Elgato EyeTV HD Quality? Screen captures included

[NYCAVS]

Upon further review...

I've just looked at the actual EyeTV file and it seems to have the same glitches. Therefore, I suspect the problem has little to do with the export process, format, etc. Rather, I am suspecting (as did many others here) that it is the inherent limitation of the EyeTV acquisition/setup. Frustrating... was very excited initially. I suspect I will be moving to a HD download/streaming pay model rather than trying to record a personal use library...

 

[MyMac8MyPC]

Still wouldn't mind seeing your screen captures if you've got time

Here's a quick one. Hope it helps

 

[peterjcat]

Thanks for that. I guess these things are subjective, but to my eyes that quality doesn't look too great, and seems to exhibit the same problems as the rest of ours do. I've sent my test pattern to Elgato so we'll see what they say. I wonder whether the Hauppauge HD PVR is any better?

 

[MyMac8MyPC]

There's a lot of movement in that scene but other than that it's fine. As far as the other product is concerned, You could try it but I wouldn't want anything that's for a PC. Their Mac products use Elgato’s EyeTV Lite. I think I read somewhere that they are owned by the same company.

Did you send Elgato a link to this thread so they could see all the people having issues with this?

How did you play the test pattern through the EyeTV HD?

 

[peterjcat]

Yeah I sent Elgato a link to the thread... we'll see what they say. I played the test pattern from my media player (Popcorn Hour) over component into the EyeTV HD.

I only mention the other product because the EyeTV software supports it (apart from the IR blaster for some reason). It might be the same inside, who knows. I'd prefer the EyeTV HD but the picture quality I'm getting really isn't up to scratch.

There's a lot of movement in that scene but other than that it's fine. As far as the other product is concerned, You could try it but I wouldn't want anything that's for a PC. Their Mac products use Elgato’s EyeTV Lite. I think I read somewhere that they are owned by the same company.

Did you send Elgato a link to this thread so they could see all the people having issues with this?

How did you play the test pattern through the EyeTV HD?

 

[MyMac8MyPC]

Hopefully they'll reply with a fix for you.

Good customer service is important for a companies reputation

 

[jcoop]

Thanks for that. I guess these things are subjective, but to my eyes that quality doesn't look too great, and seems to exhibit the same problems as the rest of ours do. I've sent my test pattern to Elgato so we'll see what they say. I wonder whether the Hauppauge HD PVR is any better?

Yes, thanks for uploading that. I'm inclined to agree with peterjcat: to my eyes, that doesn't look like an HD image, even in the static elements of the image. The connectors on the back of the TV, the texture of the curtains--they look soft (as does the hair of the three people, including the two who don't seem to be moving much). It's not a terrible image by any means, but I don't think it lives up to what Elgato promised.

My captures look reasonably good on the iPad, and okay on a laptop screen, but they're deficient when viewed through an Apple TV on a 40" lcd. FWIW, I do have all deinterlacing off. I really ought to try to do a frame comparison of a capture vs. an iTunes HD download and an iTunes SD download--my sense, without having done such a comparison, is that the EyeTV captures are not quite as good as the SD iTunes files, and not nearly as good as the HD.

 

[peterjcat]

Yeah it's a shame, I quite like the EyeTV software and streaming to the iPhone/iPad works really well at the moment (though the ghosting remains noticeable on the iPad). But the image quality really isn't good enough for playback on a proper TV and so it's not suitable for archiving. I really hope they can come up with an explanation and hopefully a fix.

 

[nStyle]

Just wondering, aside from OP's problems, should there be any signal degradation in going from component to USB?

 

[peterjcat]

Just wondering, aside from OP's problems, should there be any signal degradation in going from component to USB?

Well -- on the EyeTV HD, between the component input and the USB output is the analog-to-digital conversion and encoding to H.264, which will always involve some compression and some loss of signal information. This process can be done well or badly -- it looks like the EyeTV HD is doing it relatively badly.

