AppleTV + EyeTV Hybrid?

[atari1356]

I brought this up in the Future Features thread... but it seems a plausible enough idea that maybe it deserves further discussion.

It's been show that the TV (through a bit of hacking) can run other applications like Firefox, VLC, etc... and from what I understand someone has also gotten a keyboard to work via the USB port.

So, I wonder how difficult it would be to connect an EyeTV Hybrid and run Elgato's EyeTV software to receive "over the air" digital HD TV stations... ?

After hacking the TV to run normal Mac apps, can you still run the TV interface and use it for it's original intended purpose?

 

[sandman42]

Not Hybrid, but maybe 250

I don't think the ATV runs fast enough to support the Hybrid -- the Hybrid requires a fast Mac to do the compression. I think the ATV only runs at 350MHz. The EyeTV 250 on the other hand, which does the compression on its own hardware, might be a possibility.

 

[atari1356]

I don't think the ATV runs fast enough to support the Hybrid -- the Hybrid requires a fast Mac to do the compression. I think the ATV only runs at 350MHz. The EyeTV 250 on the other hand, which does the compression on its own hardware, might be a possibility.

You could be right... although there was one report of someone running World of Warcraft on the ATV and getting 20-30fps in areas without a lot of people. The biggest problem with WoW was the lack of RAM (only 256MB in the ATV). I guess that could be a big problem with the EyeTV software as well though.

 

[live4ever]

The Hybrid would be fine CPU wise if you were capturing OTA since it would only be saving a transport stream.

 

[daveL]

I don't think the ATV runs fast enough to support the Hybrid -- the Hybrid requires a fast Mac to do the compression. I think the ATV only runs at 350MHz. The EyeTV 250 on the other hand, which does the compression on its own hardware, might be a possibility.

The ATV uses a Pentium M @ 1 GHz. No idea where you got the 350 MHz.

 

[sandman42]

The ATV uses a Pentium M @ 1 GHz. No idea where you got the 350 MHz.

I think I read that it was underclocked to 350, but as I recall that was speculation. Regardless, I don't even remember where I read that, so maybe I should just butt out....

Anyway, why not try?! Go for it, and let us know what happens!

 

[charmdustio]

I'd be very interested to see what happens here as well. tv + eyetv would be a killer combo.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

350mhz is the bus speed

Anyways, AppleTV+EyeTV hybrid is closer then you think. I've already got them connected and working, I just can't get Elgato's software working. I'm using the USB hack that brings the USB to life with a powered USB hub daisychaining a mouse, keyboard and Hybrid.

 

[sandman42]

Anyways, AppleTV+EyeTV hybrid is closer then you think.

Please keep us posted on this! I have used EyeTV (in one form or another for a couple years, and was pretty excited when the TV was announced. Now I'm disappointed how long it takes to record, export to iTunes, sync, etc, etc. Let us know what kind of progress you make.

 

[Adobe75]

I can get EyeTV software to launch - at least part way. I have the USB hack installed, but the EyeTV setup assistant never comes up, I can't get the programs window to open, and it doesn't show any devices available in the prefs. I can, however, enter into the full screen menu, but the remote is dead to this app.

Working:
App launches
Controller window
Preferences window
EyeTV device shows in system_profiler
Full screen menu works

Not Working:
Setup Assistant
Program/Guide Window
Remote
Devices

 

[taylorwilsdon]

I've got OSX loaded up on my AppleTV now and I'm well on my way to getting my EyeTV up and running. This is totally happening and it should end up great

 

[snaggletooth]

MPEG-2 support?

Hey all,

As an alternative to getting the full EyeTV App running, has anyone tried just getting the MPEG-2 Playback Component working in the Quicktime on the AppleTV (the equivalent of what the somethingawful people did with Perian to get xvid working)? This would at least let us play EyeTV recordings of OTA signal without re-encoding.

Just a thought...would be interested if anyone tries this.

 

[Adobe75]

I tried it.. and it does 720p MPEG2 w/ AC3 at about 10fps... if that.

I exported an episode of Prison Break into separate streams, then joined them back together with QT Pro... so it played at about 40fps on my MacBook Pro. I copied it to the Movies folder on the AppleTV and played it back using ATVFiles... pretty darn choppy.

So even if we do get the EyeTV app and USB support fully functional, this box is a no-go for an HD DVR in its current form. Unless someone writes a QuickTime MPEG2 plugin with hardware acceleration. And I think the person to do that would be John Dalgliesh: http://www.defyne.org/dvb/accellent.html

 

[snaggletooth]

EyeTV 2.4 changes?

Has anyone tried the EyeTV 2.4 update that is supposed to add AppleTV support? What exactly is EyeTV now doing? Creating a stream that Quicktime can understand?

 

[aristobrat]

Has anyone tried the EyeTV 2.4 update that is supposed to add AppleTV support? What exactly is EyeTV now doing? Creating a stream that Quicktime can understand?

AFAIK, all it does is convert an already recorded show into AppleTV format, just like VisualHub does.

 

[droz]

This seals the deal...NO APPLE TV FOR ME!

This is in fact extremely disappointing. No true HD on the AppleTV.

[EyeTV 2] What format can EyeTV export to Apple TV?

Apple TV is designed only to play back H.264 video, in certain resolutions.

Its maximum quality depends on a certain resolution, bitrate, and framerate. That maximum is 1280 by 720 pixels, at 5Mbps, and 24 frames per second (fps). Those three numbers represent the total amount of data that can’t be surpassed by Apple TV.

That amount of data is less than typical ATSC HDTV content, like 1080i (1920 by 1080 at 29.97 fps) or 720p (1280 by 720 at 59.96 fps), with bitrates usually above 5Mbps. Therefore, a typical ATSC 1080i or 720p recording in EyeTV will have to be scaled down to this format:

H.264/AVC, 960 x 540, 29.97 fps
MPEG-4 Audio, Stereo, 48000Hz

This reduction in size is due to the maximum amount of data that the Apple TV can process per second.

Standard definition content (SDTV) is typically 720 by 480 resolution (NTSC) or 720 by 576 (PAL/SECAM). If that is exported from EyeTV to Apple TV, then it will maintain its resolution and frame rate. That is because the total data used is less than the Apple TV’s maximum.

The resolution and frame rate of 720x576 SDTV clips with 16:9 aspect ratio are also maintained as-is. The file is encoded anamorphically, so that Apple TV takes care of expanding pixels.

We will investigate to see if other export options to Apple TV are possible in the future.