EyeTV iPhone App

This is a follow-up to my recent review of the Elgato EyeTV 250 device for the Macintosh.  This review will address the iPhone application specifically.  If you want to know my impressions about the device itself, please check out my review.

As far as features are concerned, the EyeTV iPhone app delivers.  It essentially allows you to stream live or recorded tv shows from your Mac directly to your iPhone (via Wifi AND cellular data streams).
The user interface is very clean and simple to navigate.  The first screen gives you four simple options:

1. Live TV
2. Recordings
3. Schedules
4. Guide

This is one of the best looking and simplest iPhone apps I’ve used so far… if only it worked…

Before I begin to tell you all the things that DIDN’T work for me, I will preface my remarks by saying I am using an iPhone 3g, not the newer 3gs, so it is possible most of these issues are resolved by using the newer hardware.

When used over Wifi, shows and live feeds took VERY long to start — upwards of 30 seconds or more.  Once playback began, stuttering was common and the app would occasionally lock up.  Looking through the Elgato support site, they recommend turning off the Bluetooth feature on the phone to improve performance.  Even though this step is unnecessary when using the Slingbox or NFL Sunday Ticket app (two other apps which provide video streaming), I complied.  My results improved, but only marginally.  Recorded shows that were specifically re-encoded for iPhone definitely worked better than Live TV, but still not to the point where I would consider it ready for regular use.  There is also a setting in the iPhone app for the size of the data stream you want to receive.  Changing these values seemed to actually change what channels or recordings were available for me to watch, but it’s actual function still is a mystery to me.  But moving the slider around did seem to slightly help video playback.

To confuse matters even more, Elgato support recommends buying their other device, the Turbo.264 HD Encoder which they say will automatically adjust the video feed on the fly to match your network settings.  However after spending money on the original EyeTV device, plus the $5 for the iPhone application as well, I’m not ready to drop even more money into this project without knowing exactly what kind of results I should expect.  I would have thought that re-encoding the video for the iPhone would have precluded me from having to add this additional device.

I will continue to tweak the different settings to see if I can get better results, but hopefully a software update will address my current concerns without requiring an additional hardware purchase.  For now, I would recommend a Slingbox device over the EyeTV iPhone software for streaming video.

Elgato EyeTV Software

I picked up the Elgato EyeTV as part of my experiment to see if I could cut out my DirecTV service entirely.  The short answer is… “no”, at least not quite yet.

The Elgato EyeTV 250 is a USB device for the Macintosh that allows you to watch and record TV broadcasts from over-the-air (OTA) or clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable) signals.  Setup was pretty standard fare — plug in USB connector and power outlet, install software, connect antenna or cable source.  I tested the device with both cable and antenna and the results were a bit mixed.  The scanning channels process took quite a while for both sources, but the cable source returned better initial results.  When using a smaller “digital OTA antenna” I wasn’t able to get all of my major network channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, etc).  However, after connecting to a larger antenna which is mounted in the attic, I was able to pull in all the major networks.  While this was great for my Mac Mini media center (which doesn’t really move), it did mean that it wouldn’t be easy to take the USB device as a travel companion and grab TV from different locations while on the road.

(Quick side note:  Elgato does sell another device which does NOT require a power adapter and some reports have stated that it is able to pull in OTA signals better.  However, the 250 Plus which I picked up has an analog input which in theory would let me record additional sources to the computer — such as converting old tapes or recording video game gameplay.  Recording video game snippets sounded like a cool option at the time, but if I were to do it again, I’d opt for the EyeTV Hybrid TV Tuner Stick).

The Elgato device comes with their latest version of the EyeTV Software.  This allows you to watch TV, schedule recordings (and “season passes”) and browse the program guide.  The app also allows you to edit your recorded videos in order to trim out unwanted sections (such as cutting out commercials from the recorded shows) and even save the output as a compressed format for portable devices such as the iPod or iPhone..  The software worked quite well on my Mac Mini when used with a keyboard and mouse, but the software suite just isn’t quite ready to be fully controlled by a remote control like I was hoping to do with the dedicated home theater Mac Mini.  The included remote control offers quite a bit of functionality, but I plan to use the Elgato with my Plex software and the Apple Remote and I couldn’t get everything dialed in to a point where I could get by on the remote alone (thankfully, the Snatch app on my iPhone was available in a pinch).