 

[nStyle]

Well -- on the EyeTV HD, between the component input and the USB output is the analog-to-digital conversion and encoding to H.264, which will always involve some compression and some loss of signal information. This process can be done well or badly -- it looks like the EyeTV HD is doing it relatively badly.

This is what I feared... What about HDMI? USB still doesn't transfer as fast as HDMI, and Elgato has an HDMI flavor, so I am curious about that as well.

I don't know why Apple doesn't include a proper tuner inside their computers, seeing as how they are known for all of their media power.

 

[coryndiego]

For what it's worth, I have the ElGato Hybrid USB and it works perfectly with my iMac and my C2D MBP 2.26.
maybe you should look into returning it and getting the USB Hybrid. It comes with the composite and coaxial connections. The recording of shows is the duty of the software. I added a couple screenshots.

I've hooked it up to my cable box and directly in through coaxial. They both work flawlessly.



One more thing. I recommend using Handbrake with the Apple TV2 preset to encode vs the ElGato encoder for Apple TV2. Handbrake outputs much better quality.

 

[nStyle]

Well the quality certainly looks right... I'm sure that is as good or better on your TV.

OP must have a defective unit.

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

Well the quality certainly looks right... I'm sure that is as good or better on your TV.

OP must have a defective unit.

Read the thread. The OP's unit might be defective, but he's got lots of company. Besides, the guy in the post you're probably replying to isn't using the EyeTV HD. His images are from a different device entirely. Also, I don't think the Hybrid can even encode HD. Its inputs are composite and s-video.

 

[peterjcat]

The Hybrid can do HD by passing through an unencrypted digital signal, so it's great for free TV. I had one that I used for 1080i FTA TV and it was superb. But for encrypted pay TV it will only encode an analogue signal to SD MPEG2. That's why you need an EyeTV HD to get HD from an encrypted pay TV service. Except that the HD isn't very HD.

I would love to see someone post an impressive example of the "crystal clear", "pristine", "superb" and "beautiful image quality" that the EyeTV HD is supposed to deliver.

 

[jeffburk]

Has anyone had any luck with Elgato support yet?

I found that the ghosting is most obviously demonstrated if you look at the on-screen guide. It's very soft, not sharp at all.

 

[coryndiego]

The Hybrid can record HD over the air, HD through coaxial and analog through the set-top box.
Since it refers to channel 2 or 3 when connected to a set to box it delivers an analog signal. I can see all the channels that the box does but just not in HD. I havent messed around much with it on the set top box but I'm hoping to find a way around it...somehow.

Im curious about the EyeTv HD too... Does anyone have video or more insight on the quality and overall usability? I went for the Hybrid due to the composite only inputs on the HD.

If anyone wants video from the hybrid, I'm glad to post...just let me know.


I've read great comments about ElGato taking faulty or defective equipment back with little question. If your HD is not working up to par look into sending it back.
El Gato has a pretty extensive forum. Check it out. http://forums.elgato.com/

 

[peterjcat]

Im curious about the EyeTv HD too... Does anyone have video or more insight on the quality and overall usability? I went for the Hybrid due to the composite only inputs on the HD.

You mean component inputs on the EyeTV HD -- these are the best possible connections for analogue TV and you need them if you want to maintain HD quality over an analogue connection.

In the case of the Hybrid, the coaxial connection can be HD for unencrypted digital channels but can only be SD for analogue output (and if channels are encrypted then the set-top box can only output them as analogue). As a result I don't think you're going to be able to get encrypted channels in HD quality out of the Hybrid. On the plus side, if you have unencrypted digital channels either OTA or through the cable box, the Hybrid would should work great on those.

In theory, a good component connection should be as good as HDMI and the EyeTV HD should be getting a near-perfect analogue signal from the STB. But something's going wrong either with the initial analogue-to-digital conversion or with the H.264 compression (or both). The results are as you see in this thread.

