Review: EyeTV Netstream Sat
- Article 17 of 19
- MacUser, December 2010
The EyeTV Netstream Sat builds on Elgato’s existing USB-based EyeTV Sat to offer standard definition and HD Freesat satellite TV content to devices connected to your network. However, good as it is, there are a few hurdles for you to jump first.
First, you need a completely free connection to a satellite dish – don’t try to share one with a Sky+ box, since you’ll find that whatever device is trying to record from the satellite will invariably lose to the other device at a vital point. Second, although a wireless-n network has the bandwidth necessary to support streaming TV, the Netstream itself doesn’t have a wireless-n card in it, only a 100-base-T Ethernet port, so needs a wired connection to your router. Third, although the devices you stream to can be PCs, Macs or iPads (if you buy the slightly user-unfriendly EyeTV iPad application), they have to have a relatively high spec. A Mac, for example, needs to have at least an Intel processor to view standard definition content, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor if it’s to view HD content.
If you pass those requirements, set-up is almost a breeze. In theory, the Setup Assistant within the EyeTV PVR software that comes with the Netstream spots it using Bonjour and then auto-tunes all the channels available. That worked fine with us. However, we found that of our two satellite connections, one just didn’t work with the Netstream at all, despite working fine with a Sky+ box and giving 70% signal strength even with the Netstream. Only when we used the other connection were we able to get the Netstream to register the satellite feed and tune in at all.
Auto-tuning is a process that takes about half an hour and will spot every single listed channel available without problem, whether it’s encrypted or not. You’ll need to do some pruning to get that down to a manageable list of viewable channels. To get an EPG, the Netstream includes a subscription to tvtv.co.uk. Its EPG is very good, even if a few channels (usually +1s) aren’t listed.
Once installed, to perform firmware updates and configure Netstream’s more advanced settings such as IP address and broadcast name, you can access a Bonjour-enabled web page.
The included EyeTV PVR software (an alternative PVR for Windows is also included) is second to none in terms of functionality, offering smart guides, parental controls, the ability to share recordings over a network with other EyeTV users or iOS devices running the EyeTV app, support for remote controls, the ability to wake up a Mac to record content and the option to export content to an iPhone, iPod, iPad or Apple TV. Viewing and recording is usually very good – better than fine in one case, with HD streaming to an Intel Core Mac as jerky and pixellated as promised on a live stream, but the recording of that stream crystal-clear for some reason. If your viewing device is busy – particularly on hard-drive related operations, however, you should expected jerky viewing and recording. We tested network saturation by watching a streamed movie on an AppleTV while simultaneously viewing BBC1 HD over a wireless-n network and both were unaffected by the other, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
Exporting from EyeTV for viewing content in other apps can take a very long time, particularly with HD content, unless you have a hardware accelerator such as the Elgato Turbo.264 which can improve things considerably – with a 30 minute programme exporting in the same time, typically. However, we found that recordings over an hour, especially ones that have suffered an occasional signal glitch, would either fail to export or would export with lost lip sync or long periods of “mosaicked” content with the Turbo.264 connected – we’d recommend using Handbrake (HYPERLINK "http://tinyurl.com/2b4lx9s"http://tinyurl.com/2b4lx9s) for exporting longer content correctly.
The EyeTV Netstream Sat is an excellent, although quite expensive product. Although its lack of wireless-n card, its pernickety satellite feed requirements, its minimum specs for viewing devices and occasionally buggy export do spoil the overall package, it’s superior to its predecessor in many ways and does exactly what you want – give you HD Freesat on any computer on your network.