Elgato
Encyclopedia
ElgatoSystems is a hardware and software manufacturer that makes television viewing and recording products specifically for the Macintosh
family of personal computers, including EyeTV software. Founded in 1992 by Markus Fest, also known as the creator of the Toast
CD-burning software for Macintosh, Elgato is a privately held company based in Germany with US offices in San Francisco, California.
Elgato's first EyeTV product was unveiled on September 29th at the 2002 Macworld
Expo in New York. Made of white plastic and roughly the size of a paperback book, the $199 device was USB 1.1-based and had an analog
NTSC
TV tuner. While it could only record in the lesser-quality MPEG-1
format, the EyeTV was the first Macintosh-based TV tuner to offer the highly-coveted TiVo
-like ability to 'pause and replay' live TV. It was also the first Mac-based TV tuner to partner with TitanTV, a free online TV-programming guide, to permit the scheduled recording of upcoming TV shows. The EyeTV's (identically-named) software was easy to use and configure, letting users choose different recording settings, and different viewable-TV window sizes, including full-screen. And because virtually any recent (G3
or better) Mac could process the MPEG-1 format without difficulty, even the EyeTV's lesser-quality capabilities worked in its favor. Now discontinued.
Released in November 2003, EyeTV 400 enabled European and UK Mac users to watch and record unencrypted Digital Terrestrial Television, or DVB-T
on a Mac. Transmits data to the computer via a FireWire 400 port. Now discontinued.
Elgato's second-generation EyeTV product. Unveiled January 6, 2004 at the Macworld
Expo, San Francisco. Whereas the original EyeTV used a 12Mbit/s USB 1.1-connection and was thus limited to MPEG-1 only, the EyeTV 200 featured the much higher bandwidth of 400Mbit/s FireWire, and could easily support recording to DVD
-quality MPEG-2
. In addition, the EyeTV 200 possessed much-expanded D.V.R. (digital video recording
) capabilities, a.k.a. PVR (Private Video Recording). The EyeTV 200 also featured a new, trade-size silver housing with a red IR lens on the front for the included remote. Among its many accolades, on December 13th, 2004, the EyeTV 200 won Macworld
's Editors' Choice Award for Hardware of the Year. Now discontinued.
Unveiled June 29th, 2004 at the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.
The EyeTV 500 was identical to the EyeTV 200 in most respects, but featured ATSC HDTV capability instead of the 200's standard-definition NTSC
. While the EyeTV 500 could display an HDTV signal on a G4-based Mac, a G5 or better was required for hi-def recording and advanced DVR
/PVR functionality. Now discontinued.
Released in June 2004, the EyeTV 310 replaced the EyeTV 300. It enables European and UK customers to receive unencrypted Digital Satellite Television, or DVB-S
, on a Mac, and includes a Common Interface (CI) for PayTV. Transmits data to the computer via a FireWire 400 port.
Now discontinued, (but as of mid-September 2009, the EyeTV 310 was still available from Elgato's Online Store, via various 'backdoor/residual' URL's on the company's website.)
EyeTV models 300 and 310 sold before the end of 2007 were built to receive DVB-S signals ONLY and cannot receive/decode more recently introduced DVB-S2 signals.
However, a relatively unknown fact, (and somewhat unannounced by Elgato), concerning later production Eye TV 310 receivers was that EyeTV 310 units sold via Elgato's online store from the beginning of 2008 were capable of receiving both DVB-S and DVB-S2 signals.
As for EyeTV 310 units sold from the beginning of 2008 by retailers, it was immediately discovered that it was impossible to determine if any of these units could additionally receive DVB-S2 signals just by physically inspecting any such device.
To determine if an Eye TV 310 receiver is capable of receiving DVB-S2 signals, the unit must be connected to a Mac and interrogated via Mac OS X's System Profiler Application. (The System Profiler Application can be found in Applications->Utilities).
