Dual EyeTV HDTV Tuners
The ability to record two shows at the same time is a highly addictive PVR function thatâs sorely missed when itâs absent. And my EyeTV 500/Mac Mini combo simply didnât have the capability.
Until I got my second refurbished EyeTV 500 day before yesterday, that is. And now Iâm running a dual-tuner PVR that allows me to watch and/or record two HDTV programs simultaneously. Unfortunately, this feature is officially ânot supportedâ? by El Gato and there arenât many simple guides to what two tuners can (and canât) accomplish. Hence the following description of what I came across.
EyeTVâs software integrated the second tuner without any additional installation steps…I just powered down the Mini and daisy-chained it to my first 500 and external hard drive. Upon restart, EyeTV opened automatically and displayed two separate tuner windows (albeit playing the same station).
I have EyeTV set to always open in Full Screen mode, so one tuner filled the screen and the other sat in front in a smaller size. I switched the smaller station and confirmed both were playing without any dropped frames.
The Preferences didnât offer any new options beyond acknowledging the number of units attached. The Menus also stayed the same.
I immediately began recording whatever was playing on each station to see what would happenâ¦and the recordings went directly into the Recordings folder. They both played back (again) without dropped frames. So far, so good.
The most common complaint I came across about dual EyeTV units involved scheduling, so I tried scheduling two programs at the same time. No problem. And the Program Guide reflected two simultaneously scheduled recordings, something that obviously wasnât possible before.
At the scheduled time, both recordings went off without a glitch. The tuners each changed from different stations and dropped both finished recordings into EyeTVâs library. No dropped frames during playback.
While the recording seems to be working effectively, there are a couple of rough edges worth mentioning that make the experience fall short of Tivoâs ease-of-use. Navigating between the two tuners requires a mouse or keyboardâ¦ending the single Apple Remote I was able to use with a single tuner. This sucks when youâve just gotten pumped about dropping the âcomputerâ? aspect of a Mac Mini PVR.
Iâm also unable to locate the second tuner if I close it after the program starts up. Iâm sure thereâs a way to re-open a second channel window, but trying to actually accomplish this can be frustrating when one tuner is recording. Itâs not impossible, just not as intuitive as Iâd like.
Itâs should be noted that Iâm using EyeTV v2.3.0 instead of the most current release 2.3.1. I upgraded to 2.3.1 and ran the same tests in that environment and saw no difference in features or ability from 2.3.0 during dual-tuner activity.
Overall, Iâm very excited with the new set-up. Being able to record two shows at once is a huge gift going into the new fall season!
mate, thanks for the informative blog! i’m trying to decide whether to choose a mini for my home theatre and your experiments have really swayed me..
just one (fairly dumb) question: when you say you ‘daisy-chained’ the new tuner to the old one, how does this physically work? do you have the two tuners plugged into separate USB slots in the back of the mini?
i’d also be interested to hear if anyone has experience of using EyeTV tuners in Australia…
Each of the 500s have two Firewire inputs on the back. Daisy-chaining means I:
1. Connect the Hard Drive via Firewire to one of the 1st 500’s 2 ports.
2. Using the second port on the first 500, connect (via FW again) to the 2nd 500.
3. Connect 2nd 500 (via only available FW port) to Mini’s Firewire port.
Basically, the two 500s and my HD are strung together with Firewire cables into one FW port on my computer. I know it sounds too good (ie simple) to be true…but it works beautifully!
a few questions:
* i’m assuming that you needed to split the coax? did you use a 1Ghz splitter?
* have you tried to integrate analog/digital cable in your line up? if so, what were your impressions?
* are the signals encrypted by the tuners or by the mini?
* did you consider another other tuners or software?
* i’m assuming that you needed to split the coax? did you use a 1Ghz splitter?
I did split the coax with a splitter I had laying around. It could be 1Ghz, but that would be news to me and was not something I intentionally purchased.
* have you tried to integrate analog/digital cable in your line up? if so, what were your impressions?
Nope. I deal exclusively with digital OTA ATSC signals. The 500 doesn’t handle analog signals, in any event.
* are the signals encrypted by the tuners or by the mini?
Encryption? None at all in my set-up. The signal isn’t even enCODED if that’s what you meant…the 500 captures a raw ATSC signal.
* did you consider another other tuners or software?
No. At the time I put together this set-up, the EyeTV 500 was considered the vanguard of Mac HDTV tuners and didn’t have any competitiors as far as I was concerned. The alternatives made available since turn me off because of the lack of Firewire…USB 2.0 isn’t stable enough for my taste.
Thanks for the response.
Nope. I deal exclusively with digital OTA ATSC signals. The 500 doesn’t handle analog signals, in any event.
Too bad. Your missing Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi.
Encryption? None at all in my set-up. The signal isn’t even enCODED if that’s what you meant…the 500 captures a raw ATSC signal.
I did mean encoding–I appreciate the correction. In any case, it’s good to know that the Mini is powerful enough without hardware encoding to watch one stream while recording a second.
Have you looked at CenterStage (centerstageproject.com) or MediaCentral (www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral)?
Too bad. Your missing Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi.
I’d need to actually PAY for television each month to watch BSG. And the whole point of my set-up is to receive the highest quality HD signals for free. Neither cable nor satellite satsfies either qualification.
That said, I have been known to purchase a Mythbusters episode or two at the iTunes Store. Add Netflix and I’m able to satisfy any BSG cravings that may come down the line!
In any case, it’s good to know that the Mini is powerful enough without hardware encoding to watch one stream while recording a second.
Absolutely! The OG Mini’s couldn’t come close but Intel changed everything in my living room.
Have you looked at CenterStage (centerstageproject.com) or MediaCentral (www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral)?
I have. CS has an extremely bad reputation at the AVS Forums where I’ve found the majority of my information in the past. But since neither it (nor MediaCentral) supports the EyeTV 500, both were non-starters for me.
I created a spreadsheet listing the TV tuners that I’ve found so far: http://buchanan.wordpress.com/2006/10/10/tv-tuners/
Nicely done, Craig. If you had put together a list of Windows tuners, there would be so many more options!
To fill in a question mark I saw in the 500 column, Analog Satellite gets a “No”. The 500 doesn’t deal with analog at all.
You also confirmed that the 500 is still the only choice if Firewire reliability is considered an important feature.
You know what would be nice? A website that listed product comparisions and maybe some reviews. There would also be an associated webservice for the comparisions. It would be fairly easy to build.
*I believe* you can open a second eyeTV window by holding down the control key and selecting New Window from the File menu. Doesn’t seem to work with Apple-O, just the menu.
Haven’t got the software open to double check, but I was shown this trick in a Mac store in Australia.
Excellent news about eyeTV acknowledging two tuners. The same guy in the shop told me I’d have to run two instances of the software!
Doesn’t seem to work with Apple-O, just the menu.
Try Apple-N…that opens a new tuner window!
Great info! Just what I’ve been looking for to split the screens.
Thanks!
I have sucessfully integrated analog cable and digital QAM using an old Eyetv usb and a Miglia TVMiniHD. Works seamlessly.
Excellent article. I tried using Eye250 and EyeTVHybrid connected via usb with the same setup. Works great. No dropped frames. Eye250 also does analog, so I can record Satellite programs via S video input and use EyeTVhybrid to watch OTA ASTC HD TV.
Regarding switching between the two windows. I have EyeTV 2.4 version, which has PIP. So I just have to swap the windows and can do it without the keyboard. It has been 5 days and works great.
I have 2 tuners in my HDTV but the friggin digital tuner affects the analog one. Why do TV manufacturers give you analog tuners when they are useless when used the the digital tuner.