Tivo because I have never used Tivo, but the EyeTV works fine for me. You sign up with the TitanTV service and that allows you to schedule recordings. The EyeTV hybrid of course is able to handle regular as well as High def programming. The HD in particular eats up gigabytes of hard drive space, so you will want to watch shows and then trash them soon after or you will fill up your hard drive pretty quickly.

The hybrid is a pretty small device, so it should work well with your MBP. The software is pretty good and mostly intuitive. Doesn't take very long to figure it out. Overall, I recommend the EyeTV hybrid, it's a good combination of hardware and software.

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Answer 3

Aug 30, 2009 5:53 AM in response to Neal Patten

I'll refrain from telling your how great the EyeTVs are, since I'm biased, but if you've got any specific questions, let me know.

Mike Evangelist
Elgato

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Answer 4

Neal Patten Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2009 1:38 PM in response to Neal Patten

Some questions:

1) What's the best model?

2) Where's the best place to buy it (as in the best price?)

3) I read reviews on the Elgato site's forums and they all said the video quality was jerky and poor. What do you all think?

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Answer 5

Aug 30, 2009 4:00 PM in response to Neal Patten

There are two models sold in North America, the Hybrid and the 250 Plus. If you are using an antenna, that's a digital signal and both models perform identically. If you're using cable, then you may have a mixture of digital and analog channels. The 250 Plus does a better job with analog because it has a dedicated MPEG-2 encoder built in.

Both models are sold at most majors outlets: Apple, Amazon, MacZone, MacMall, Other World Computing, and many more. Check around for the best deals.

The Elgato forum is a support resource. Just like here, it's common that the people who post have problems; that's why they are there.

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