While I was looking at some of the Geniatech products, I noticed that an Eyetv 4 version which is 64 bit is available and has been since around 2022 or so. There is also a USB stick model U2 which is shown here:
I was wondering if anyone is using either product. I recall looking at the older Eye 3 software some time back but because of the 32 bit issue, I never looked further and forgot about it but there are some reviews that the newer software, although not as feature filled as the version 3, does work in newer OS like Ventura.
Many years ago, I had a (then) Elgato EyeTV device. I believe the input was direct from a splitter on the coax before it went to my cable box. But the memory is fuzzy. Anyway, I’ve since cut the cable TV ties entirely, but it might be nice to have a device such as the Geniatech EyeTV U6 (since I’m in the US). My question is on the input. I don’t have an over-the-air antenna in or on my house. Would I need to get one? Or is the modern equivalent of “rabbit ears” sufficient to pull in over-the-air HD signals from local broadcasters (maybe 30 miles away)?
I have used various geniatech devices with EyeTV Version 4. The reception was excellent from northwest Wayne County, Michigan, for Detroit, Toledo stations and CBET in Ontario, Canada when using an outside antenna an rotator. When that was damaged, I switched the the magmount whip antenna against a second floor window. I no longer connect with CBET and Toledo is iffy. Detroit (~30 miles) channels vary, but are generally good reception.
EyeTV’s program was good for a while after Geniatech’s acquisition. I have not been able to download the Program Guide, a paid subscription, for several years now. While it worked, it was the best guide available and EyeTV was wonderful for DVR. I now use HDHomerun which is at least adequate.
You would need some type of antenna to connect to the U2 or any similar tuner device. I used to have DirecTV for about 25 years but I also had an outdoor antenna for local channels since those were not originally available on DirecTV and when they were added later, it was extra cost. Now I believe local channels are bundled with all packages but I don’t watch enough tv to warrant getting DirecTV or cable and streaming is here and there.
Indoor antennas can work if you’re not too far from the transmitting towers. If the towers are 30 miles away, an outdoor one would probably work better but one way to find out is to use this site to check your address for the stations that are available to you:
Use the Signal Search map to see what comes up. For antennas, I like the Clearstream series, both 2 and 4, but keep in mind that some stations transmit in UHF and some VHF so the antenna needs to match what is available in your market. However, many UHF antennas can pick up VHF signals if you’re not too far from the towers but a lot is experimental as to placement. Higher is not always better for example as it was in the analog days.
I’ve been using OTA antennas since I was in high school (in the late 70’s) but even those old antennas can still be used for digital OTA now so don’t be fooled by marketing hype if you still have an old antenna around.
I’ve looked into the Homerun series and might consider those at some point like if ATSC 3 comes into my market. I was also looking at something that would work in a power failure and the U2 connected to a laptop would fit the bill. Thanks for your detailed information.
One question: do you know what brand or type of antenna you had that was damaged that worked well for you?
Thanks. According to RabbitEars I should give up. Even if I had a 30’ external antenna, only two stations are “fair”, the rest “poor.” But (and I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me earlier) don’t all local stations stream their signals now? I checked a couple here (in the LA area), and from what I saw, I don’t know why I’d even bother with a Geniatech device. Am I missing something?
I still use EyeTV 3 with an “old” iMac - it was one of the reasons for sticking with Mojave. I have an external antenna with a splitter but I remember taking the USB tuner stick on trips with Retina Macbook and finding good reception with the tiny rabbit-ear antenna that came with the stick.
In Australia EyeTV 3 uses a free EPG.
I will try out EyeTV 4 with my M2 Macbook Air. I have a spare USB tuner stick. I hope it is compatible with EyeTV 4.
Channel Master Medium Fringe Yagi Mast Mount on Channel Master Rotator – Purchased in late 80s or early 90s. Rotator pointed to Toledo, Detroit, and Ontario for Hockey Night in Canada.
I don’t know if they can stream everything but they might stream newscasts.
The major networks all have streaming but you have to look at different packages such as YouTube TV but these have a cost and need internet as well. For those who can receive OTA for free, it’s a good deal as the cost of an antenna is paid for almost immediately vs streaming the same networks. If you live in a challenging area for OTA, I can see where streaming is the best bet.
