Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

Reviews for Elgato EyeTV Hybrid

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.0 out of 5 stars

Based on 34 reviews

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Elgato hybrid after 3 years

    • Written by from Brighton

    I find the elgato hybrid a very useful device, Pause a program for up to 1hr. before it reverts to current content, It records, edits, and export in different device formats, burn your favourite choices. I would recommend using and external hard drive to preserve your main hard drive it does not take long to reach hundreds of GB. To use other inputs simply connect the video source to your computer using the included video cable for composite (RCA) or S-Video; then watch and even record the picture on your computer in standard definition.
    The one problem I have is it does not have the same refinements for audio only editing after one records from radio.
    there is a good support network.

    1 of 1 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Liked it till it died

    • Written by from Tualatin

    Worked just OK for the 13 months that it did work, has now died a slow death. Of course, just over the 1 year warranty mark. I see other people are having same issue.

    Even when it was still working had chronic issues with overheating and shutting down. Would need to un-plug it and re-boot it to get it working again.

    Only buy with caution, seems to be disposable item, and you need patience too.

    24 of 29 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    El Gato Hybrid

    • Written by from Hickory

    Just got this to use with my Macbook 13 inch laptop and a 24 inch screen. I am using it connected to a Comcast Digital box. To say the least it works great!! Just got to program it to channel three on the eyetv software and use the cable box remote to change the channels!! It's that simple.

    23 of 29 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Mine died

    • Written by from Gander

    My Eyetv worked great for over a year, then failed. I spoke with the manufacturer and they are going to get back to me soon. When working, I enjoyed this product. I am disapointed that mine failed. I hope they replace it!

    33 of 39 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best little DVR out there

    • Written by from Utica

    Have had this for a few years now. Great unit! Great software! Easy to record and program content, and easy to save that content and convert to mp4 format. All from the provided software.

    As we all know, the cable companies are locking out the ability to back up your saved video footage, as they're dictated to by the copyright police. But with the EyeTV, you are left to your own to do as you wish when it comes to copying. Keep your footage in the EyeTV format or convert it to mp4 format, your choice, as it should be. Enjoy!

    6 of 7 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Elgato Works Great

    • Written by from sunnyvale

    I've been running mine on a Mini continually for four years and never had a failure.
    I also like the programming software, very powerful.

    7 of 9 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Poorly made hardware

    • Written by from Philadelphia

    The Elgato Hybrid is great . . . when it works. Unfortunately, it's really shoddily made and simply stops working after a few months. I'm on my third (the second replacement) in less than 6 months. It just stopped working yesterday. If only Elgato would make a higher quality product, they'd have a winner. Buying one as it is now is simply throwing your money away.

    20 of 22 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    had one for 4 years

    • Written by from Akron

    I have had EyeTV Hybrid for almost 4 years. Works great. I don't know how some people say it doesn't work. I use it on my iphone 3g network also when not at home. Last week I connected my new 1080p Apple TV to my network and EyeTV wants to work only on the network unless airplay and file sharing are turned off on the Apple TV. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

    4 of 7 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Isn't worth the money

    • Written by from Alexandria

    I've had two of these devices within a two week time-frame. Both installed correctly the first time of use. I was able to get channels set-up and the picture quality was great. After the first use, the device is no longer recognized by my Mac and reinstalling/trouble shooting does not resolve the issue. What are the chances two devices would go bad back-to-back? Save your money and look at other devices.

    21 of 30 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Lasted for just under 3 years, then started wigging out

    • Written by from Sacramento

    Purchased in April 2009 to play Nintendo Wii on my 24" iMac. My iMac still works great, but this EyeTV Hybrid is really being tested. Started flickering really badly today, and I can't pin-point whether it's related to a faulty cable or a faulty device. Flickering seems to be random.

    Troubleshooting included using different USB extension cables, different USB ports, and even plugging the device directly into a USB port with no extension cable. Flickered every time, and eventually stopped flickering... for now.

    Lag is not really noticeable when playing games for me--once you turn off the "Enable Timeshift" feature on the Devices tab in Settings, you're all set.

