EyeTV 2.5 kicks ass – Now let’s give it a pair of steel-toed boots
This Monday Elgato released their EyeTV 2.5 update, and I must say it has changed the way I watch TV. Well, not so much the way I do, but where I do.
The main feature of the update was the seemingly gimmicky ability to stream recorded shows wirelessly to your iPhone/iPod touch from your EyeTV computer. I wasn’t all that sure how useful this feature would be (and quite frankly, I’m still not) but there’s a very cool side benefit to this technology that for some reason El Gato is not really promoting in their literature. Not only can you watch you shows on the iPhone/iPod touch from other rooms, but you can watch them from other computers on your network as well.
Above: Behold the crappy shows my EyeTV must record (FYI, “CG” is Curious George, on PBS).
When the Wi-Fi option is enabled on the “host” computer (the one that is recording the shows), it generates a local website address you can access via Safari on the iPhone, which in turn calls up QuickTime to play the stream. This address can also be accessed from any computer on your home network as well, and it works GREAT. As we speak (or type), I am watching The Daily Show, recorded last night upstairs on my Mac mini, on my Mac Pro’s second monitor (located in my dungeon office). The benefits of this become even more apparent for laptop owners who can now use the “large” screen of the laptop (well, compared to the iPhone at least) to serve as a second TV in the kitchen, or by the treadmill, or a bedroom.
As for the EyeTV-to-iPhone streaming, it actually works quite well too. There is a slight buffering delay I did not experience on the networked computers in my house, but last night I watched the first half of When a Stranger Calls (the horrible 2006 remake, not the original) while lying in bed, and after a few minutes you do sort of forget you are holding a 3.5-inch screen a foot from your head and not watching a big screen.
I think wearing headphones helps.
So, now the obvious question is, can any of the more tech-savvy readers here tell me how to get these shows to stream to my iPhone while on the road? Some sort of Terminal trick with Web sharing and symbolic links or something? Whoever can deliver such a workaround becomes my official best friend for the week, and gets to see next month’s Mac Chick of the Month a couple days early (sorry, we’re all out of real prizes).
I would assume you can find the ip address of your router and then route any requests via whatever port it is streaming over to your desktop mac.
it would surely work, but at edge speeds, I am not sure that is necessarily a good thing.
So, what do you think of the EyeTV Tuner? I have been checking that product out for quite some time, but just don’t have the guts to spend the money in case it just doesn’t work well.
I currently use basic analog cable, but I have been meaning to try to get my cable provider to install cable cards in my Series 3 TiVo so that I can get HD shows. However, I don’t mind recording stuff in regular video quality too. HD would be nice, but the files would probably be too big to put on an iPhone anyway. 🙂
Just curious. Thanks.
I think the EyeConnect Software is not free. In the german online store they sell it for 49,- EUR. There is only a 30-day testversion for free.
Is this included in the EyeTV-Update Bundle?
Isn’t the eyeconnect software just a 30 day demo?
Another cool feature would be to able to watch live-TV on the iPhone, or at least on a different Mac.
Should just be able to either put computer running in the EyeTV in the DMZ on your router or forward just port 80. If it works like iTunes you need a couple more tricks because it will require a multicastDNS broadcast and to look like it. It is possible to get around though with SSH and Rendezvous Proxy
EyeConnect 1.5 is only needed if you had EyeConnect 1.1 installed. This is because there’s a tiny, free version of EyeConnect inside EyeTV 2.5, and that will conflict with older versions of EyeConnect that may be on your Mac.
If you never had EyeConnect 1.1 or earlier installed, then just download EyeTV 2.5, and everything is fine for Wi-Fi Access – no extra downloads or purchases needed.
In short – you don’t need EyeConnect 1.5 to use EyeTV 2.5, unless you’re already an EyeConnect user.
I love the software as well. One thing I keep looking for is the ability to have the EyeTV record my favorite shows whenever they show up. For Example, each “Lost” episode without me having to select it every time.
First, if you have a dynamic ip set up a domain through dyndns to keep track of ip changes. Then simply port forward 2170 to the mac you have the recori gs on. Then, just replace ur ip with the domain name in the eyetv URL. You may have to deal with a lot of buffering.