If the unit is recognized as “EyeTV 310” within the Hardware > FireWire section, then it can only receive DVB-S signals.
If the unit is recognized as “EyeTV 320”, it is capable of additionally receiving DVB-S2 signals as well as DVB-S signals.
Note: Generally, DVB-S2 signals are broadcast from most satellite providers in the MPEG-4 (H.264) format.
Elgato's 'EyeTV' PVR Software v3.0.3 or higher is required to support and display this video format.
Released in September 2004 at Apple Expo Paris, EyeTV 410 replaced the EyeTV 400. It is a DVB-T
receiver for the European and UK market, and includes a Common Interface (CI) slot for Pay TV. EyeTV 410 has won a number of awards, including MacUser UK's 2005 Best Video Device, MacWorld UK's Reader's Choice award in both 2005 and 2006. Transmits data to the computer via a FireWire 400 port.
In November 2004 Elgato released EyeTV 610, the world's first digital TV recorder for digital cable television (DVB-C) and PayTV on the Mac, for the European/UK market. The product was apparently discontinued in November 2007; however, there are apparently limited supplies still available.
Elgato introduced the new EyeTV Sat Receiver on June 29, 2009. Immediately available for purchase from Elgato's online store, this latest receiver from Elgato replaced the EyeTV 310 in an all-new all-plastic form factor which was smaller, lighter and cheaper than the 310.
Functionally identical to the EyeTV 310 in concept, the EyeTV Sat differs only by delivering all DVB-S and DVB-S2 video streams directly to the Mac via USB 2.0 - instead of Firewire400.
For switchers, it also offers a complete Windows solution in the form of TerraTec Home Cinema software.
As per the EyeTV 310, the EyeTV Sat has a built-in CI slot to enable Pay TV programming with an appropriate subscription module and comes with Elgato's bundled EyeTV 3.0 PVR Software and IR Remote.
A joint venture between Elgato and ATI Technologies
, using a USB 2.0-based ATI external analog tuner plus Elgato's EyeTV software. Released in January 2005, now discontinued.
A joint venture between Elgato and TerraTec
, using a USB 2.0-based TerraTec external analog tuner plus Elgato's EyeTV software. Released in September 2005, now discontinued.
A smaller-sized, analog TV tuner with hardware encoding to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. Can also be used to digitize VHS
videocassettes or connect video game consoles (i.e. Nintendo
's GameCube, Microsoft
's Xbox
, etc.) Released in April 2006 for US $199. It is being distributed in Japan under the Roxio
brand instead. Sonic Solutions
, the company that owns the Roxio brand, has exclusive distribution rights in Japan by an agreement with Elgato Systems. Transmits data to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.
Similar in form and function to the EyeTV 250, the EyeTV 250 Plus receives both digital and analogue TV (rather than just analogue), released in summer 2007, for $199/€199/£139.
Originally released in 2005 in a small TV-box format, EyeTV for DTT
switched to a USB stick format in July 2006. For the reception of free-to-view DVB-T
(or in the UK, Freeview). Winner of the MacUser 2006 Reader's Choice award for Best Video device.
Originally released in 2008, EyeTV for DTT
Deluxe is a minuscule USB TV tuner stick for the reception of free-to-view DVB-T
(or in the UK, Freeview). The initial version was silver and only 57 mm in length (the size of a large USB plug, e.g. as found on some WACOM tablets) and 9 mm deep. The stick is full-featured, including not only an infrared receiver for the included remote control, but also coming with numerous plug adapters, a telescope antenna and a larger one.
In October 2009 a new, black revision was released of a mere 35 mm length (as small as a USB plug), but retaining the previous version's functionality.
This is a 2-in-1 device with ATSC HDTV capability, plus NTSC
standard-definition analog. Also available in DVB-T
/PAL
for the international market. Software encoder - uses the Mac's processor to encode the signal. Several versions have been produced over the years in this series, the newer versions can also decode/receive digital cable TV (clear QAM/DVB-C) and FM radio. Transmits data to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.