The program crashes when I try to open it. I haven’t got as far as entering the registration code on my M2 Macbook. It might have something to do with Silicon Mac security as I didn’t see a pop-up about allowing an app that is not from the App Store.
I have an Elgato tuner stick and this works with EyeTV 4 on my intel iMac.
I have submitted a report to Geniatech. I couldn’t find anything about this on their support pages.
Thanks for checking. It’s unfortunate if it doesn’t work with your M2 but not surprising I suppose since there is not a lot of information regarding the newer software. Some reviewers called it “buggy” but that seemed to be when it first came out.
A few years ago I bought a U6 because it comes with EyeTV 4. I already owned EyeTV 3. EyeTV 4 was a paid upgrade. Buying the U6 cost about the same as just buying the software, and I also got the OTA dongle.
I wanted EyeTV 4 to digitize analog output from a tape deck, on which I played VHS tapes. Digitizing the tapes to mp4 video worked very well. After digitizing the video is noticeably more clear. I think the improvement is because mp4 is shown on my Mac screen, which has much higher resolution than an analog TV from decades ago.
The U6 allows me to receive OTA broadcasts, but I do not watch TV so I can’t comment on this.
I have a lot of experience with EyeTV 1 - 3 (software). I had an EyeTV 2 (hardware), and later models, which digitized television or tapes and output the result via FireWire. At the time EyeTV was very good for digitizing analog video from television broadcasts or tapes. The EyeTV software was also very good for editing the digital video it created.
Some years ago El Gato sold EyeTV to Geniatech. Geniatech updated the EyeTV software from 32 bit (version 3 and earlier) to 64 bit (version 4). It seems this was a bigger task than Geniatech anticipated. For years EyeTV 4 was so buggy as to be unusable. It seems to work OK now, at least for transcoding tapes.
What type of Mac are you using? Intel or Apple Silicon?
My focus for the USB stick is the OTA part. I already have a DVR that can record OTA in HD and then download that to my computer for editing but it’s nice to know that the U2 can do other tasks as well.
Yes - I used a “retired” Mac as a media centre for many years. Apple’s Front Row software talked to EyeTV so I had OTA TV as well as recorded video via the Front Row menus.
It was very irritating when Apple discontinued Front Row - likely in order to promote the newly released Apple TV hardware that has fewer features.
I still own an Eye TV HD, the one with the component hookup that links only to an old cable box. It worked with my Mac Studio M1 until Sonoma 14.6. Now it only works on my Mac mini (2018) i7 running the latest Sonoma. Like the U6 it’s nice to be able to record tv shows and the software allows you to covert the eye file to mp4. The Eye TV HD came with a remote eye to change the channel on the cable box but it hasn’t worked in years. I record manually without any trouble.
My U2 came earlier than I thought so I gave it a try today after downloading the EyeTV4 software (version 8527 which is the latest one on the U.S. page) on my M1 Sonoma 14.5 and like you said, it would crash on startup. I looked at the error report and noticed it said that a file was missing in System/Library/Frameworks/FWAUserLib.framework etc. I then download the software on my Mini Intel and it worked fine there. I checked the location above for that file and it was there on the Mini. I was thinking about copying that to the M1 but figured it wouldn’t work but as I was finishing the registration email, the program told me there was an update so I let it download and restsart. It mentioned support for OS 14 but this version (8532) is not listed on the U.S. download page. I’m running Catalina on the Mini.
So I copied the app from the Intel to the M1 too see if it would launch and it did so I figured there was some change made to support Sonoma. I did a Google search using the version number and found this page:
I downloaded it and compared it to the one from my Intel which had the same dates and version number so I used that one to launch and it’s all working after entering the code. So it appears that Geniatech has a Sonoma supported EyeTV4 app but it’s not listed on the U.S. page but is on a European one. Also, the European page has many more listings so the app has been changed more than one would think.
I contacted the customer support so they can add the appropriate file to the U.S. page. I hope this helps others that may run into this in the future. Whether is will work with future OS is questionable.
I only tested the OTA function letting it scan etc. and it found a good number of channels with the little antenna that came in the box. I will be testing further with my main antenna and will also check again once I update to 14.6.1 as I need to do that.