Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

Reviews for Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 41 reviews

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    The one star reviews are of a different product

    • Written by

    Hmm, the problem here seems to be that the one star reviews are of the previous version of the Hybrid, the one without the FM Tuner. Whether or not they have a point, they aren't about this new version of the hardware. (Apple, is you cut the wrong reviews out, you can cut this paragraph too)

    I use the Hybrid (the new one) to record Digital TV, and occasionally radio shows, and have found it to be great. I used it to transfer an old VHS video, just the once. It did a decent job, but comparing it to DTV just shows how bad VHS was.

    The EyeTV software is amazing, and works like a dream. I can even (with a little effort) remotely (from my iPhone) tell it to record a show when I'm a little later in the office/pub than I had planned to be.

    As I only used the analogue tuner once for the VHS transfer, so I'm thinking I might have been slightly better off with the Diversity, which has two Digital Tuners. But I'm very happy with the quality of the Hybrid, and the radio recording is handy from time to time.

    One other thing, I use this with a small indoor antenna and it works well in my area. But areas with weaker Freeview signals may well require an outdoor antenna. A good rule of thumb is, if your main TV needs an outdoor ariel, you will your Mac (that should be obvious right?).

    This is my second EyeTV product, I had an older analogue only model a few years ago. I have no hesitation in recommending this, or any Elgato product.

    219 of 242 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing product!

    • Written by from BEVERLEY

    This unit allows you to watch, record and convert digital tv to other formats, namely Apple TV. The top spec unit also has input for video source, such as a VHS player. I havent't tested the video import feature yet, but it will allow you to put your old tapes onto computer and then onto your Apple TV! Cheaper options are available from £39.95 if you don't need all the bells and whistles. In my opinion - the best TV adapter out there, as long as you are using a good quality, roof mounted antenna.

    179 of 202 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent!

    • Written by from Eltham

    I am a student and stay in university hostel, tried many ways to watch TV here with my MAC and to be honest this is the best solution. It's not only watching the TV but you can Rewind, record, and listen to the radio. I can swear that the signal is better than the TV Line here in my hostel. I don't have to fight with my flat mate if we want to watch two different channel at the same time cause I can let her watch and record my channel at the background.

    Finally the design is really outstanding, it looks really great with my MacBook Pro and the supply remote work really well. I am planning to have a Europe tour during my weekend in this coming December and I really believe that I still could to FM radio or either watch some TV at anywhere.

    Worth Money.

    145 of 160 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Very Good - Shame there's no dual tuner

    • Written by from Stone

    I honestly cannot fault the product... although I've actually returned it! Explained below...

    Mine was connected to the house's digital aerial.

    Installation is straight forward, albeit, I had to choose the "advanced" drop down option when scanning for channels, and choose the "exhaustive" option, which found 99 channels, instead of the 7 it found with a standard scan.

    The TVTV guide is actually very good.

    Recordings are perfect.

    I am using it on my 2010 iMac 27" i7 and on full screen it looks great.

    My reason for 4 stars is because its not a dual tuner... by that I mean, if you record a channel with this, you have to watch it too (assuming your wanting to watch TV whilst recording).

    I've now ordered the EyeyTV Diversity 2008 model (£89.99 on apple store) which looses the analogue and digital radio features (I didn't need or want them anyway). And in its replace has the dual tuner, meaning I can record one channel and watch another at the same time. An important feature for me.

    Bear in mind, especially UK users, the analogue feature is as good as useless this year as we're switching to digital, and the radio surely isn't a key feature when buying this product... so I would recommend the other, cheaper 'diversity' model based on the dual tuner.

    Hope this helps!

    61 of 62 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    usb fault - used to be great

    • Written by from Horsens

    Worked fine for 12 months, after that it comes up with usb 1.1 failure and elgato dosn't seem to help.

    57 of 63 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Problems with usb connection.

    • Written by

    The EyeTV hybrid worked ok for about 9 months. Now every time I reboot my mac it stops working for a while. The eyetv software fails to recognize the usb connection. Despite trying all the methods suggested to fix it by eyetv I can't get it to work consistently. Looking at other websites this seems to be a common failure for the hybrid. I wouldn't recommend this product to anybody.

    61 of 78 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Fine until it breaks

    • Written by from By Linlithgow

    Eye TV Hybrid work very well and I was very impressed, did everything it said on the box. After updating software I got the dreaded 'device could not be initiated' message (look it up) that seems to be affecting more and more of these devices and that was that, I'd be as well plugging a brick in. Unfortunately Elgato do not want to know or help, and I bought it direct from them. In conclusion, great whilst it works, a nightmare when it breaks - from my point of view the service is the worst I've encountered yet.

    48 of 53 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    The dog's dangly bits!

    • Written by from LLANYMYNECH

    Have used Elgato hardware and EyeTV software with a Mac Mini for a couple of years without any significant problems so bought this to plug into the back of my new 27 inch iMac. I thought initially that I might have to use the supplied USB extension cable so the handset could communicate with the unit but no, it works perfectly with the unit plugged, out of sight, into one of the USB ports in the back.

    Everything works faultlessly with good picture quality and easy record/playback functions. The only problem I have had is streaming from my iPad, as yet unresolved but heck, it's still new so hopefully something a software update will sort soon

    I now therefore have the best looking, simple to operate TV/multimedia/computer system going! An incredible achievement for the Elgato/Apple partnership and well worth buying.