Released in October 2006 at MacExpo
London, EyeTV Diversity, designed and manufactured by Hauppauge (WinTV-Nova-TD) is the world's first application of Antenna Diversity
technology in a TV tuner for the Mac. In Diversity mode, the device can receive DVB-T
signals deep indoors and at speeds of up to 160 km/h. In Dual-Tuner mode, the device becomes two conventional DVB-T tuners, enabling the user to watch two different TV channels at the same time Picture-in-Picture
, or watch one channel and record another simultaneously. Transmits data to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.
An Ethernet network attached device, designed and manufactured by SiliconDust, the HDHomeRun (HDHR) provides two ATSC and QAM compatible tuners to any computer on the network with enough bandwidth to receive the data stream. Gigabit Ethernet is recommended (to maximize efficiency of the 100Mb top speed), although wireless connectivity with 802.11n is possible. The HDHR works simply by transforming MPEG-2 transport stream packets into UDP
network packets. The HDHR acquires its local IP address via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
. It is powered by 5 volts DC at 2.0 amperes. It was sold by Elgato with two licenses of EyeTV included. It is no longer available through Elgato but still a current product for SiliconDust.
In implementation, the EyeHome hardware connects via composite
, S-Video
, or component
jacks to a TV or stereo, and then "bridges" to a Mac via 10/100 Ethernet
, either directly by cable or by using an 802.11g wireless router (802.11b can be used, but only for audio files and pictures - no video). The software then installs on the Mac - or multiple Macs, with a separate installation of the software needed for each. Supported media formats include MPEG-1
, MPEG-2
, MPEG-4
, AAC
, MP3
, JPEG
s, GIF
s, and even DivX
with subtitles.
The EyeHome was unveiled January 6, 2004 at the Macworld
Expo in San Francisco, and is basically identical in appearance to the EyeTV 200, even featuring the same IR lens on the front for an included remote. Initial reviews of the device were mixed, but focused mostly on the shortcomings and limitations of the software. The device continues to sell, however, and as of mid-2006, the EyeHome software stands at version 1.8, including support for iLife
'06 as well as Universal Binary
coding for Apple's new Intel systems (see external links). Now discontinued, likely due to its functional similarity to the Apple TV (albeit the Apple TV has narrower support for different media types).
The EyeHome hardware is compatible with other Syabas-based media servers. The open-source wizd software (among others) can be used to server content to the EyeHome hardware.
In May 2009 Turbo.264 HD was introduced. It supports High-definition video
encoding.
is to show the Tuner's received TV programs on the computer screen. It can show live programs and also offers Time shifting
. It can record programs permanently to disk, by pre-programming. It is able to wake up a sleeping Mac automatically just before the programmed time for a recording. Recorded video can be edited, i.e. scenes can be cut out or extracted without loss of quality. For most countries it is sold in it offers an Electronic program guide
covering all available channels. After a recording, the movie can be automatically re-encoded fitting specific formats such as Apple TV, iPhone
, iPod
, Sony PSP and others, optionally making use of Turbo.264 for faster processing. Re-encoded video does not, however, include DVB subtitles.
(UPnP) software which allows users to stream media content, including Apple iLife
files and/or EyeTV recordings, from a computer to a separate TV or stereo system.
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
family of personal computers, including EyeTV software. Founded in 1992 by Markus Fest, also known as the creator of the Toast
Roxio Toast
Roxio Toast is an Optical disc authoring and media conversion software application for Mac OS X. Its name is a play on the word burn, a term used for the writing of information onto a disc through the use of a laser....
CD-burning software for Macintosh, Elgato is a privately held company based in Germany with US offices in San Francisco, California.
