When it comes to Macintosh TV tuners, it's hard to ignore the very large cat sitting in the corner. Elgato dominates the US market, but in Europe Equinux has been a big player and they've recently crossed the ocean with a new US-compatible tuner. The TubeStick Hybrid with its "The Tube" software arrives at a distinct disadvantage.

It's a small white box that you can attach to a spare USB port and use to watch channels both from over-the-air signals or connect to your cable TV. Equinux provides the software that turns the tuned data into a watch-able show on your screen.

The product and its software remains at a stage I can best describe as "beta". Yes, you can watch TV with it. Yes, you can tune to both ATSC (High Def) and analog channels. But many features like integrated TV listings are not yet available for the US. You're able to import your own Extended Programming Guide listings in XMLTV format, and Equinux recommends SchedulesDirect.org.

Follow the jump to read more about the Equinux Tube Stick Hybrid.

The folks who brought you the TubeStick USB digital TV tuners have released The Tube 2.7. Equinux is providing this free upgrade to The Tube, the software component of the TubeStick products. The new version enhances the timeshifting and electronic program guide features of The Tube 2.6, and adds even more functionality. What's new?

• Placeshifting -- Share a digital TV show via iChat. If you're running Leopard, just drag The Tube icon to an active chat. Your chat buddies can view or record the show, and you can talk about the show while watching it.
• Enhanced EPG -- The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is updated twice daily, and an open plug-in structure opens the door to other program guides.
• Leopard Features -- Add a stack of video recordings to the Dock, use QuickLook to preview your recordings, and set up Time Machine to avoid backing up your videos.
• Create A Podcast Of Your Recordings -- Any recordings added to a TubeToGo web gallery can be subscribed to via RSS, so recordings can be browsed and viewed on Apple TV.
• Closed Captioning

Do you already own a TubeStick? Go get the update. If you don't, the new features in The Tube 2.7 may be just the thing to push your purchase decision!

Note: A bug fix, v 2.7.1, is now the downloadable version of The Tube. Check the version history for details.

[via PRMac]

Equinux, makers of iSale, CoverScout and an interesting collection of other apps, was at Macworld demoing TubeStick, their TV receiver. Like El Gato's EyeTV, the TubeStick is a hardware doohickey with the TV parts inside (logically) and some software that lets you watch TV on your Mac. Unlike El Gato, however, there is a social aspect to TubeStick. Example: you can chat with friends who are watching the same thing. The CEO took us on a quick tour, which you can view after the break.

(Note: Equinux also gave us some show swag which we'll be giving away next week)

On the same day as Elgato's EyeTV 3 was announced, equinux of MediaCentral fame has released their own hardware and software combination for turning your US-based Mac into a PVR; it's called TubeStick hybrid. The hardware is a USB dongle device similar to Elgato's EyeTV Hybrid that can handle analog cable and over the air broadcasts as well as digital HDTV ATSC and cable Clear QAM. The software does the standard recording and timeshifting, but of particular interesting is the TubeStickToGo service which will allow you to schedule recordings over the internet when you're away from home and then have those shows automatically uploaded to .Mac or an FTP server for remote viewing on your Mac, iPhone, or iPod touch. There's also an attempt at a Joost-like social viewing experience with TubeTalk that allows you to chat with other folks watching the same program on their Macs.

The TubeStick Hybrid and associated software will launch in February. Pricing is not yet available, but will apparently include a subscription for the TubeStickToGo service.. Already available is a TubeStick for DVB-T/DTT in Europe for €39.95.

You lucky Europeans! Equinux is selling a new DVB-T tuner for the Mac for only €39.95 (about $52.50 in US currency). It is a little hard to get many details at the website, but it looks like a DVB-T-only tuner (digital terrestrial) built into a small USB plug in that ships with an antenna and a CD. I googled up a Macworld article on the TubeStick that suggests you can use your Apple Remote to control the tuner.

According to the Equinux website, the CD contains a fully licensed version of Equinux's MediaCentral software. (The Macworld article suggests different software, "the Tube", will ship with the unit.) MediaCentral normally costs €23 just on its own, making this an even better bargain. For sale only in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK.