I have an Eye TV hybrid that I am using with a Mac Mini 1.83 with 2 gig of RAM. I am having a few problems.

1) The titan tv guide doesn't show all of the channels that I am able to recieve over the air. specifically the PBS station show pu in the guide when I go to the Titan TV website, but no in the eyetv program guide.

2) The system records really well for the first 10 or so minute of a program, bu after the usb stick get warm (hot to the touch, but not hot enough to burn skin) the recording stars to get flacky.

3) I have read on the forum here that dual tuners although unsupported do work. Has anyone tried using one usd device and one firewire device? Any luck?

4) How do I close the Live TV window with out stopping what it is recording. I would like it to record in the background, with out the system have to decode and display at the same time. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance

1) Can't really help there, but I've heard that the TitanTV support staff is pretty good at helping with those kinds of problems.

2) That doesn't sound good. Consider returning/exchanging the unit, or at least emailing Elgato to ask if that is normal/expected.

3) Joseph S has used multiple FireWire and USB devices at once, and I don't remember him posting any problems other than possible USB power issues.

4) Pretty sure that if you just close the window (red button on top left), that it will stop showing the video, but will continue recording. Try it while recording something you don't care about (i.e., most of what's on, for me).

3) I have read on the forum here that dual tuners although unsupported do work. Has anyone tried using one usd device and one firewire device? Any luck?
I've had an EyeTV 500 for some time. In order to pick up one local analog station, I've added an EyeTV USB to the mix. This setup seems to work well, with one exception. If one does a channel up or channel down, it stops when it gets to the "border" between the analog stations and the digital stations.

Elgato responded:

EyeTV behaves this way because each device is tied to its own display window. Moving from analog channels to digital is a move from one device to another and it cannot work.

This actually works with the EyeTV Hybrid, once you have Auto-Tuned analog and digital channels you can scroll through both channel settings in 1 window. This is because EyeTV knows that all channels are on the same device.

I have written a feature request for EyeTV to display both devices in the same player window; this will enable you to easily browse through both lists of channels.

So, perhaps this will be fixed in a future update.

1) The titan tv guide doesn't show all of the channels that I am able to recieve over the air. specifically the PBS station show pu in the guide when I go to the Titan TV website, but no in the eyetv program guide.


If your PBS station does not show up in the channels view of the Programs window you will have to rescan or add the channel manually. If it does show up, make sure it's name is the same as the name TitanTV uses for the channel. For example, my PBS was named KERA-HD and had to be changed to KERA-DT. You can edit the name in the channels view of the Programs window.

You were correct about the names being different. I renamed it to match the titan tv website's name, but it still doesn't show up in the eyetv guide. I force to manually update the guide, but still no luck. Any ideas?

A very satisfied eyeTV Hybrid user in the U.S.

I finally took the plunge and ordered an eyeTV Hybrid from buy.com for $128 total.

I use a PowerMac G4 Dual 1.25GHz machine. I use a third party USB 2.0 PCI card since this machine came with only USB 1.1 on the motherboard.

I installed eyeTV 2.3.1 software and plugged the eyeTV Hybrid into my USB 2.0 port. Voila. Everything worked instantly. I used a $8 rabbit ears antenna. I live near Kansas City, Missouri and I picked up all the local HD stations. I don't care about analog, so I did not even try scanning them. HD programs look breathtaking on my 20" Dell LCD. I believe due to the processing power or lack of it, the shows are played back at reduced resolution but it still looks great. I can pause, rewind, etc. I can also schedule recording (locally as well as remotely through http://www.titantv.com). I am able to mark the commercials in recorded programs and cut them out by compacting them. I am also able to transcode the MPEG2 transport streams into H.264 (this takes a long time though).

I am completely satisfied with it. The program guide requires that you get a free account from http://www.titantv.com. You have to put your login name and password into eyeTV so that it can login through the software itself and display the program guide. It looks and works great. Recording takes very minimal processing power. Playing back is ok too since it is doing it at a reduced resolution.

Once I buy a faster mac or the new iTV device, I plan on watching my recording there. The nice thing is that all my recordings are in full resolution including dolby digital for the future.


One more thing. I made sure I am using the USB cable to hook up my eyeTV Hybrid instead of the stick itself. This keeps the strain of the port. Also, I am using the USB hub in my Dell monitor to connect the eyeTV. This way it is not in the hot zone behind my powerMac under my desk. it is now in a well ventilated area on my desk.

