Elgato EyeTV netstream DTT
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 11:04AM 
I twittered last week about a new product that had been launched by Elgato - the netstream DTT - a network based freeview box with dual tuner built in.
I've previously done screencasts for Elgato and I'm a big fan of their products, but still, I have to admit to some shell shock when 24 hours later, a new review unit turned up at my door! So disclaimer - this blog post is based on the review unit that has been supplied to me by Elgato.
The unit itself is relatively small (23 × 119 × 119 mm), and only has three connectors - power, a co-axial aerial socket and an ethernet port along with a reset button.
If your already familiar with the Elgato range of products, you'll be aware that these are TV tuners that allow you to view and record TV on your Mac from various sources based on the hardware device in use. The EyeTV netstream DTT is currently only compatible with TV systems in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and in the UK, is compatible with FreeView. I'm sure plans are in place to bring this device to other countries. What's unique about this particular model is that you don't need to physically plug it into your Mac! It transmits the TV data across your home network allowing any Mac on the network to access the TV channels - either via a wired connection or Wifi.
Wifi!
Yes, TV on your iPad anyone? More about this later.
Installation was a breeze, I just plugged in my terrestrial TV aerial, hooked up the ethernet port to a spare port on my network switch and plugged it in. The single indicator light turned from orange to green and we're good to go.
The next step is to install the EyeTV software on a Mac. I have to say I did try and access the device from a Mac that already had EyeTV installed (and the current version) but it didn't have the EyeTV netstream DTT as an available device in the list. Anyhow, I installed the supplied version of EyeTV on my MacBook Pro and started the Setup assistant. This time I discovered the EyeTV netstream DTT was available in the list and ran through the autotune to start receiving channels. As I was using the terrestrial TV aerial, the signal was strong and all the available channels were picked up. You can also sign up for a free 12 month subscription to TvTv during or after the install, a TV listings service that gives you an integrated TV guide within the EyeTV software.
As an aside, the EyeTV 3 software is great and I really should think about doing a show on the latest version. As well as pausing live TV, you can also record individual shows or create schedules, you can create Smart guides based on your own criteria, create playlists, edit captured video and export to all your Apple devices. An excellent piece of software.
In operation, the EyeTV netstream DTT worked flawlessly and with having two tuners built in, you can use up to two Macs independently to view or record. You can even view one channel and record another on the same Mac, not forgetting, the device can be tucked away behind the TV or anywhere you have an aerial connection and an ethernet connection.
I've been toying with the idea of installing a TV and a Mac in my kitchen as home entertainment/communications hub but had been put off by the thought of having to route a TV cable and an ethernet cable to the middle of the kitchen. Now I can install a TV and a Mac mini in the middle of the kitchen and receive the TV signals over Wifi - brilliant!
According to the Elgato website, you can expand your capacity by adding multiple EyeTV netstream DTTs to your network, plus it will support 720p or 1080i HDTV signals if broadcast by DVB-T. I don't receive any of these channels so wasn't able to test the HD output, but the SD quality is great.
There's even a web browser built in to the netstream DTT to monitor and configure the device over the network.
As well as accessing the EyeTV netstream DTT over the local network using the EyeTV software, you can also use the EyeTV iphone client to access both live TV and recorded programs, not only at home, but also whilst you're away from home using Elgato's free My EyeTV service.
The only caveat to this is that you can't access the EyeTV netstream DTT device directly, you access a Mac running EyeTV which in turn uses the EyeTV netstream DTT device. So you will need to have a Mac switched on and loaded with EyeTV software for this to work.Of course, the EyeTV iPhone client should work just a treat on the iPad, allowing you to watch TV directly on your local network (or even away from home over 3G or Wifi via My EyeTV). Superb!
One final thing is that the EyeTV software automatically integrates with the Elgato turbo.264 HD, so if you have one of these attached to the Mac, it will boost your encoding and conversion if you need to export to another format. It will also enhance live streaming by offering adaptive streaming to give you the best streaming experience dependent on your available network speed - very neat.
As I mentioned before, the EyeTV netstream DTT is only currently available in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and retails at €249.95 / £229.95 plus shipping - Elgato Store
