Filed under: Accessories, Multimedia, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
EyeTV app for iPhone released
Elgato, maker of EyeTV, has released EyeTV for iPhone [iTunes Link], an app that allows access to both live and recorded video content from any Mac running EyeTV 3.2 or later. The $4.99 app lets you view live and recorded TV on your iPhone or iPod touch over your local network, and it also allows you to access the same content from a remote WiFi location using a service called MyEyeTV. Unsurprisingly, just like SlingPlayer, access over 3G isn't possible.Accessing either live or recorded TV over your local network is simple, and usually works well. Recorded content plays back almost immediately with barely a stutter to be seen -- the caveat to this is that all recorded content has to be rendered into a format the iPhone will understand, which can take a while if you have a slower Mac. Live TV takes longer to load on your iPhone and is far more finicky. I found the only way to get reliable, stutter-free playback on my iPhone was to close the EyeTV playback window on my Mac. Apparently the strain of displaying content on my Mac and simultaneously streaming it to my iPhone was just too much for a 2.6 GHz processor to handle.
You can set video quality on Live TV from 80 kbps to 800 kbps, and there's also a setting that allows you to always use highest quality when you're on a local network. Again, streaming over my local network almost always worked well, so long as I wasn't trying to play back content on my Mac at the same time.
Unfortunately, the app's functionality falls flat over a remote connection. I found that in order to get MyEyeTV working at all, I had to disable my firewall entirely; setting the OS X firewall to enable access to EyeTV and EyeTVConnect didn't allow it to work, with the application's preferences throwing up an error saying my router was incompatible. Since I use a Time Capsule with the wireless connection set up in bridge mode (having been through a similar song-and-dance routine from when I was trying to get Back to My Mac to work), I'm certain this isn't a hardware issue on my end. EyeTV's support forums recommended downloading the latest trial version of EyeTVConnect to get around the firewall issue, but even that didn't work for me.
I tried accessing my content from two different remote Wi-Fi networks. Although my iPhone was able to find my Mac, it was never able to access any content, recorded or live, on either remote network. Recorded content failed to play, throwing up an error that said the movie format wasn't supported; a curious error, since the same content played just fine over the local network and was automatically exported to a format that should work on the iPhone without issue.
The first of many delightful errors
Live TV consistently failed to play at all over remote networks, either throwing up "unsupported format" or "content not found" errors, or launching into the channel and backing out immediately before playing anything back. Once in a while I was able to get all the way to a screen that said "This channel is currently not available."
Really? IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU.
Why not?
Okay, now that's just mean.
After getting back home and re-launching EyeTV, I tried accessing EyeTV remotely over my own wireless network. Basically, the content on my Mac was sent out over my internet connection, then downloaded to my iPhone through my home wireless. This roundabout method was the only way I was able to get "remote" content access to work; it may also have worked over the other two networks after I re-launched EyeTV, but I wasn't about to drive back across town and find out. Live TV was still way too finicky. It never seemed to work on the first try, but if I changed channels and then changed back, it worked. Once I was actually able to get Live TV working, it played back without any stuttering, and the quality of the content was surprisingly good. However, after everything I tried, I never managed to get recorded content to play back over a remote connection, even though it played back without issues when I connected over the local network; the app always claimed the file was in an unsupported format.
EyeTV for iPhone includes functions for setting up recordings remotely and includes a programming guide, but I wasn't able to test either of these to any great extent because there's no New Zealand-specific programming guide for EyeTV. One forehead-slappingly obvious feature that's missing from EyeTV for iPhone: a remote control for the EyeTV itself. The only remote function the app has now is changing the channel, but that still launches the content on your iPhone. So far, there's no function to simply change channels, rewind, or fast forward content on your Mac, though Elgato hints this is coming in a future update.