Once I buy a faster mac or the new iTV device, I plan on watching my recording there. The nice thing is that all my recordings are in full resolution including dolby digital for the future.

That's one of the great features of EyeTV that I used to enjoy when I had a G4...as long as you've got the HD space, you can record HDTV in all it's glory and then play it back later on an appropriate machine. Like sending yourself a gift in the future!

:D

Renaming the channels fixed my digital program guide!

I've had an EyeTV 500 for a long time. I just got an EyeTV Hybrid to use in a second room. I'm having a problem with this new tuner and I'm wondering if anyone else has seen the behavior. Often, I will start the EyeTV software and the display window will say "Device could not be initialized." It will stay that way until I unplug the device and plug it in again. Has anyone seen this happen? I'm waiting to hear from Elgato support.
_

I've had an EyeTV 500 for a long time. I just got an EyeTV Hybrid to use in a second room. I'm having a problem with this new tuner and I'm wondering if anyone else has seen the behavior. Often, I will start the EyeTV software and the display window will say "Device could not be initialized." It will stay that way until I unplug the device and plug it in again. Has anyone seen this happen? I'm waiting to hear from Elgato support.
_

I'm having the exact same problem on my new 20" iMac. If I unplug and put back in, it works fine. But that is a major problem, since I'm trying to schedule recordings when I'm not here, and I don't want to leave the thing running all the time.

I'm having the exact same problem on my new 20" iMac. If I unplug and put back in, it works fine. But that is a major problem, since I'm trying to schedule recordings when I'm not here, and I don't want to leave the thing running all the time.Elgato had me try a test build of the software that did not help. They sent me a replacement Hybrid unit, and it does the same thing...about half the time when I start the EyeTV software, I get the "Device could not be initialized" message. I've tried on several different Macs. If I boot my MacBook Pro into Windows XP and run Hauppage's WinTV software (which is vastly inferior to the EyeTV software in all other regards) the device works flawlessly. Can anyone report success with the EyeTV Hybrid and the EyeTV software?

Elgato had me try a test build of the software that did not help. They sent me a replacement Hybrid unit, and it does the same thing...about half the time when I start the EyeTV software, I get the "Device could not be initialized" message. I've tried on several different Macs. If I boot my MacBook Pro into Windows XP and run Hauppage's WinTV software (which is vastly inferior to the EyeTV software in all other regards) the device works flawlessly. Can anyone report success with the EyeTV Hybrid and the EyeTV software?

As a long time EyeTV user, I have found the stability of the ElGato firewire based products (200 [NTSC], 500 [ATSC/QAM]) to be more reliable than the USB based products. I don't know if this is the fault of ElGato, or of Apple (some of complained of the reliability of the built in USB drivers). I have a 200 that works great without issue, and looking to pick up a 500 on eBay. I have tried a few of the USB devices and run into the same issues.

As a long time EyeTV user, I have found the stability of the ElGato firewire based products (200 [NTSC], 500 [ATSC/QAM]) to be more reliable than the USB based products. I don't know if this is the fault of ElGato, or of Apple (some of complained of the reliability of the built in USB drivers). I have a 200 that works great without issue, and looking to pick up a 500 on eBay. I have tried a few of the USB devices and run into the same issues.I've got an EyeTV 500 too (Firewire) and have never seen this sort of issue before. It's rock solid. However, I have a Miglia Evolution TV, which is USB, and it's also solid. The Hybrid seems to have no problems when running Windows XP. It seems to be either a Mac OS issue or an EyeTV software issue. I'm awaiting another response from Nick at Elgato.

I'm having the exact same problem on my new 20" iMac. If I unplug and put back in, it works fine. But that is a major problem, since I'm trying to schedule recordings when I'm not here, and I don't want to leave the thing running all the time.I downloaded EyeTV 2.3.1 last night (http://www.elgato.com/downloads/eyetv231update.dmg ) and I have yet to see a failure. Care to give it a try?

Edit: Well, with this version, I get a "No Signal" message rather than a "Device could not be initialized" message. Though it does happen less often than with 2.3.2 or 2.3.3.

I've had a number of problems using two devices together - it works some of the time, but not all of the time.

The biggest difficulty seems to occur if I change any weekly recordings. I've got what I call the Thursday Night Dilemma. I’ve got 3 shows that I’d like to record simultaneously. Given that I have 2 EyeTV Hybrids, I only record 2 shows and download the third one from iTunes. If I don’t futz with it, everything usually works.

Sometimes, one of the shows is a rerun, so I change the EyeTV to record the non-repeat. When I make the change, I frequently get a conflict message asking which program I’d like to record. Generally, because I don’t know which unit I’m recording from, I have to delete all the schedules (Damn you, 1/2 hour programs) and setup all the schedules from scratch.

Ugh. I'm thinking of just moving one device to another computer and manually moving the program back to my Mini.

To be fair, they do claim that the feature is "unsupported."

Cheers,
Randy Stewart

Oh... and I have an EyeTV 500 that just never really worked with the Hybrid. The app crashed all...the...time.


Cheers,
Randy Stewart

I've had a number of problems using two devices together - it works some of the time, but not all of the time.I have a digital tuner (EyeTV 500) and an analog tuner (Miglia Evolution TV) and they work just fine together. I think the problems occur when you have two digital tuners (or two analog tuners).

I have a digital tuner (EyeTV 500) and an analog tuner (Miglia Evolution TV) and they work just fine together. I think the problems occur when you have two digital tuners (or two analog tuners).

It's just plain weird, tho. In Europe, EyeTV has a digital dual tuner model that they support, so I'd think that it would work. It really seems like the problems I'm having (at least with conflicts) would be solved by software.


Of course, the crashing could be a USB conflict. I'm hoping for a fix some time soon.

Cheers,
Randy Stewart

It's just plain weird, tho. In Europe, EyeTV has a digital dual tuner model that they supportThat product (EyeTV Diversity) has two digital tuners within a single device.

As an aside, like the EyeTV Hybrid, the EyeTV Diversity is made by Hauppage: http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/data_novatdstick.html

"EyeTV reports “Device could not be initialized”"

http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/494/

I've had an EyeTV 500 for a long time. I just got an EyeTV Hybrid to use in a second room. I'm having a problem with this new tuner and I'm wondering if anyone else has seen the behavior. Often, I will start the EyeTV software and the display window will say "Device could not be initialized." It will stay that way until I unplug the device and plug it in again. Has anyone seen this happen? I'm waiting to hear from Elgato support.
_Well, after much back and forth with Elgato, it seems they are convinced that a small number of Hybrid units might have a fault (I apparently have two of them). So, they are going to send me *another* replacement unit. This time though, they will pre-test it. We shall see.
_

"EyeTV reports “Device could not be initialized”"

http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/494/

Hmmmm.... I've recently had that problem and their solution seems to work. Are people having bigger issues with the hybrid?

Cheers,
Randy Stewart

I'm a registered owner of the excellent iEye Captain addon for EyeTV, and just received an email discussing a beta of version 2.4 of EyeTV. Anyone know if this software is available to mere mortals, or if it addresses any of the issues with the Hybrid?

I'm a registered owner of the excellent iEye Captain addon for EyeTV, and just received an email discussing a beta of version 2.4 of EyeTV. Anyone know if this software is available to mere mortals, or if it addresses any of the issues with the Hybrid?It appears, from my last correspondence with Elgato, that they believe the "Device could not be initialized" issue is a hardware problem (affecting a small number of units) rather than something to be addressed in a software update. I am somewhat skeptical, but I will report back here when I get a second replacement unit from them.
_

Well, I received a second replacement unit from Elgato. Using it over the weekend, I saw no failures! Also, this unit does not appear to get as hot as the two failing units.

If you are seeing the "Device could not be initialized" error, I would recommend that you contact Elgato support for a replacement unit. Just make sure they test it before sending it to you.
_

I have an Imac 24" using a eyetv hygrid. I use elgato software 2.5.3.

I cannot get a program guide. I keep getting "Server error" as a response everytime. I have contacted elgato and titantv but have not recieved a fix for the problem. Can anyone help.

I have an Imac 24" using a eyetv hygrid. I use elgato software 2.5.3.

I cannot get a program guide. I keep getting "Server error" as a response everytime. I have contacted elgato and titantv but have not recieved a fix for the problem. Can anyone help.

Try again later. Sometimes it seems that TitanTV gets bogged down and nothing will load, or it starts to load and stall. I usually have EyeTV running and check to see if it's working. You can go into the guide prefs and restart a scan again and watch the messages to see where it's bogging down.