Among the most intriguing of the many interesting products we saw at September's IFA show in Berlin was a pre-production sample of a twin-tuner Hauppauge digital terrestrial TV USB stick that held out the promise of watching TV on the move in a car and also in areas where reception is normally too poor.
That product is still not on sale in the UK - though we're hoping to get hands-on next month - but the same hardware is used for a Mac variant, EyeTV Diversity, produced by Elgato, the leading exponent of TV reception on Macs, and available now from the company's web site for €149.95 (£100.96), including VAT and shipping.
The trick that the hardware plays is to compare the signal coming into its two tuners (set to the same channel, of course) and use digital signal processing to compare, contrast and keep what's good.
As a result, Elgato claims, it's possible use the two supplied stick aerials to watch TV on a Mac in a car going at up to 102mph (160kph) or deep within a building or in areas where reception is normally not possible.
Naturally, a car capable of going 102mph is not included in the package. Cough!
When not on the move - and assuming reception is okay - there's no need to use the clever aerial-diversity technology, so it then becomes possible to watch and record two TV programmes simultaneously - or have two on screen at the same time.
The Elgato comes with a remote handset and the company's rather splendid EyeTV 2.0 control software - as swooned over on page six of our review of the Apple Mac mini Core Duo.
This is a Universal Binary app that's optimised for Intel and PowerPC CPUs and lets you:
* Record TV
shows and edit out unwanted content (and easily burn to DVD if
using Roxio Toast Titanium 7)
* Export for playback on an iPod
* Watch Picture-in-Picture
* Rewind, fast-forward, and pause live TV
* Browse menus in full-screen mode
* Select what to view and record from a built-in programme guide. The product comes with a free one-year subscription to the tvtv programme-guide service (said to be worth €20 - about £13.50), plus a free 30-day subscription for Australia to the very pricey IceTV programme guide.
* Export for playback on an iPod
* Watch Picture-in-Picture
* Rewind, fast-forward, and pause live TV
* Browse menus in full-screen mode
* Select what to view and record from a built-in programme guide. The product comes with a free one-year subscription to the tvtv programme-guide service (said to be worth €20 - about £13.50), plus a free 30-day subscription for Australia to the very pricey IceTV programme guide.
Elgato's stated system requirements for the EyeTV Diversity are:
* Mac with a PowerPC G4,G5 or Intel Core CPU (Dual PowerPC G5 or Intel Core Duo needed for 720p or 1080i HD services - not yet available in the UK)
* Mac OS X v10.4 or later
* 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
* USB 2.0 port
* An internet connection for using online programming guides
We'll report back on our findings with Hauppauge's own Windows model once we do get hands on. In the interim, do share your thoughts with us in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.lifestyle.reviews - Mac mini Core Duo (with coverage of EyeTV 2)
HEXUS.net :: All IFA 2006 coverage
External.links
Elgato - EyeTV DiversityElgato - home page
Hauppauge UK - home page