    Would I buy again? Probably... and I may have to if the device keeps wigging out like this and flickering at random. Research didn't really pull up any great alternatives to a device like this which lets me play the Wii on my Mac, so I guess I'm kinda stuck.

    10 of 12 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Never worked!

    • Written by from Calgary

    never worked on my mac, i would give it 0 stars if i could.

    11 of 28 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Great picture quality, but remote and software are clunky

    • Written by from Berkeley

    I expected more than just a pretty picture from "award winning software".

    The remote is cheap and unlabeled, seemingly random in its operation.

    The software is inconsistently controllable via the remote - sometimes nice frontrow-like UI, other times a finder-like window that needs mouse to work.

    It is definitely not a replacement for my 10 year old Tivo.

    Generates nice clean pictures and files on disk. Maybe its okay for heavy manual or conversions, but not for convenience or casual use.

    10 of 13 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Realistically Can Not Be Used for Gaming

    • Written by from San Francisco

    I purchased this solely for playing my PS3 through my 15" MacBook Pro's display. Aside from it only supporting 480i resolution due to the composite connection, the video lag is PLENTY enough to make gameplay fully unplayable, despite claims on their website that the lag is barely noticeable.

    I did not use this for viewing television, so my rating is not a reflection of that aspect.

    15 of 27 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Works good for a year

    • Written by from Henderson

    Mine worked good for about a year and then quit working.

    19 of 23 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Very Poorly Built

    • Written by from Sherwood Park

    I was also delighted with this product at first, how it lets you watch and record TV on the mac. But then soon started having all the same problems already described, including the casing falling apart, and then finally a connector piece broke. Lasted maybe 7 months.

    20 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Product does not work - WASTE OF MONEY

    • Written by from NAPERVILLE

    This product worked great for the first two to three weeks. It does not work reliably anymore. At Supports request, installed a software package to help them troubleshoot the product. Since then, no response from Elgato.

    The problem is getting worse. When Eyetv is started, the viewing window crashes constantly. If it opens again the channel is either "No Signal" or "Channel not currently available". The only way to get it back is to unplug the USB device and plug it back it. Eyetv starts again for a few seconds and crashes again. This is a worthless product. I am very dis-satisfied with this product.

    19 of 28 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Doesn't work

    • Written by from Littleton

    This is the second one I have owned. I have a macbook pro 10.6.7, using the S-Video with a camera and it works at first and then just a black screen with colored dots. Tech support is only through email and only responds after 24hours. Waste of money.

    17 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great product!

    • Written by from Virginia Beach

    I bought an EyeTV Hybrid and I was impressed by the amazing functionality of it! It was expensive but…it's a very great product! Love it! 5 stars!

    11 of 17 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    looks good Does Not Work

    • Written by from WOODSTOCK

    I would rate this a ZERO of that were an option. looked good but install to a Comcast Cable Box took 3 hours to find settings that would work then it died 4 weeks later. Only pulled in analogue signal off a Comcast digital box, no idea why and now it's dead so it doesn't matter. Install was a bear because we have Comcast cable and settings required are NOT anything like the manual. Now the Software can not 'see the unit, "there is no eyetv connected to your computer". i switched all the connections to all my iMac's usb ports one by one - no change. i uninstalled & tried the set-up assistant again - no change. rebooted - no change, reset PRAM - no change. Used the included cable rather than plugging directly into my iMac - NO CHANGE

    It is dead, was a waste of time & money and they really do not care. It has been over a week and I have not heard back from anyone, doubt I will.....I am sure there are much better places for you to spend your money.

    software =marginal =>features DO NOT WORK with COMCAST CABLE
    hardware =>terrible
    customer service=> REALLY terrible

    Like I said at the beginning, you've now been warned, so proceed at your own risk!

    26 of 37 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Exceeded my expectations

    • Written by from Greer

    I bought my first Mac and used to have a windows media center edition. I was used to watching TV on my computer and taping things for watching later. I was nervous that Eye TV wouldn't match up, especially since there aren't many reviews. I have to say that I have been very pleased with this product and don't miss media center at all. The only negative is having to pay for the TV guide after 1 year. I like being able to edit commercials out of different shows for watching later. Great product!

    15 of 17 people found this useful

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