Elgato seems to have some decent developer support and I did come across two helper apps which were huge bonuses.  ETVComskip and PyeTV (both available via Google Code) added tremendous functionality to the EyeTV.  ETVComskip will analyze your recorded shows and automatically strip out the commercials.  While this worked pretty well most of the time, I did have one case where it output ONLY the commercials.  The other app, PyeTV, integrates EyeTV with Front Row to bring you a step closer to remote control unity.  Recorded shows worked fine with PyeTV, but switching to the program guide or live tv always made it difficult to return to the Front Row interface.  Hopefully the folks at Plex will come up with an integrated solution and it seems to be a top feature request.

For the most part, the EyeTV was a success.  The hardware worked great to provide an excellent HD picture and the automated recording,  scheduling, and commercial cutting features were a great bonus.  Unfortunately, the software still feels a little unpolished (a third party developer shouldn’t need to be the one to build in Front Row support).  The ability to customize the commands would be a big step forward, but what really needs to happen is the software needs an interface which can be fully controlled by the Apple Remote (and allow for more 3rd party development).

Once football season is over, I’ll try putting my DirecTV account on hold and see if I can get by solely on freely available content.  In order for that to happen the EyeTV is going to be a big part of my plan.  I just hope future software updates will make the transition even easier.

Before I begin, I’ll point out that I DO NOT use the Mac as a PVR.  I’ve read some great things about EyeTV for Mac, but for the sports I watch, I really can’t get by without DirecTV.  I would LOVE LOVE LOVE DirecTV to release a cable card that I could throw into the Mac for a fully integrated app, but I just don’t see that happening.  If Elgato would like to send an EyeTV my way, I’d be happy to review its performance with over-the-air broadcasts, but in the US, we just don’t have the same options that are available in other areas.  With that said… here are my top picks for a Mac Media Center.

All apps support playing Quicktime videos as well as browsing your music and photo libraries.  All apps work well with the Apple Remote and have some degree of iPhone remote control.  The subtle differences are what separates each app…

XBMC

XBMC is pretty much where the whole Media Center experience started from.  It is cross-platform, so if you liked it on Windows, you’ll like it just as much on the Mac.  It also has the most basic feature set, but I believe this makes it the most stable as well.

PROS:

• Very stable
• Lost of custom skins for unique look and feel
• Extensible using “python” type scripts

CONS:

• Does not support “Applications” like Boxee and Plex
• Not as intuitive to add “python” scripts

Boxee

Boxee is the “social networking” media app which is derived from the XBMC code base.  In addition to being a media player, it also shows what people in your network are watching, and it turn, lets others know what you’re up to… sort of like twitter for your Tivo.  I’m not a huge fan of this “content transparency” so this isn’t a big seller for me.

PROS:

• Best iPhone remote control app.  Provides easy “touch” control and two way communication between the phone and the app
• Best Pandora integration
• Strong “App” support

CONS:

• Not a huge fan of “social media” element
• Cannot continue watching a movie from where you last stopped off
• Navigation isn’t terribly untuitive
• Cannot change skins (as far as I know).

PLEX

Plex is specifically an enhanced Mac port of XBMC.  It supports several of the latest “App” plugins such as Netflix, Hulu and Pandora.

PROS:

• Extensive Application support
• Works great with “Snatch” iPhone app for remote control
• Clean UI

CONS:

• Customized skins not as stable
• Applications not as tightly integrated as Boxee (Pandora and Hulu feel “kludgy”).
• DVD support is buggy (but you can easily launch Front Row from Plex for DVD playback

FRONT ROW

Front Row has the “cleanest” user interface and very good DVD playback.  For integrating with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and iPhoto, it’s tough to beat Front Row.  Unfortunately, Front Row does support any of the other Online Application plugins and requires some hassle to play non “Quicktime” movies.

PROS:

• Great UI
• iTunes Store Purchases
• DVD Playback

CONS:

• No online content outside of iTunes Store.
• Does not play other movie codecs without some tweeking (Dolby Digital h264 files for example)
• Cannot customize look

And MY Winner Is……  PLEX!

Plex works great for my needs.  If I could have the best of all worlds, I’d love to throw in Boxee’s Pandora integration and the Boxee iPhone remote along with Front Row’s DVD playback.  I really like being able to continue where I left off in a movie in Plex and the interface is very clean and intuitive.  I do get a few lock-ups and crashes, but I’ve so far been very happy with its performance… even with only 1gb of system memory.

If you disagree, please feel free to let me know which apps you prefer and why.