EyeTV for DTT: opinions!

[0098386]

Righty, if all goes to plan I'll be buying my EyeTV for DTT this Wednesday. Its £85 online or £89 from Selfridges. no much of a saving so I'll be getting it from Selfridges.

I have a theory, correct me if I'm wrong, that with EyeTV plugged into my PowerBook via USB, and then being sent to my 2005FPW monitor with DVI... that means a fully digital image. Should I expect an immaculate image? or am I just being silly somehow?

what is the quality like? does it all work right? just this is my replacement for a TV in my room so I need to know all the nitty gritty details about quality.

Signal wise I'm alright. we have a huge aerial on the roof, its fed around the house. My sister has a freeview box in her room that uses the same aerial and it says the signal is strong so all should be well there!

how is tvtv? after the first years subscription how much will I have to pay for another year?

thanks! just a few days left

 

[Will Cheyney]

I got my EyeTV for Christmas, and I'm very pleased with it so far.
The aerial that comes in the box is a little, weak, but like you will, I just use my houses nice big aerial

I play back the digital broadcast over my 29" CRT Sony television, and the picture is very clear.

tvtv wise, I was a little disappointed to discover that the EPG didn't work like the other Freeview boxes in my house. The guide is shown through your web browser instead of the traditional 'time bar' view that you do with any traditional digital television services (Freeview, Sky etc.).
Because of this, you can't use the EPG when in front of the TV - you have to go and sit at the computer. It's annoying, because the television listings could easily be picked up through the transmission as it does with a normal set-top-box. Infact, when you change channel it tells you what's on now and next proving that it is receiving listing information. I just wish the was an remote navigable EPG
So yeh, the EPG works perfectly, I just feel it's a little disjointed and clumsy.

Once the 12 month inclusive subscription runs out, it is £1.25/month.

 

[SpaceMagic]

Right then! This thread has been done before just SEARCH!

Anyway, I have one in Uni for my iBook - quality is excellent. I think the video is straight MPEG-2 meaning dvd quality. There are no issues with signal and a freeview box as there either is signal or isn't... 010101 or not. This means that you can often get a jittery image if there is weak signal.. but quality of the picture wont degrade. As you said already, signal wont be a problem.

I would also get it from Selfridges! Don't have to wait then (i'm really impatient).

Tvtv is excellent! From anywhere in the world i can tell my EyeTV to record something. It's really practical as, for example, over xmas we went skiing and i recorded everything onto my G5 left at home... whenever someone reminded me that a good program was on (which i hadn't already preset), i went online, clicked the record button next to the show, and when i got home two days ago, everything recorded!

Back to quality... i think its flawless on both my g5 and my ibook, the picture quality to my eye is dvd quality and sometimes better! (I dunno what it is, but i often see artifacts when there the film has black scenes on a dvd - you don't get this with the EyeTV for DTT).

The remote control for it is also excellent you can pretty much control every feature.

 

[dops7107]

Righty, if all goes to plan I'll be buying my EyeTV for DTT this Wednesday. Its £85 online or £89 from Selfridges. no much of a saving so I'll be getting it from Selfridges.

Gaaaa! Where did you find it online for £85? I got it from the Apple store for £98, but I haven't received it yet. Waiting in a Lynx depot for me to pick it up...

I live less than 2 miles from the Oxford transmitter so I hope (and am in fact relying on) that I can use the crabby antenna to receive my signal.

I have been doing some research this afternoon about general image quality on Freeview. I have had a DAB radio for my hi-fi for about three years now, and have seen the bit rates used tumble as more stations were crammed into the multiplex. The result is that each station sounded individually worse. I understand that recently some extra channels have been added onto the F\reeview multiplexes. I am not sure if this has resulted in a reduction in bandwidth for those channels already resident on the multiplex, but I think it has done. I'm trying hard to find some historical lists of bit rates for the past year or so.

I don't otherwise have Freeview but I have seen digital artefacts in general and, especially on large TV screens, I think the image is worse than analogue telly. Something the authorities don't advertise too much. I'm not talking blockiness here (which is bad in its own right), but the nasty JPEG-like artefacts around the edges of objects and in smooth coloured areas. Just don't expect the "perfect image" that the digital revolution has led us to believe. It's a lie to be honest, and I for one would be much happier if they got ris of the "lifestyle" stations (QVC, travel channels and equally vacuous rubbish) and saved the bandwidth for proper TV.

Generally speaking though I'm looking forward to being able to receive things like BBC3 and have the ability to record and put videos on my future iPod.

 

[Will Cheyney]

A question to anyone with an EyeTV DTT: Is there any way for the 'power' button on the remote to boot EyeTV if it isn't open?

 

[dops7107]

I'm trying hard to find some historical lists of bit rates for the past year or so.

Turns out that the multiplexes use "statmuxing" - that is the amount of bandwidth available to each channel varies dynamically, with the exception of BBC1, which I think has a constant bandwith of 6 Mb/s (for comparison, high quality DVD is 9 Mb/s). Some info here.

So... more channels = less bandwidth per channel, as suspected. Enjoy QVC!

 

[SpaceMagic]

Turns out that the multiplexes use "statmuxing" - that is the amount of bandwidth available to each channel varies dynamically, with the exception of BBC1, which I think has a constant bandwith of 6 Mb/s (for comparison, high quality DVD is 9 Mb/s). Some info here.

So... more channels = less bandwidth per channel, as suspected. Enjoy QVC!

As a Uni student, I would say QVC is the best channel on freeview ... i mean - come on!!! Who wouldn't want an all-in-one potatoe, carrot, brussell sprout peeler which flexes your abs too! Hehe!

 

[0098386]

brilliant! this is all good!

I'd love to get this earlier but because I cant put any money in the bank until wednesday I'm sorta stuck. I cant wait though! Trafford Centre here I come Assuming they have it... I browsed Manchester's Selfridges for a while looking for it but could only see it in the catalogue.

one more question... say my PowerBook is in sleep but the TV app is still running, is it possible to turn on the machine and jump to TV mode with the remote only? that would be awesome I must say.