I picked up an eyetv hybrid by el gato, at MWSF.

My reception (broadcast, no cable or outside antenna) of the local analog channels is fair to poor usually, with one or two channels being very good, occasionally.

Connecting the hybrid to my MDD (via a USB 2.0) card and configuring the software from my Plextor to the hybrid gave me several OTA HD channels.

These came in *very* well. The eyeTV software has Quality and Signal strength indicators. The former showed 100% and the latter 60%.

Using the hybrid for analog broadcast gave much worse than antenna only or Convert-X results, as my MDD lacks the HP for the software decoding to work well.

The eyetv software wouldn't let me use the two higher resolutions in the digital selection, telling me that I need a DP G5 or an Intel Mac.

Still, the picture was really very nice. Extremely clear, just a bit soft being going full screen on my 23" display. Compared to analog broadcasts of the same channels, the viewing is stunning.

With more processing HP, the picture should be much improved.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I've been eyeBalling this thing too, as a possible way to get a toe into the HD world (I don't have an HDTV.)

Dumb question: can you watch live TV with it, say, outputted to your monitor, or only capture and play it back?

Yes, live viewing as well as capture.

Now to be petty, one could say it's not actually live since the viewing is from buffered memory, but the delay is only a fraction of a second or so.

You can also pause and "rewind" if you want. Doing so increases the time difference between live and "live".

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Another question. According to their FAQ: [www.elgato.com] it won't digitize analog video (eg. your VHS deck) and yet handles analog video from an antenna or cable provider. What am I missing here? Will it not digitize that either?

Same thing with the breakout cables? They'll let you connect Sonic the Hedgehog for viewing, but not record him?

They have refined this device down to a USB dongle, and an elegant one at that! What a difference from the original eyetv hardware. And with HD too. And they knocked the price down by 50 bucks for MWSF, and BTW, that price is still good tonite at elgato.com's website.

I couldn't help myself. : }

yeah, I saw that as well ... so Blurb, when ya get it lemme know if it can or can't digitize analog video?