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Quality of EyeTV Hybrid vs. EyeTV 250?

GUESS WHAT! I got my local public broadcasting station in HD!!! With the TERK TV5!

I still want NBC though... but, this HD quality is amazing... I so totally want a better antenna now!
 
skinnylegs said:
That's funny! That's exactly what I'm getting.....PBS in HD but nothing else. LOL
Click to expand...

Where do you live? Also, I think we both need bigger antennas. I'm surprised the Terk TV5 picked up this station because Antennaweb told me that I had no digital channels in my area.

Do you have an AIM screen name... I really wanna talk to you live.
 
I never thought I would say this, but PBS is really a leader in the free HD game. My favorite shows are NOVA and Nature. I love network tv but everytime there is any type of weather alert or fake amber alert they seem to drop my heroes out of HD just to show their info.
 
Multimedia... What do I need for an antenna if I wanna pick up a station that is 40 miles away? I really really want NBC to capture The Office with.
 
Spaz.....I *thought* I was only getting PBS but it appears that I'm getting NBC and a few other channels as well. My TERK says that it will pull in signals up to 45 miles away. Here is NBC in HD.....

hdnbcgv8.png
 
Here's what I am curious about.....

If I plug my cable into the Eye TV Hybrid, I get a *bunch* of channels but none of them are in HD. If I plug my TERK antenna into the Eye TV Hybrid, I only get about 5 channels but they are all in HD. Is there any way that I can feed both the cable and the antenna into the Eye TV Hybrid so I get the best of both worlds?
 
skinnylegs said:
Spaz.....I *thought* I was only getting PBS but it appears that I'm getting NBC and a few other channels as well. My TERK says that it will pull in signals up to 45 miles away. Here is NBC in HD.....

hdnbcgv8.png
Click to expand...

Wow, I might wanna get the same Terk you have. I'm about 40 miles from NBC and I wanna get it! How far are you from your channels? Did you have to point your antenna in different areas and re-scan?
 
I'm not really sure how far I am away from the antenna. How can I tell? I paid about $75 for the antenna at Best Buy. I didn't have to point the antenna in different directions. I simply pointed it out my window. I will say this....the antenna is 'kinda big.
 
skinnylegs said:
I'm not really sure how far I am away from the antenna. How can I tell? I paid about $75 for the antenna at Best Buy. I didn't have to point the antenna in different directions. I simply pointed it out my window. I will say this....the antenna is 'kinda big.
Click to expand...

Enter your address at www.antennaweb.org to find out what's available in your area.
 
I've got one of these and it pulls in digital signals from 25-30 miles away, 9 in all, 4 of which are HD. I recommended one to a friend and he is having similar luck, pulling in 16 digital channels (lives in a different area). It's worth a look.

BB
 
Well, based on the info on this thread, and the link to Amazon for the antennae, I've just bought a Hybrid & the antennae combo! I already have an EyeTV 200, but want to start getting HD content as well.

I also have an EyeHome unit. Anyone know offhand if I can stream HD content through that? I'm on a wired LAN, not wireless.

The Hybrid should be here by Friday, the antennae by the middle of nect week. Thanks!!
 
Well, both the Hybrid and the Terk antennae showed up yesterday, so I played around with them for a bit last night and this morning. I finally managed to get the auto-tune to find about a dozen channels, many in HD but not all (some seem to just be a multi-cast from the NBC affiliate, like an all-weather broadcast).

All of this is connected to my G4 Mini, and the performance isn't very good so far. Thing is, I can't tell if it's a reception problem or a computer problem. I'm not trying to record, just watch HD channels (so far!) and it's really choppy. All of my local stations are in the same direction (due North), but I can't quite tell which way to pint the Terk. Is it omni-directional?

Also, after it completes the auto-tune sequence, and I let the guide load as well (TitanTV) it's channel lineup is nothing like what I see for actual channels. I see PBS, CBS, NBC and Fox, but I have more channels than that showing. Is that typical, or is there another setting in TitanTV somewhere that would show the over-the-air channels?

Thanks!
 
I'm having a weird problem with my Hybrid now. All of a sudden... today all of my analog channels have these white lines that slowly rise to the top of the picture. EVERY channel is doing this in certain degrees. I have not changed any cables around or anything and last night those lines weren't there. I wiggled things around and tried different USB ports and everything and I can't get rid of these annoying lines. Now it seems like the lines are worse. Is there anything that I can do to improve the quality of my Analog channels? The channels come in clear except for these stupid lines. Also, I checked my TV and the lines are not appearing on my TV. I also tried replacing coaxial cables to make sure I didn't have a bad cable and nothing is working.

See attached image for what I'm talking about.
 

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Gerg said:
Well, both the Hybrid and the Terk antennae showed up yesterday, so I played around with them for a bit last night and this morning. I finally managed to get the auto-tune to find about a dozen channels, many in HD but not all (some seem to just be a multi-cast from the NBC affiliate, like an all-weather broadcast).