1st EyeTV (aka EyeTV USB)
Elgato's first EyeTV product was unveiled on September 29th at the 2002 Macworld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
Expo in New York. Made of white plastic and roughly the size of a paperback book, the $199 device was USB 1.1-based and had an analog
Analog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
TV tuner. While it could only record in the lesser-quality MPEG-1
MPEG-1
MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...
format, the EyeTV was the first Macintosh-based TV tuner to offer the highly-coveted TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
-like ability to 'pause and replay' live TV. It was also the first Mac-based TV tuner to partner with TitanTV, a free online TV-programming guide, to permit the scheduled recording of upcoming TV shows. The EyeTV's (identically-named) software was easy to use and configure, letting users choose different recording settings, and different viewable-TV window sizes, including full-screen. And because virtually any recent (G3
PowerPC G3
The PowerPC 7xx is a family of third generation 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors designed and manufactured by IBM and Motorola . This family is called the PowerPC G3 by its well-known customer Apple Computer...
or better) Mac could process the MPEG-1 format without difficulty, even the EyeTV's lesser-quality capabilities worked in its favor. Now discontinued.
EyeTV 400
Released in November 2003, EyeTV 400 enabled European and UK Mac users to watch and record unencrypted Digital Terrestrial Television, or DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
on a Mac. Transmits data to the computer via a FireWire 400 port. Now discontinued.
EyeTV 200 - FireWire D.V.R.
Elgato's second-generation EyeTV product. Unveiled January 6, 2004 at the Macworld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
Expo, San Francisco. Whereas the original EyeTV used a 12Mbit/s USB 1.1-connection and was thus limited to MPEG-1 only, the EyeTV 200 featured the much higher bandwidth of 400Mbit/s FireWire, and could easily support recording to DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
-quality MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
. In addition, the EyeTV 200 possessed much-expanded D.V.R. (digital video recording
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
) capabilities, a.k.a. PVR (Private Video Recording). The EyeTV 200 also featured a new, trade-size silver housing with a red IR lens on the front for the included remote. Among its many accolades, on December 13th, 2004, the EyeTV 200 won Macworld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
's Editors' Choice Award for Hardware of the Year. Now discontinued.
EyeTV 500 - HDTV P.V.R.
Unveiled June 29th, 2004 at the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.
The EyeTV 500 was identical to the EyeTV 200 in most respects, but featured ATSC HDTV capability instead of the 200's standard-definition NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
. While the EyeTV 500 could display an HDTV signal on a G4-based Mac, a G5 or better was required for hi-def recording and advanced DVR
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
/PVR functionality. Now discontinued.
EyeTV 310
Released in June 2004, the EyeTV 310 replaced the EyeTV 300. It enables European and UK customers to receive unencrypted Digital Satellite Television, or DVB-S
DVB-S
DVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
, on a Mac, and includes a Common Interface (CI) for PayTV. Transmits data to the computer via a FireWire 400 port.
Now discontinued, (but as of mid-September 2009, the EyeTV 310 was still available from Elgato's Online Store, via various 'backdoor/residual' URL's on the company's website.)
EyeTV models 300 and 310 sold before the end of 2007 were built to receive DVB-S signals ONLY and cannot receive/decode more recently introduced DVB-S2 signals.
However, a relatively unknown fact, (and somewhat unannounced by Elgato), concerning later production Eye TV 310 receivers was that EyeTV 310 units sold via Elgato's online store from the beginning of 2008 were capable of receiving both DVB-S and DVB-S2 signals.
As for EyeTV 310 units sold from the beginning of 2008 by retailers, it was immediately discovered that it was impossible to determine if any of these units could additionally receive DVB-S2 signals just by physically inspecting any such device.
To determine if an Eye TV 310 receiver is capable of receiving DVB-S2 signals, the unit must be connected to a Mac and interrogated via Mac OS X's System Profiler Application. (The System Profiler Application can be found in Applications->Utilities).
If the unit is recognized as “EyeTV 310” within the Hardware > FireWire section, then it can only receive DVB-S signals.
