Product: Elgato EyeTV Hybrid
Supplier: Elgato
MSRP: $149.95     Find Lowest Price @ PriceGrabber
Author: Bill
Date: May 31, 2010

TV tuners tend to be hit or miss. Sometimes a card or USB add-on works as advertised, smoothly and elegantly. Other times the experience is clunky, full of lag, and riddled with poor software. Elgato’s offerings are generally considered solid solutions for audio/video capture and computer-based program recording and playback.

In the Box, Setup

Included in the package is the EyeTV Hybrid, an IR remote control, a few adapters, and the requisite documentation and software. Elgato included a copy of their companion software, EyeTV-3, and a year subscription to a guide service.

The tuner is no larger than a memory stick and has a coaxial input in addition to composite/S-VIDEO inputs (using an included breakout adapter). The whole operation is powered from the USB bus, and is very tidy.

Installing the software was a straightforward task. I registered the device and connected to the guide service. This makes program times and information available to the user for a yearly fee of $19.95 after the first year. In addition to the TV-Guide service, EyeTV-3 can read tvtv and TitanTV feeds (among other, more obscure guide services).

Finally, the setup wizard offers to scan the antenna source for channels. The EyeTV Hybrid can receive analog cable channels in addition to quadrature amplitude-modulated sources (digital broadcasts). In my apartment building we have a video distribution system that combines the local digital broadcasts with cable channels assigned to analog channel spaces. The tuner was able to identify all of the channels after a lengthy (15-minute) scanning period. Unfortunately, the TV-Guide service was of little use in automatically pairing its data to my channels because of the unique set of programming.

Usage

I was able to program the “channels” window relatively quickly with my list of content. Once setup, I kicked back and watched the show with the included remote. The remote worked well, and is nicely laid-out. Above all, the experience was smooth and fast. Channels tuned in faster than most digital cable boxes and television tuners I’ve experienced. This reminded me of the speed associated with analog sources, in all good ways.

The software can record programming, schedule recordings, and interfaces with a companion app for the iPhone and iPad. In direct competition with TiVo and other DRV solutions, this little USB add-on can turn a modicum of computer into a fully-functional DVR. The hardware works as it should, and the EyeTV-3 software takes full advantage of this to provide a great user experience.

Conclusions

If you use a mac, this is the must-have tuner for setting up a home-theater pc, travelling with a tv tuner, or setting up a desktop DVR. The price is much steeper than other products, but the experience is worth every penny. The hardware is capable and the software is well-made. Combined with remote access options for the iPhone and iPad, it’s a cost-effective and easy to implement system.

Pros

+ Hardware design – small and tidy package
+Powerful hardware; analog/digital tuners, remote control, AV-AUX input

Cons

- Costs more than some alternatives

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Tags: Elgato, EyeTV, hybrid, tuner, tv