Stephen Withers
Thursday, 11 March 2010 18:27
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
I've been a fan of Elgato's EyeTV family for some time, and the Netstream networked tuner appears to be a worthy addition.
The
Elgato Netstream DTT sounded good on paper, and I'm even more impressed having seen one in action.
The Netstream is a small, flat unit containing two digital HD TV tuners plus an Ethernet interface.
[Reference to "802.11n Wi-Fi" removed 29/3/10.] There's a keyhole slot on the base, so it could easily be mounted low on a wall near the antenna and power sockets.
As promised, it can send separate HD streams to two computers with no sign of hesitation. Admittedly, the demonstration setup had the Netstream, the wireless router and both computers within a few metres of each other.
The Netstream works in conjunction with Elgato's EyeTV software for Mac OS X, Terratec Home Cinema for Windows, or Windows 7 Media Center. The demo was all Mac, but I hope to get a chance to try it in a mixed environment in the near future.
Right now, a special build of EyeTV is needed for Netstream compatibility, but an imminent update will add this to copies of EyeTV 3 that were supplied with other tuners or sold as standalone software. That update will also contain more 64-bit code as Elgato works towards pure Cocoa software.
What else can Netstream offer? Please
read on.