What's the verdict? The bottom line is this version of EyeTV for the iPhone feels very much like the 1.0 app it is. The interface is a bit sparse, which from my perspective isn't necessarily a bad thing -- it makes it less confusing. Where the app fails to live up to expectations is in its actual performance. While video quality is great and easily on par with content offered through the iTunes store, actually accessing that content is a hit-or-miss affair that's often more miss than hit. Once Elgato shakes out the bugs in the app it'll definitely be worth the money, particularly if they can get remote access to be a little less rickety. From what I've seen on the support forums, Elgato is dedicated to getting this app working as well as possible, as quickly as possible. But is it worth buying today, as-is? Only if you're willing to put up with a fair bit of frustration. While the app is less than 25% of what SlingPlayer costs for similar functionality, EyeTV for iPhone needs a bit more polish before I can fully recommend it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
gear said 9:55AM on 9-30-2009
I own a Eye Tv and I haven't touched it since installing a slingbox and slingbox software in my MAC and their app in my ipod. My Tivo does a great job of recording shows and the slingbox does a great job of sending the shows from the Tivo (live or recorded) to whatever device I want to view them on when I'm out.
In fact the slingbox/Tivo combination works so well that I have completely given up on doing a direct transfer (from the Tivo to the MAC on my network) using Roxio's software. Of course the fact that Roxio's software is so bad might have something to do with it.
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Orion said 10:32AM on 9-30-2009
I run my gaming systems through my Eye Tv to record gameplay. This would have been a nice feature for watching TV though it, but I'll have to say I'm going to wait. Not being able to watch over 3G pretty much kills it's use for me, and not having it work properly even over WiFi makes it not even worth my time.
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brianrharris said 10:46AM on 9-30-2009
Just to be clear - you can't access 'Live' TV over 3G. Your existing records on the other hand are fair game (...as I watch Ohio State USC at work. yes, I'm behind) as long as they have been prepped for iPhone access.
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George said 11:06AM on 9-30-2009
Good call on the remote control, not sure how they overlooked that.
Some features needed:
• 'X' seconds jumps for REW/FFW like on the Mac app
• Needs to remember playback position, and also save that info to the Mac app database
• 'Played/unplayed' status synced with desktop app
• Ability to delete Mac recordings via the iPhone app
• Folder items counts
Push notifications of FFW/REW end up freezing the video for me.
Haven't tried the remote streaming yet.
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Adam PW Smith said 11:19AM on 9-30-2009
"The bottom line is this version of EyeTV for the iPhone feels very much like the 1.0 app it is."
Oh come one, TUAW. Please... you need to set the bar a bit higher than this. When the media gives software companies a pass on software that it is incomplete, buggy, and does not deliver on the promises it clearly makes then it perpetuates more of the same.
Based on your description, this sounds like a development or beta version. A 1.0 app may not have an extensive feature set, but it should do what it claims to do without errors.
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Sam the Deaf said 11:33AM on 9-30-2009
I brought it and it didn't work on my iPod Touch, it saying that router isn't compatible :(
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runugs said 11:35AM on 9-30-2009
Why would you have to drive back to your Mac? Don't you have screen sharing enabled and a VNC client on your iPhone?
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Craig Stanton said 3:07PM on 9-30-2009
he'd have to drive back to his office to get his iPhone on a different WiFi network so he can test the streaming to remote connections.
josejrp said 12:02PM on 9-30-2009
I have an Airport Extreme, and was able to watch Live TV from my home earlier this morning (I only tried it as a test). I didn't have to open any ports at home and have my station setup to NAT to the internet. I suspect I have NAT-PMP enabled, but can't verify it right now as I am not home. Since I didn't have to open any ports, it pretty much has to be NAT-PMP opening them up.
Fairly painless for me - the only setup I did was sign up for the EyeTV connection service so that they keep track of my home public IP. I am actually impressed with how easy it was.
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DigMo! said 12:48PM on 9-30-2009
I bought it and didn't have any problems. I did have to let EyeTV 3.2 'prepare' my already recorded TV but once converted it was fine. @Sam you only need a compatible router if you are going to try and use it over the internet not locally though. I have documented my experiences yesterday here http://www.totalapps.net/mobile-apps/eyetv-app/
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Sam the Deaf said 1:40PM on 9-30-2009
Well, I don't think there is nothing I can do because I'm on 2Wire from at&t u-verse.
