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Living and Dying with EyeTV

M

mattraehl

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 26, 2005
384
1
First things first: I love EyeTV. I use an EyeTV Hybrid with a 24" iMac and an OTA antenna for my television needs. The HD looks beautiful on the iMac, I watch TV on my schedule, and I can do whatever I want with my recordings - iPod, DVD, send to a friend, archive, etc. I've never seen the software crash, and never missed a scheduled recording. And no monthly fee!

That being said, I am wondering if anyone on here has experience upgrading from EyeTV 2 to EyeTV 3. Some of the new features look nice - translucent on-screen menu, smart lists/smart recording, improved editing, etc. However I'm more interested in some key bug/quirk fixes:

Watching something you're recording - does EyeTV 3 still jump to live when a recording is complete? Example - I set a program to record from 9-10. At 9:30, I start watching the recording. At 10, I'm roughly halfway through, the recording finishes, and EyeTV jumps to live television on that channel! It's a minor annoyance when watching a scripted show, but really hair-pulling with sports, because suddenly you see the score 15 minutes later in the game, and it ruins it! The worst part is that once you're in this situation, the only thing you can do is set the current program to record (whatever came after the game), then go back to your recorded game. THEN when that's over, go to the second recording. If I'm watching a live recording, when it ends, it should just start putting live TV in the buffer!

If I'm watching buffered live TV, and a scheduled recording starts, I lose the buffer and I'm immediately forced to watch the recording.

Hitting record during a live recording - strangely sets several subsequent programs to record. Sometimes it picks up what's in the buffer (if you're, say, 15 minutes into a show then decide to record), sometimes not.

Elgato website FAQ on EyeTV still says that using two tuners together is an experimental/unsupported feature. Still true for EyeTV 3? I would gladly pay $150 for another EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 3 if I knew this was a supported feature that worked well. Has anyone tried this?

Unrelated - Has anyone found a way to plug an EyeTV tuner into Apple TV, and get all the functionality? Because I'm now hooked on EyeTV functionality, and if I want a TV bigger than 24", it looks like my options are buy a Mac Mini (pricey, overkill, and possibly going extinct), or keeping my iMac close enough to my TV to run a video cable to the TV, and have EyeTV play on the TV. (I believe there is a setting in EyeTV for this)

Cheers,
Matt
 
>does EyeTV 3 still jump to live when a recording is complete?
Yes and i like it.
Imagine the other case I had a couple of times.
There is a follow-up recording on 09:45 on a different channel which would destroy the buffer.
And the 9:10-9:30 is delayed and would finish at 09:40.
You don't know about the delay when you start.
But at 09:30, when you are half through, you are reminded to check, if the broadcast has finished already. If not, you can start another recording.

But I see your point with sports. Actually I'm always in fast-forward mode. I'm just to impatiant :)


The most important changes between version2 und 3 for me were:
- The option to record all items of an intelligen EPG list didn't work so well in 2...know it works.
- version2 didn't automatically reload my EPG from satellite very well. I always needed to trigger the download from the satellite-channels.
Now the EPG is almost up to date every time.
-It is possible to delete a recording that I just saw with the remote control.
In version2 it said, that it couldn't do it because the file is opened - DUH.
 
mheidt said:
>does EyeTV 3 still jump to live when a recording is complete?
Yes and i like it.
Imagine the other case I had a couple of times.
There is a follow-up recording on 09:45 on a different channel which would destroy the buffer.
And the 9:10-9:30 is delayed and would finish at 09:40.
You don't know about the delay when you start.
But at 09:30, when you are half through, you are reminded to check, if the broadcast has finished already. If not, you can start another recording.
Click to expand...
Well, that's dissapointing.

I see what you're saying, but the only reason you like this behavior is because of another one of the problems I listed - that the buffer gets toasted when a scheduled recording kicks in. There are two simple things EyeTV should do in these cases.

1) When you're watching buffered live TV, and a recording starts, it should show a message on the screen that says something like "Scheduled recording such and such started, XX minutes of live TV buffer remaining" and leave you to watch your remaining buffer.

2) When you're watching a buffered recording, and the recording ends, it should show a message on screen that says "Recording such and such is completed."
 
omni said:
Do you need an external HD antenna for EyeTV?
Click to expand...

EyeTV works with basic cable, unencrypted digital cable (Clear QAM), and over the air analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) broadcasts. If you don't have cable, you do need an antenna to use EyeTV. You might need anything from rabbit ears to a big honkin' multi-element outdoor antenna depending on where you live. Despite what the folks at electronics stores would want you to believe, there is no such thing as an "HD antenna." Any VHF/UHF antenna will receive digital broadcasts, including HD.
 
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