EyeTV Netstream Sat
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 9:56AM 
Some exciting news from Elgato on changes to their EyeTV range. I've previously blogged about the Elgato EyeTV Netstream DTT device - link This is a pretty neat little device that connects to a terrestrial TV Aerial and transmits FreeView TV programs around your home network, allowing you to watch two channels of Freeview TV (or watch one and record a second) on any Mac in the house.
With the previous version of EyeTV software, your could also use your iPhone or iPad to watch live TV but you had to do it via one of the Macs, so a Mac had to be switched on and the iPhone or iPad would pivk up the TV from that. It worked amazingly well, but it was a bit of a niggle that you had to have a Mac switched on and loaded with EyeTV. You could get the Mac to load EyeTV remotely but still...
However, Elgato have just released v1.2 or the EyeTV app for the iPhone and iPad.
The great news is that if you have iOS 4.2 on your iPhone or iPad, the iOS device will communicate directly with the EyeTV Netstream for DTT directly - no intermediate Mac required!
As an early adopter of iOS 4.2 (thanks to my Apple Developer Account), and the fact that I have an EyeTV Netsream DTT setup as part of my home network, I gave it a try.
It works!
The EyeTV Netstream for DTT appears in my list of available EyeTV devices automatically (via Bonjour) on my iOS 4.2 iPad - no configuration required.
Even better, they have just announced a new device for launch on the 22nd November - EyeTV Netstream Sat
This is a similar device to the Elgato EyeTV netstream DTT, but has a built in satellite tuner so you can watch free-to-view satellite TV on any Mac, PC, iPhone or iPad in the house! There's an add on that allows you to convert the the EyeTV Netstream Sat into a dual tuner device by plugging in the optional module into the USB port on the device.
The new device also supports direct streaming from the device to your iPhone or iPad over WiFi, even with no Macs or PCs running EyeTV.
I'll see if I can get a unit for review.
Watch this space!
Don McAllister
Oh and by the way, the Elgato EyeTV app for the iPad and iPhone - it has an Airplay icon.
So theoretically, you should be able to stream to any TV in the house that has an Apple TV connected. Use your iPhone or iPad to connect to the Elgato Netstream device, start watching it on your mobile device, walk into another room, swicth on the TV and start watching it on the TV.
That will do me until the Elgato Apple TV app is available ;-)
Reader Comments (8)
I'm not sure I fully understand the differences between this and Sling Box which also has support for streaming over the Internet.
Slingox does not contain a tuner so you need to plug in your Satellite or Freeview view box. The new Elgato netstream devices contain the tuner - no extra devices needed.
I'm sat here (for a few weeks) somewhere in the USA surrounded by an iPad, iPhone 4, MBP, and Slingcatcher most of which I need to get my different bits and pieces of media streamed to me - at home I've got a Slingbox on a Humax Freeview box and my iMac is on to help stream some other stuff!
Just yesterday I was thinking: I must rationalise some of this! I think one version or another of the Netstream would be a good step forward.
I don't suppose you can use the EyeTV app 1.2 to record progs? Or are you still limited to live streaming if your home Mac is off?
Very interesting post - thanks. I've used an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid for a year or more now and have been pleased with it, however the downsides have been that I can only watch TV on the Mac Pro that it's plugged in to and it only has one tuner.
This Netstream DTT device looks like it overcomes both those shortcomings, so in theory I could stream one channel to the TV via my Mac Mini or (new) Apple TV while recording a different channel on the Mac Pro upstairs.
I do wonder what the quality is like though? With the EyeTV Hybrid the picture is pretty good (via a roof aerial) as the Hybrid is plugged directly into the Mac. I'm hoping the Netstream would be on a par. Mind you, I can push video from the Mac Pro to the Mac Mini quite well over WiFi using Plex, so this should work well too. Also, it would be nice to record a program on the Mac Pro and then play that on the TV wirelessly via the AppleTV (or Mac Mini via Plex).
Sitting in the bathroom watching TV streamed to my iPad.... now that would just be decadent!
Do you know if it accepts aux inputs similar to Slingbox. I have paid for Sky that I would like to stream around the house on various devices. I have a Slingbox but would be interested if the new Elgaton integrates better
Don, on the strength of your article I have recently bought a Netstream and have to say I am very impressed and now looking forward to being able to stream direct to my iPad when 4.2 iOS released.
As far as the comments above ( macbiz ), yes the quality is very good. Robbie, no there are no other inputs just the RF connection for aerial.
Ashpole, yes you can record on it ( in fact you can record one programme whilst watching another due to dual tuners ).
Cheers
I have a sky+ box with two aerial feeds, if you connect one into this box - this means you can't use your Sky+ as intended - nor a Freesat box, they both prefer two inputs. So it seems that whilst this is very whizzy - you really need a second satellite dish to feed it a signal, so you can continue to use your existing dish for your normal living room TV equipment?
Bill,
Or decide you don't want to pay a monthly subscription to Sky any more and rather than buy a freestat box, buy one of these instead. I wonder how it would work with a Quad LNB