[Nick Freeman]

I'll be posting a full tutorial about FM radio in EyeTV very soon, but here is basic info.

1) FM radio is available in the 2008 International Hybrid, and the 2009 North American Hybrid.

2) FM radio can be listened to live, time shifted, recorded, manually scheduled, edited, exported, etc. Basically, everything that you can do with normal EyeTV video.

3) The editor is a somewhat compacted view with no thumbnails. You see a black screen with the speaker icon, and the timeline/marker bar you're used to.

4) Export options are limited to audio options, like "for iTunes" or AAC (there are something like 5 or 6 options - I don't have the unit right in front of me). There is the usual QuickTime option that gives you the full allotment of possible audio choices.

5) There is no program guide for FM in EyeTV now. I suppose it's theoretically possible for some sort of XMLTV guide, but I haven't confirmed that yet (meaning we haven't tried it out).

6) You can get FM from an antenna you provide. In some cases, FM may be rebroadcasted via your cable service. In San Francisco, Comcast has FM on the line that EyeTV Hybrid 2009 can receive.

7) You Auto Tune separately for FM - "Analog - FM Radio" is the option. That list is separate from the other channel lists, but you can make a mixed favorite channels list of video and audio channels, if you like.

8) You should manually schedule recordings - perhaps you want to record a certain station M-F for 3 hours each day. Just use the "New" button in the schedules section and go for it. Like video, the maximum recording length for any one file is 11 hours, 59 minutes.

9) Recorded radio in EyeTV is MPEG-1 layer 2 (MP2) - the same audio as you'd find with any analog EyeTV recording.

I'm sure there are other cool things that people will think of. Like I said, once I get back in the office (now that Macworld is over), I'll shore up the Knowledgebase.

Some things that come to mind:

• You can record an hour of music, use the editor to export each song using "for iTunes" (or just export the whole hour), and then they'll be ready for synching to an iPod or iPhone.

• You can record something, select a bit in the editor, export it to AAC, add it to GarageBand, make it a ringtone, and then put it on your iPhone.

• You can pause radio or timeshift back and listen to something you missed, and then record what you missed from the buffer.

• You can record from much as you want from any available station - each schedule you make can be on whatever station you want, and EyeTV will automatically tune channels according to each scheduled recording.

I've been a casual RadioShark user since it came out a few years ago, and I think EyeTV can surpass that, but we'll need your comments and requests to really polish things up. Thus, let us know as you try it out.

[rackerby]

I suppose HD Radio is out of the question?

Also, is the 2009 Hybrid made by Hauppauge or Pinnacle?

[Nick Freeman]

The 2009 Hybrid is an Elgato design that doesn't have an equivalent from other manufacturers. Unlike the first Hybrid, the 2009 Hybrid doesn't have a "clone" from Hauppauge, and it only will work on the Mac with EyeTV.

HD Radio is not a simple checkbox you can request from tuner manufacturers at this time - it's not integrated with normal video capture chips, like FM is. There are technical and licensing issues that would prevent us from using it now. We'll keep our eyes open for potential use of HD Radio in the future.

[BJWanlund]

Question re FM Radio: Is the FM reciever itself inside the unit? Cause if it is, I may ask for it for my birthday.

BJ

[Nick Freeman]

Yes, the FM radio receiver is inside EyeTV Hybrid.

The chip it uses to receive TV channels also has the ability to receive FM radio.

See this article for more information:

http://support.elgato.com/index.php?_m= ... ishdefault

[BJWanlund]

Thanks!

BJ

[nordine]

I called the support desk in December 2008 and they told me that there WERE NO PLANS to be able to receive FM with the EYE TV Hybrid in North America. So I plunked down the 148 dollars for the hybrid, and now you tell me that you have a hybrid that receives FM???
This is bogus. I say get your support team to know what they are talking about.
Jeesh, I feel short changed....

[nordine]

Thanks for the reply Nick!
Not...

