18 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
Simple and to the point
Date of Review: Jan 13, 2007
The Bottom Line: The Elgato Hybrid is good value for those looking for a simple, easy to use PVR solution or who just want to watch video on their Mac.
The Elgato Eyetv Hybrid was my component of choice when I recently put together a media centre based around a Mac Mini. I wanted something small, easy to configure and easy to use. I do not watch that much television, but I would like to record programs every now and then.
I am new to the Mac world, but after some research I soon noticed that Elgato is rated very highly by Mac users. Elgato does make other, more powerful products in the PVR range, but for my needs the Hybrid was more than adequate.
The unit itself is tiny, not much larger than a USB key. On one end there is a port for connecting your co-ax cable, and there is even another connection for a small antenna.
The software itself is straight-forward to install (like 99% of the software for Macs), and in no time at all I was up and running.
The image was clear and you would be hard pressed to notice a difference between watching TV through the Elgato and watching it on the television.
However, it seemed to me that the image in general was a bit dark for my liking, so I needed to configure the brightness and contrast settings.
It is also very easy to program. Within minutes I dialled in the visible channels (in my case "channel", as I am only using the signal-out from a Telewest set-top box) and programmed the Hybrid to record an ice hockey match that came on later in the day.
I am not using the software to it's full potential, as our cable provider gives us a set-top box that only has a signal-out. That means I can't program the Hybrid to automatically change channels, as it only detects the one "channel" on which the set-top box passes on it's signal. Not really a problem, as I just program the set-top box to change channels at the required time and the Hybrid to start recording.
If you do decide to record using the Elgato Hybrid, make sure that you have plenty of disk space, as the files can get quite large - depending on the quality settings you choose.
After the recording takes place, you merely double-click on the file to view it. Simple as that. There is also an option to export the file to an iPod, but I have not used that option yet.
One problem I did encounter with the recordings is the audio quality. It seems very, very low - and I have not been able to resolve this issue. I am not sure if my unorthodox setup or the Elgato Hybrid is at fault here.
The Hybrid can also get fairly warm during use, so I would make sure that there is some ventilation.