If the unit is recognized as “EyeTV 320”, it is capable of additionally receiving DVB-S2 signals as well as DVB-S signals.
Note: Generally, DVB-S2 signals are broadcast from most satellite providers in the MPEG-4 (H.264) format.
Elgato's 'EyeTV' PVR Software v3.0.3 or higher is required to support and display this video format.
EyeTV 410
Released in September 2004 at Apple Expo Paris, EyeTV 410 replaced the EyeTV 400. It is a DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
receiver for the European and UK market, and includes a Common Interface (CI) slot for Pay TV. EyeTV 410 has won a number of awards, including MacUser UK's 2005 Best Video Device, MacWorld UK's Reader's Choice award in both 2005 and 2006. Transmits data to the computer via a FireWire 400 port.
EyeTV 610
In November 2004 Elgato released EyeTV 610, the world's first digital TV recorder for digital cable television (DVB-C) and PayTV on the Mac, for the European/UK market. The product was apparently discontinued in November 2007; however, there are apparently limited supplies still available.
EyeTV Sat
Elgato introduced the new EyeTV Sat Receiver on June 29, 2009. Immediately available for purchase from Elgato's online store, this latest receiver from Elgato replaced the EyeTV 310 in an all-new all-plastic form factor which was smaller, lighter and cheaper than the 310.
Functionally identical to the EyeTV 310 in concept, the EyeTV Sat differs only by delivering all DVB-S and DVB-S2 video streams directly to the Mac via USB 2.0 - instead of Firewire400.
For switchers, it also offers a complete Windows solution in the form of TerraTec Home Cinema software.
As per the EyeTV 310, the EyeTV Sat has a built-in CI slot to enable Pay TV programming with an appropriate subscription module and comes with Elgato's bundled EyeTV 3.0 PVR Software and IR Remote.
EyeTV Wonder
A joint venture between Elgato and ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
, using a USB 2.0-based ATI external analog tuner plus Elgato's EyeTV software. Released in January 2005, now discontinued.
EyeTV EZ
A joint venture between Elgato and TerraTec
TerraTec
TerraTec Electronic GmbH is a German manufacturer of sound cards, computer speakers, webcams, computer mice, video grabbers and TV tuner cards....
, using a USB 2.0-based TerraTec external analog tuner plus Elgato's EyeTV software. Released in September 2005, now discontinued.
EyeTV 250
A smaller-sized, analog TV tuner with hardware encoding to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. Can also be used to digitize VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
videocassettes or connect video game consoles (i.e. Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's GameCube, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, etc.) Released in April 2006 for US $199. It is being distributed in Japan under the Roxio
Roxio
Roxio is a division and brand of Sonic Solutions . Roxio branded products are sold online, through over 15,000 retail outlets, to organizations through volume license agreements and pre-loaded onto OEM PC's and devices...
brand instead. Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions, acquired by Rovi Corporation in 2010, was a computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia.-History:...
, the company that owns the Roxio brand, has exclusive distribution rights in Japan by an agreement with Elgato Systems. Transmits data to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.
EyeTV 250 Plus
Similar in form and function to the EyeTV 250, the EyeTV 250 Plus receives both digital and analogue TV (rather than just analogue), released in summer 2007, for $199/€199/£139.
EyeTV for DTT
Originally released in 2005 in a small TV-box format, EyeTV for DTT
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
switched to a USB stick format in July 2006. For the reception of free-to-view DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
(or in the UK, Freeview). Winner of the MacUser 2006 Reader's Choice award for Best Video device.
EyeTV for DTT Deluxe
Originally released in 2008, EyeTV for DTT
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
Deluxe is a minuscule USB TV tuner stick for the reception of free-to-view DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
(or in the UK, Freeview). The initial version was silver and only 57 mm in length (the size of a large USB plug, e.g. as found on some WACOM tablets) and 9 mm deep. The stick is full-featured, including not only an infrared receiver for the included remote control, but also coming with numerous plug adapters, a telescope antenna and a larger one.