I'm hoping Elgato will fix this as I really like the setup, just not the quality. I've got two goals for the setup: one is to watch cable TV from anywhere on the iPhone/iPad, and the other is to record movies and stuff to watch later on the Mac or the Apple TV. The EyeTV HD is good for the first use because compressing to iPhone/iPad size irons out the problems -- but a Hybrid would probably be just as good. For the second use, only an EyeTV HD will provide the quality, but only if they fix it.

 

[coryndiego]

thanks for the correction...yes, component.

For me, I didnt want to give more money to Cox Communications for an extra box and tv connection. The Hybrid seemed to be the perfect solution. Cox does have about 15 unencrypted digital HD channels and 70 analog that can be picked up straight from the wall.

I did use a filter after searching for channels to help with some noise and picture distortion I was experiencing. Clear as clear now. The analog channels are pretty clear too....respectively.

If I read some better news on the EyeTv HD soon I may get one for the living room and ditch the DVR fees.

 

[jeffburk]

I sent a support request to Elgato about the fuzziness or ghosting on the Eye TV HD and got the following response:

Please try the following first, Change the following Settings in your Mac Under Preferences,-->Display-->Deinterlace Preferences

If you are not receiving the HD picture quality, my suggestion is to try and reinstall EyeTv software first, download the EyeTV Reporter Utility and uninstall the current version of EyeTV 3 from your Mac.​

I haven't tried this yet but will see if it helps.

 

[MyMac8MyPC]

Please try the following first, Change the following Settings in your Mac Under Preferences,-->Display-->Deinterlace Preferences​

LOL.... that's what I said back in post #48

It did help us, although it's not a night and day difference. We get the best picture making those changes (deinterlacing) ​

 

[Janak Parekh]

Another concurring voice here: I have the exact same ghosting problem, and this thread convinced me to register for MacRumors I have a little more data to add:

• I have a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme iMac.
• I am also using Verizon FiOS with a Motorola set-top box.
• Before I got the EyeTV HD, I was using the Hauppauge HD-PVR, which the EyeTV software supports. I switched because the HD-PVR takes too much CPU when streaming to the iPhone/iPad (since the Mac itself has to reencode the video).
• I had crystal-clear streaming quality from the HD-PVR. The image was very sharp and smooth, HD-caliber.
• The EyeTV HD has the same echo/ghosting effect as described by others in this thread.
• I tried replacing the thin cables it shipped with, with much higher-quality cable, and it makes zero difference.
• I've tried both 1080i and 720p from the Motorola set-top box. 1080i is slightly better, but ghosting is still clearly visible.
• The device is set to "Best" quality in EyeTV, outputting full 720p/1080i.

The quality is really disappointing. I'm debating whether to switch back to the HD-PVR. Hope this additional data helps. When I get a chance this week, I'll consider contacting Elgato.

--janak

 

[peterjcat]

Thanks Janak. I hope you have the time to file a support ticket with Elgato. The fact that they're still recommending that people try changing their deinterlacing settings is frustrating to say the least. They need to know that there's a real and widespread problem.

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

Another concurring voice here: I have the exact same ghosting problem, and this thread convinced me to register for MacRumors I have a little more data to add:

Thanks for registering and reporting your findings. I used to be able to suck files off my TiVo, but my cable provider now disallows that. So I'm in the market for hardware like this.

I'm now leaning to Hauppauge, but in the past some people have commented that the box was cheaply made. Do you have any opinion on that?

The Elgato software works well with either the HD-PVR or with the EyeTV HD, correct?

 

[peterjcat]

The Elgato software works well with either the HD-PVR or with the EyeTV HD, correct?

As far as I can see, the main difference is that the EyeTV software supports the EyeTV HD's IR blaster, allowing you to change channels from within EyeTV. It doesn't support the Hauppauge HD PVR's IR blaster for some reason, so if you want to change channels from EyeTV you'd need a separate IR solution like IRTrans or ZephIR. If you just want to capture already-recorded stuff then that won't matter and otherwise the EyeTV software seems to support the HD PVR well.