All of this is connected to my G4 Mini, and the performance isn't very good so far. Thing is, I can't tell if it's a reception problem or a computer problem. I'm not trying to record, just watch HD channels (so far!) and it's really choppy. All of my local stations are in the same direction (due North), but I can't quite tell which way to pint the Terk. Is it omni-directional?

Also, after it completes the auto-tune sequence, and I let the guide load as well (TitanTV) it's channel lineup is nothing like what I see for actual channels. I see PBS, CBS, NBC and Fox, but I have more channels than that showing. Is that typical, or is there another setting in TitanTV somewhere that would show the over-the-air channels?
Click to expand...
You have to call Titan and complain. I have the number. 800.365.7628 Kelley. Then you have to email El Gato to get them to fix it on their end as well.

Yes over the air is another second of Titan. You can combine off-air and cable can't you?

The choppy HD playback is because G4 is too weak. Didn't you read the minimum specs before you bought it?

Macintosh® with a PowerPC® G4, G5 or Intel Core® processor
256 MB of physical RAM (512 MB recommended)
a built-in USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.4 or later. Internet connection required to download Program Guide data.
Note: 720p or 1080i HD features require a Dual PowerPC G5 or an Intel Core Duo processor. Analog TV recorded via software encoder, quality depends on CPU performance.

I recommend you sell your mini and buy a 1.83GHz CD mini refurb.

TheSpaz said:
GUESS WHAT! I got my local public broadcasting station in HD!!! With the TERK TV5!

I still want NBC though... but, this HD quality is amazing... I so totally want a better antenna now!
Click to expand...
You may have to twist the Terk to get NBC. I have to move mine to get PBS while a different position for the commercial networks.

Use The Signal Meter In EyeTV's Preferences —> Devices —> Signal Pane To See Other Channels' Quality and Strength. Twist the Terk antenna as you auto tune to get all of them in one auto-tune session. Will take some multiple auto-tune attempts to get them all. But you can do it. Then move the antenna according to what channel you want to watch. You can also have a small window open as you choose a channel with the virtual remote on screen to watch its reception working along with the Quality will always be 100% and Strength 60% to 85% works.

You have to learn which position is right for each channel by writing down which one gets auto tuned in which position each attempt until you undersand how to move the antennae as it auto tunes by planning your twists according to the order they are captured from low frequencies to higher frequencies. The interface will not let you add frequencies. You must learn how to auto tune while moving the Terk antennae so you get them all in one auto-tune session.

TIP: Try turning the Terk on its side and point it out the window on the inside window sill by setting it on a box with dimension of about 2-3" x 10" x 10" facing out the window - i.e. the . That's the way I use my Terk all the time. From the outside you are looking at the dual aluminum squares facing out and you can rotate them 360° because that part of the Terk is hanging off the side between the top of the box and the window. Box needs to be big enough square to allow full rotation of the dual squares.
 
TheSpaz said:
Does anyone know if the picture quality would be higher on the EyeTV Hybrid vs. the Hardware Encoding limitations of the EyeTV 250? Like... I have a really fast computer, can I encode at top notch quality on the Hybrid, that way I get the maximum picture clarity? Basically what I'm asking is... is the computer encoding superior to the hardware encoding in some way?
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I have the 200 and Hybrid, but the 200 and 250 should be close. When both are hooked up to the same analog cable, the picture created by the 200 is far crisper than the hybrid. I ran the test on a G5 Dual 2.0GHZ. The hybrid's digital quality is great. I would recommend going with the 250 with hardware encoding if you're not concerned about the HD picture.
 
Multimedia said:
Yes over the air is another second of Titan. You can combine off-air and cable can't you?

The choppy HD playback is because G4 is too weak. Didn't you read the minimum specs before you bought it?
Click to expand...

What do you mean by combining off-air & cable? In TitanTV or in the EyeTV software somewhere?

I figured the Mini was the problem, but I also wanted to work with the Hybrid for a bit, and I'm hoping Apple comes out with an upgrade to the Mini fairly soon. (Are you listening, Mr. Jobs? ;))
 
I have found that my hybrid downgrades itself when I am using my PB g4 vs my mini. I am watching live at 1/4 HD but it looks fine to me. Does this happen to anyone else? It is wide screen and better quality than everything else.

On another note, my mini has been shocking the hell out of me when I connect the hybrid and the antenna. We are not talking about static! I have taken a few 120 jolts in my day. It wasn't that bad, but it really makes me worry. It never happened until the hybrid install. It doesn't happen with any other of my macs. I am about to buy a house :D so I will do a comparison when I get there, but that is weird!!!!!
 
Are you able to just record in the background?

I'm running a G4 Mac Mini (I intend on getting a new Mac when Leopard is released, most likely an iMac and I'll go dual head with my 20" display).

I'm getting ready to ditch my cable box and go HDTV OTA to my plasma (testing antennas right now and running cable to my attic too mount the antenna).

I intend on splitting the antenna and going to a EyeTV Hybrid. I would like to record in 720p but with my Mac Mini G4, what is the best I could do for recording quality?

Since I'm ditching my cable box, I'm going to buy an Apple TV to playback all my recorded EyeTV content in addtion to any content I buy from the iTMS.

Can I record in 480p on a G4?
 
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