In October 2009 a new, black revision was released of a mere 35 mm length (as small as a USB plug), but retaining the previous version's functionality.
EyeTV Hybrid
This is a 2-in-1 device with ATSC HDTV capability, plus NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
standard-definition analog. Also available in DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
/PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
for the international market. Software encoder - uses the Mac's processor to encode the signal. Several versions have been produced over the years in this series, the newer versions can also decode/receive digital cable TV (clear QAM/DVB-C) and FM radio. Transmits data to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.
EyeTV Diversity
Released in October 2006 at MacExpo
MacExpo
MacExpo is a trade show dedicated to the Apple Macintosh and iPod held annually in London, United Kingdom at the Olympia exhibition centre. It's a major part of Apple's calender. In 2005, the show attracted 25,000 visitors and 185 exhibitors. Many large corporations attend the show including...
London, EyeTV Diversity, designed and manufactured by Hauppauge (WinTV-Nova-TD) is the world's first application of Antenna Diversity
Antenna diversity
Antenna diversity, also known as space diversity, is any one of several wireless diversity schemes that uses two or more antennas to improve the quality and reliability of a wireless link. Often, especially in urban and indoor environments, there is no clear line-of-sight between transmitter and...
technology in a TV tuner for the Mac. In Diversity mode, the device can receive DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
signals deep indoors and at speeds of up to 160 km/h. In Dual-Tuner mode, the device becomes two conventional DVB-T tuners, enabling the user to watch two different TV channels at the same time Picture-in-Picture
Picture-in-picture
Picture in Picture is a feature of some television receivers and similar devices. One program is displayed on the full TV screen at the same time as one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. Sound is usually from the main program only.Picture in Picture requires two independent...
, or watch one channel and record another simultaneously. Transmits data to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.
HDHomeRun
An Ethernet network attached device, designed and manufactured by SiliconDust, the HDHomeRun (HDHR) provides two ATSC and QAM compatible tuners to any computer on the network with enough bandwidth to receive the data stream. Gigabit Ethernet is recommended (to maximize efficiency of the 100Mb top speed), although wireless connectivity with 802.11n is possible. The HDHR works simply by transforming MPEG-2 transport stream packets into UDP
User Datagram Protocol
The User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet Protocol Suite, the set of network protocols used for the Internet. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an Internet Protocol network without requiring...
network packets. The HDHR acquires its local IP address via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network configuration protocol for hosts on Internet Protocol networks. Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before they can communicate with other hosts. The most essential information needed is an IP address, and a default...
. It is powered by 5 volts DC at 2.0 amperes. It was sold by Elgato with two licenses of EyeTV included. It is no longer available through Elgato but still a current product for SiliconDust.
EyeTV HD
Released in summer 2010, this box can record HD and SD video from an analog source. Recording is done via component video or via composite/s-video via the included breakout cable. It retails for $199. It comes with EyeTV 3, IR blaster, and remote. The capture card can record up to 1080i and can also record SD video. EyeTV HD is one of few consumer level Mac HD capture cards.EyeHome
Elgato's EyeHome is a hardware- and software-based digital media player that allows users to view their music, photos and video (including EyeTV content) on their televisions or home entertainment centers.In implementation, the EyeHome hardware connects via composite
Composite video
Composite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...
, S-Video
S-Video
Separate Video, more commonly known as S-Video and Y/C, is often referred to by JVC as both an S-VHS connector and as Super Video. It is an analog video transmission scheme, in which video information is encoded on two channels: luma and chroma...
, or component
Component video
Component video is a video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals...
jacks to a TV or stereo, and then "bridges" to a Mac via 10/100 Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
, either directly by cable or by using an 802.11g wireless router (802.11b can be used, but only for audio files and pictures - no video). The software then installs on the Mac - or multiple Macs, with a separate installation of the software needed for each. Supported media formats include MPEG-1
MPEG-1
MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...
, MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
, MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
, AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
, MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
s, GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
s, and even DivX
DivX
DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. , including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.There are two DivX codecs; the regular MPEG-4 Part 2 DivX codec and the...
with subtitles.
The EyeHome was unveiled January 6, 2004 at the Macworld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
Expo in San Francisco, and is basically identical in appearance to the EyeTV 200, even featuring the same IR lens on the front for an included remote. Initial reviews of the device were mixed, but focused mostly on the shortcomings and limitations of the software. The device continues to sell, however, and as of mid-2006, the EyeHome software stands at version 1.8, including support for iLife
ILife
iLife is a suite of software applications developed by Apple for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies, and music. The suite comprises five applications: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, all of which run on the Mac OS X operating system....
'06 as well as Universal Binary
Universal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
coding for Apple's new Intel systems (see external links). Now discontinued, likely due to its functional similarity to the Apple TV (albeit the Apple TV has narrower support for different media types).
The EyeHome hardware is compatible with other Syabas-based media servers. The open-source wizd software (among others) can be used to server content to the EyeHome hardware.
Turbo.264
The Elgato Turbo.264 is a hardware video encoder designed by ADS Technology packaged in a USB connected stick, similar to USB memory sticks. The hardware is specially designed for encoding H.264 video and is advertised to perform the encoding up to four times faster than without special hardware. Slower computers achieve bigger speed-ups, but high-end multi processor systems might encode videos faster without the Turbo.264 hardware. Encoder user can specify basic video properties, such as resolution, frame rate, video and audio bitrate, and the encoded video should be playable in any hardware that supports displaying H.264 encoded video, but Elgato specially advertises Apple iPod, Apple TV and Apple iPhone support. The bundled software also includes a preset for Sony PSP, but presets can easily be customized for other devices. Videos can be encoded from any application which support exporting via Apple Quicktime, and also with the bundled simple drag and drop application.In May 2009 Turbo.264 HD was introduced. It supports High-definition video
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
encoding.
EyeTV
Elgato's EyeTV 3.5 is Mac OS X software that provides a user interface to the various TV Tuners from Elgato and some licensees. It is bundled with TV Tuner products sold by Elgato and is offered separately as well. Its main function as a PVRDigital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
is to show the Tuner's received TV programs on the computer screen. It can show live programs and also offers Time shifting
Time shifting
Time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to at a time more convenient to the consumer. Typically, this refers to TV programming but can also refer to radio shows via podcasts....
. It can record programs permanently to disk, by pre-programming. It is able to wake up a sleeping Mac automatically just before the programmed time for a recording. Recorded video can be edited, i.e. scenes can be cut out or extracted without loss of quality. For most countries it is sold in it offers an Electronic program guide
Electronic program guide
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
covering all available channels. After a recording, the movie can be automatically re-encoded fitting specific formats such as Apple TV, iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, Sony PSP and others, optionally making use of Turbo.264 for faster processing. Re-encoded video does not, however, include DVB subtitles.
EyeConnect
EyeConnect is Universal Plug and PlayUniversal Plug and Play
Universal Plug and Play is a set of networking protocols for primarily residential networks without enterprise class devices that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence...
(UPnP) software which allows users to stream media content, including Apple iLife
ILife
iLife is a suite of software applications developed by Apple for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies, and music. The suite comprises five applications: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, all of which run on the Mac OS X operating system....
files and/or EyeTV recordings, from a computer to a separate TV or stereo system.
"Other EyeTV support"
- EyeTV was also shipped with Products designed by Miglia Technology, but this has ceased in 2007. EyeTV software is also bundled with some products from Terratec and Twinhan.
- PyeTV is a Plug-in that integrates with Apple's FrontRow