BC

[Nick Freeman]

Ever since EyeTV started in 2002, we have never pre-announced hardware.

We are not able to discuss future features, even if we know they are coming, and even if the change may be a few weeks away. This is the same procedure that most companies make, to keep in business - Apple is an example.

In any case, if you have any questions or concerns about any purchase, then you can contact our Sales department - if you bought the Hybrid unit from us, then you may have options available that you did not realize.

Beyond that, we want to bring out new products every year, but we're not able to give warning if a newer product will surpass an older one, or exactly when a newer product might come out.

[rileyrd]

Does the new 2009 models allow for dual hybrids on the same computer. I have two hybrids, but was very disappointed that eyetv could not work properly. I have a HDHomerun which works great with two tuners.

This is a standard feature of Tivos, Windows Media centers and others. Is it possible?

[ripper]

Hey Nick, since you guys obviously do look at the forums, how about a reply to this thread please?

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2170

[sjk]

ripper: please read my response in the thread you linked to. Note: I'm simply reiterating what Elgato has publicly stated.

[tbeardmore]

Is there a way to use an external antenna to receive additional channels if the EyeTV Hybrid 2009 is connected primarly to cable?

Thx
TRB

[BJWanlund]

Yes, the FM radio receiver is inside EyeTV Hybrid.

The chip it uses to receive TV channels also has the ability to receive FM radio.

See this article for more information:

http://support.elgato.com/index.php?_m= ... ishdefault

Quick question: You can actually receive DTV channels from this thing?? I'm thinking about buying a new Mac expressly for media stuff.

BJ

[Nick Freeman]

You can attach a cable line, or an antenna, but not both.

One exception is that you can attach the cable line and antenna to a coaxial switch box. Then, connect the switch box to EyeTV. When you want to use cable, switch it one way manually. When you want to use your antenna, switch is another way. Such manual switches are inexpensive.

EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 250 Plus can receive digital TV over antenna. In the US, that's called ATSC. If you have the International model, you can receive DVB-T.

The US/Canada models from 2008 or later can also receive Clear QAM - unencrypted digital cable.

[BJWanlund]

I meant, does it have an antenna built-in to the device?

BJ

[Nick Freeman]

No EyeTV product has an antenna inside the case.

You have to attach an external antenna for all models that can receive signals from antenna.

[BJWanlund]

Oh, okay. Thanks!

BJ

[Remotruker]

Any updates on this question? I'm interested in having pic in pic

Does the new 2009 models allow for dual hybrids on the same computer. I have two hybrids, but was very disappointed that eyetv could not work properly. I have a HDHomerun which works great with two tuners.

This is a standard feature of Tivos, Windows Media centers and others. Is it possible?

[Nick Freeman]

When in Analog mode, EyeTV Hybrid captures uncompressed (YUV) video.

One YUV stream will eat up more than 50% of the USB bus - it actually will use most of the available bandwidth.

That means that two YUV streams won't be able to fit on the same USB bus.

Thus, you can't use two EyeTV Hybrids in analog mode, on one Mac (one USB bus).

Products in digital mode only use 20Mbps max for each stream, so you can use multiples on the same Mac (experimentally).

Products that encode analog via hardware use 15Mbps max for each stream, so you can use multiples on the same Mac (experimentally).

[BobF4321]

Thus, you can't use two EyeTV Hybrids in analog mode, on one Mac (one USB bus).

But a Mac Pro can have multiple USB buses.. I added an Allegro PCIe card to add more USB ports.. should be lots of bandwidth.

[BJWanlund]

7) You Auto Tune separately for FM - "Analog - FM Radio" is the option. That list is separate from the other channel lists, but you can make a mixed favorite channels list of video and audio channels, if you like.

Could I make that same mixed favorites list of channels from different video channels, like say Clear QAM (for my locals) and my local cable?

BJ

[Nick Freeman]

A favorite channels list can include any mixture of any channels from any source.

You can have analog video, digital video, and FM radio, all in the same list, for example.