    52 of 63 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Easy TV on your Mac

    • Written by from SOLIHULL

    I've been using the EyeTV Hybrid for a couple of years and after reading some of the other reviews felt that I should make a contribution. The aerial which ships with the product is unlikely to provide much of a signal if you live in an area of poor Freeview reception as I do, so you need to connect it to a rooftop aerial or Sky Digibox. Once tuned, this is an excellent device and easy to use software.
    I usually record Premiership football (Match of the Day) through EyeTV and then edit the file to leave the highlights of the games that I'm interested in. These files are then saved and archived as .avi. You can also subscribe to a free-of-charge program listing service so that you can plan to record programs in advance. It's also very easy to save TV shows in iPod format.
    On a couple of occasions I had need to contact Elgato support and their service has been excellent. Highly recommended.

    44 of 47 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Quite Good, But..

    • Written by from West Conshohocken

    Everything is OK with this product. It delivers what it says. My only objection is that you can't record one channel and watch another-they have to be the same, so what's the real use of recording ?

    44 of 52 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Works but not forever

    • Written by from Mississauga

    I've had this for just about 2 years. It worked fine for quite awhile but about a month ago the EyeTV started giving me problems. The EyeTV keeps giving me errors such as "your device is not plugged in" when it is or my personal favourite "your device is not plugged into a USB 2.0 port" - I own a new iMac which has nothing but 2.0 USB ports!

    The remote has also developed problems. I can no longer change channels using the remote. All other functions seem to work fine though.

    So in summary it works but not forever! Would I buy again? Hmm not so sure.

    42 of 48 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Great gadget but flawed

    • Written by from Tonbridge

    I've used this all over the world for a couple of years, very flexible, but a significant proportion of hybrids, including mine, are prone to failure if they get to cold, reporting that the USB is only a 1.1. Elgato don't mention this on their web site but you can find it on their forum. So far application of a little heat seems to be the fix.

    37 of 40 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Lemon

    • Written by from London

    It worked great for a while. Then it started reporting the same USB 1.1 error message that I since discovered is very common.
    Avoid like the plague, this is not a reliable product.

    38 of 43 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Not long lasting

    • Written by from FREDERIKSBERG

    EXACTLY the same experience as " L from Mississauga" after some 1 - 2 years it died. Until then it worked and behave as a dream but the poor long lasting quality makes me look elsewhere ----

    39 of 49 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Top Marks

    • Written by from TRURO

    Top marks for this product. It does exactly what I wanted it to do. I get all my Freeview channels without the need of a Freeview box, plus I can plan and record my viewing. To benefit from this product you really need to connect it to your main aerial, don't try to use the one that's supplied. Also, on my first auto-tune it only found 32 channels, go for the advanced tune of 1000+ and you'll get more.

    30 of 36 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Failure to recognise the USB2.0 connection

    • Written by from Loughborough

    EyeTV hybrid only works well for the first few minutes when connected to tv set top box. After a while the error message of failure to detect USB2.0 connection will appear. It is very frustrating. I have to restart my iMac in order for it to work well again for the first few minutes after that. I noticed the failure usually occur when the temperature of the system rises. Maybe that has caused the system failed, and less power was directed to the USB2.0, thus less than required for eyeTV hybrid connector to function properly.

    35 of 47 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    faulty usb connection

    • Written by from Dungannon

    worked well for 15months... but then the usb is not recognisng usb 2 it takes a number of restarts and half an hour of ur time to get it to reconise it. its the device its self seems to have some fault, and have sen on web this is a common problem.

    39 of 58 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Now supports PAL 60 Hz mode

    • Written by from Bourne

    This is just a note to advise that as of EyeTV software version 3.3, PAL-60 mode IS fully supported for the 2008 EyeTV Hybrid (INT) models. Note you must be using the 2008 hardware model (not the superceded 2007 one), and must have EyeTV 3.3 or later for it to work.

    Apple won't let me post the URL to the update on ElGato's site, so simply Google
    "Added PAL 60 Hz support for the 2008 EyeTV DVB-T/C Hybrid" to find the correct reference/page.

    24 of 31 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best thing I have bought in years

    • Written by from Maidstone

    I wanted a device that would let me view tv on my formac monitor and the feed from a webcam nest box as an alternative view. It is rigged so that I watch freeview channels from the device itself (which autotuned and found all the programmes at the click of a button) and then one channel on the device allows me to see the current selected channel on the cable box. I can't change the cable channel remotely (virgin box) but that is not an issue for me.

    I didn't realise that the software taps into the tv guide so that I can view the schedule and click on a programme to watch it or click on a future programme to set the timer to record it or switch over to it. In that sense, it functions just like the recording devices we paid double for and the clarity is amazing.

    When I use my iPhone as a remote control for the computer I can sit back and operate away from the keyboard/mouse.

    All in all, for the price of another tv, recording device and software to see web cam feeds - it's all here for at least half the price. It was set up within seconds and a toddler can use it once the wiring is figured out according to what your set up is at home.

    23 of 30 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Exchange TV EYE

    • Written by from Tolleshunt Knights

    After two years had a intermittent problem with my Hybrid and the support was superb, where after helping they decided to exchange my product with no trouble whatsoever. Great backup to have.

    18 of 22 people found this useful

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