David said 1:00PM on 9-30-2009
I am impressed that you guys can even get your Eyetv devices working without the USB 1.1 errors.
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soxneon said 1:49PM on 9-30-2009
Works fine here, but there are problems. My posts never show up on the first try, and I am too lazy to re-type it all. In a nutshell, I got it working but it's a leaning Tower of Piza, so to speak. One gust of wind and it's over.
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Mike Evangelist said 1:52PM on 9-30-2009
Digital TV in New Zealand is in transmitted in H.264 format; all but the fastest Macs can struggle playing back HD channels in that format. Asking the processor to also handle the realtime conversion to the streaming format at the same time could cause some stuttering. In that case it's best to keep the TV window closed on the Mac if you're streaming to the iPhone app. (If you have a Turbo.264 HD, the processor load is significantly reduced, so it would likely eliminate this problem.)
Regarding the error messages you're seeing, someone from Elgato will try to contact you to figure out what's going wrong. I'm sure we can get it working for you.
Finally, we are planning to add remote control functionality. This version is just the beginning.
Mike Evangelist
Elgato
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mr. Obsession said 2:18PM on 9-30-2009
I'm sorry to say that "This channel is currently not available" is practically burned into my iPhone's screen - it works with live TV about 20% of the time.
Opened a support ticket @ El Gato and they quoted me a 2-3 day wait for support. So...we'll see by the end of the week, I hope.
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Craig Stanton said 2:19PM on 9-30-2009
Hey Chris, get this Apple Script and it'll load NZ TV schedules
http://rapidshare.com/files/114719622/Download_xmltv_for_EyeTV_-_NZ.scpt.html
You'll need to manually delete the files it downloads before you can run it again, and tell EyeTV to use XMLTV.
http://xmltv.co.nz/howto/pvr/eyetv/
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Aedile said 2:27PM on 9-30-2009
I don't understand how Orb can get away with streaming over 3g (both live and stored video) and everyone else is denied. Is it just a fluke or something that they managed to get approved in the first place?
-aedile-
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Michael said 3:49PM on 9-30-2009
I bought this and have had no problems what so ever, my router is UPnP compatible however there are numerous warnings over the web advising not to use so I just added a port direction rule for port 2170. Seriously I've had none of the issues described. There is a big freeview retune from mid day today - haven't used it since mid day but I did use it for an hour this morning on the train! I scheduled BBC Breakfast to record for an hour and at 8am I was at the station watching it. After selecting the video i could watch it straight away and after 15 mins the whole thing had buffered so I could watch it even through tunnel etc.
- I used 3G unrestricter on my Jailbroken 3GS (3.01) - flawless. Live TV looks even better than the recorded stuff.
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David said 1:40PM on 10-01-2009
I was having all the problems the rest of you were having but after going through a couple of days worth of support on the Elgato support site, the whole app is working on the same network and remotely!
Steps you need to take:
-1. Update EyeTV software to 3.2
-2. Restart your MAC - this will then let your iPhone connect up via bonjour.
-3. Configure your router for the following:
--a. Port-forward TCP port 2170 to your Mac
--b. Port-forward UDP port 1900 to your Mac
4. EyeTV preferences - enable access to EyeTV for iPhone and Use My EyeTV, then sign up for an account.
5. Launch the EyeTV iPhone App, it'll automatically detect your Mac via bonjour, but you'll still want to access everything outside of your home network. So....
5. Hit Edit and Add EyeTV, enter in the same account details you did in the Mac software and boom!... You're done!
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Liberty For ALL! said 2:55PM on 10-01-2009
Ridiculous! If you pay for the Mac app, the iPhone app should be part of the bundle, especially since they are gouging everyone on EPG subscriptions!
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