This little goodie arrived today & 1st thing I did was set it up on the MacBook. While it was scanning the available channels, I noticed it skipped NBC, ABC & CBS because they were encrypted. Fox, The CW & the former WB channel all came in, in beautiful, eye-popping high definition. Until today, I'd only ever seen HDTV at Circuit City.

Later I set it up on the Mac mini (1.66GHz Core Duo), where's it's likely to live out its life, & once again it skipped the local channels because they were encrypted. I searched Elgato's knowledge base & did a basic Google search but can't figure out how to get around this problem.

I watched Smallville on the 19" monitor attached to the mini & it was stunning! The reception was excellent & the detail & sound everything I'd heard they would be!

Why would the locals be encrypted? I don't understand --- those aren't pay TV channels. I wonder, if you called them up on the phone and asked how you're supposed to receive their signal, what they'd say?

I don't understand why they're encrypted either. Fox comes in great but the other 3 don't. And the thing is, I NEVER watch anything on Fox.

Sure it's not just a reception problem --- remember it's pretty much "all or nothing" with HD --- or does it actually say the signal is encrypted?

Location/City? Are the channel numbers all under 7 (different frequency for transmission, although, digital channels are moved all around)... Indoor/Outdoor antenna? If it was indoor, did you try moving it ?

I find it hard to believe that over-the-air (OTA) channels would be encrypted.

While auto tuning, it said ENCRYPTED. When i select one of those channels from TitanTV web guide, I get a window with the last viewed available channel in it.

These are channels 13, 33, 40, & 42 in Birmingham, AL. The HD antenna is directed towards the towers, using a compass & info found at antennaweb.org. All towers are within a few degrees of each other except for ABC.

I also find it hard to believe that over-the-air (OTA) channels would be encrypted.

I just called all of the TV stations & left messages with the chief engineers, none of whom were at their desks. We shall see...

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 11:03AM by DaviDC..

Had that problem too when I first got mine too. They aren't encrypted, it's just a weak signal. Boost and/or move your signal and the problem will be gone.

The chief engineer from the NBC station called back & said he's never heard of such a thing. We talked about the setup I was using & it was obvious he considered Apple computers to be inferior to anything else running Windows. I told him both of my Macs were capable of running Windows as well, I just chose not to & that changed his tune. Later he called back & told me that the HD channels I am receiving are broadcast in 720p & the ones I cant receive are 1080i.

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Not Encrypted.

BGnR

---

"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

I love my eyetv hybrid.

RE the all or nothing, it takes a lot less digital signal strength to get a great picture than it takes for a mediocre analog signal.

I'm itchin' for an Intel to run it at the "Best" setting.

---

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.

Quote
RAMd®d
... I'm itchin' for an Intel to run it at the "Best" setting.

I'm days away from being able to play with my own Hybrid. What's the "best" setting refer to?

Would somebody please clarify something for me regarding EyeTV Hybrid? This could be the set up I've been wishing for, so I was doing some research this morning. The way I'm reading the info on the Elgato site, I will get only an analog signal from the cable box, regardless of whether or not the box itself is capable of receiving an HD signal; did I read it right? According to antennaweb, any HD signals via antenna would be very limited and require a pretty powerful antenna.

Is this just a plug and play installation guys ?
G5 DP 2.3/5.5GB/550HD ATI 9800 Pro
Dell 20'Ultrasharp/WSLCD

Apples free shipping makes their price doable

I am drooling *(:>*

AlphaDog, you are correct: If you connect a cable or sat box up to the Hybrid's lone F-connector all you'd likely get are the cable or sat box's analog signal.

The only digital signal it can handle is unencrypted/unscrambled, which means OTA ("over the air") from an antenna or QAM signal.

1.) Local TV stations, assuming they actually broadcast a digital signal, send an ATSC signal. All HDTVs that include tuners and the Hybrid include an ATSC tuner, so that's how they receive and display a signal from an antenna.

2.) Cable providers send (from what I've read) a type of signal known as QAM. It may or may not be "scrambled" (encrypted). If they provide an unencrypted signal, the Hybrid could use that --- no cable box (or CableCard) necessary. As you might imagine, that's exceedingly rare to the point of nonexistence because they feel anything "digital" or "HD" is an extra-cost thing.

[en.wikipedia.org]

3.) Satellite providers ONLY send a signal that must be decoded/descrambled/decrypted by a set top box, so plugging that cable straight into the Hybrid would never work.

haikuman, you plug it into a USB port and use the included software to tune in stations and record TV shows, etc.

But because it has no hardware compression, it only sends a full-on highest-quality signal to the Mac. For analog sources that's not a big deal for most people, but to record (and maybe view?) HD content you need at least a Dual 2.0 G5 --- you're all set, buddy!

Some caveats probably apply here for real-world HD success. One being lots of hard disk space, naturally, and CPUs that aren't also doing other things since they have to carry the burden here.

sounds like it may be worth a try... thanks deckeda *(:>*

Thanks from me, too, deckeda. For now (!), the way I'm reading this is that I have to find out from Comcast whether or not their signal is encoded. If it is, then I'd need to use a box for the signal to the EyeTV Hybrid. If it's not, then I could run a cable directly from the outlet to the EyeTV Hybrid. Right? Wrong? If I need another box, this will probably be more trouble than it's worth to me. If I don't...

You have the basic jist of it. The details matter, however. Here's how it works where I am.

Basic cable service doesn't need a box. Any extra stuff (HBO, etc.) and the HD content necessitates a box.

What they'd need to do for you is for example supply basic analog service with local HD channels, and then NOT encrypt that local HD content so that a box still isn't needed. Ask them, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Jeezo!

BGnR
I gotta keep track of this train wreck!

---

"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

For analog sources that's not a big deal for most people

That depends on your iron.

The analog has no hardware encoding, so it's all done in software, which taxes the CPU. The EyeTV 250 *does* have hardware encoding for analog, but doesn't do any digital.

I get a better image with my ConvertX box (analog only) than I do with my hybrid. But flip over to HD and it's stunning!.

When viewing HD content, take a look in the hybrid's prefs for the Quality and Signal Strength indicators.

---

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.