Elgato eyeTV plays Humax .ts files

[Mark64]

Elgato EyeTV 3.5 is a Mac OSX application that turns a Apple Mac computer into a PVR, with Elgato's own USB tuners you can watch and record standard and HiDef digital terrestrial and satellite TV.

Unfortunately Elgato does not support the UK's DVB T2 HiDef broadcasts, however it does have a Core AVC H.264 video decoder built in, which can play Humax HDR-Fox T2 recordings once they have been decrypted.

It does a really good job, you can fast forward and rewind as well as skipping through the recordings. No problems with 5.1 audio either. As a bonus the IR remote control that came with my Elgato device works with the Humax .ts files as well.

Under the File Menu is "Open Quicktime Movie", this generates an open dialog box from which you can select a recording to play.

I have my Humax mounted on my desktop via samba and have played files direct from the 'virtual disk' on the Humax as well as recordings copied to my computer and downloaded through the web interface.

EyeTV 3.5 costs a whopping 80 euros, but comes free with any Elgato device. Terratec Home Cinema is Elgato's Windows partner and might offer similar functionality.

Despite appearances this is not an advert for Elgato. I just wanted to share my discovery with anyone who might already own this software and not be aware this feature. It certainly beats VLC's audio with 5.1 soundtracks and the picture is better too.

 

[Black Hole]

 

[ejstubbs]

Elgato EyeTV 3.5 is a Mac OSX application that turns a Apple Mac computer into a PVR, with Elgato's own USB tuners you can watch and record standard and HiDef digital terrestrial and satellite TV.

EyeTV supports more than just the Elgato tuners, see http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/software/EyeTV-3/product3.en.html. The list seems to suggest that they do support some HD tuners but I haven't inestigated to see if any of them are DVB-T2.

I've had EyeTV and an Elgato DVB-T tuner for seven years and counting. It's still my preferred method for making recordings that I want to burn to DVD. I rarely burn stuff from the Humax - usually only if it's something I decide to record at the last minute (or even part way through watching), or if there's a scheduling clash. On that latter point, my understanding is that EyeTV doesn't handle multiple tuners very elegantly.

 

[Mark64]

EyeTV supports more than just the Elgato tuners, see http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/software/EyeTV-3/product3.en.html.

I knew they supported other tuners but didn't know there were so many. Whether any of them handle DVB T2 is something I'd like to look into.

I'm a long time EyeTV user as well, the first software version I had was 1.8.

Interesting that the 3.5 software has no problem decoding a DVB T2 transport stream but the hardware can't tune into any HD stations.

I wonder what is the difference between DVB T1 and DVB T2?

Is it a licensing issue that BBC is using to protect it's content?

I'm pretty sure versions of Elgato's satellite hardware can tune into BBC HD channels.

 

[Black Hole]

T2 uses a much more sophisticated encoding scheme to achieve higher compression ratios (I think it's called H.264?). It had not been invented when the original DVB standards came out.

S2 is similar, which explains why recent satellite hardware can do it.

 

[Mark64]

S2 is similar, which explains why recent satellite hardware can do it.

The satellite S2 standard must have a wider customer base for elgatos hardware to support it, but not DVB T2.
Apple are very keen on H.264, using it as an alternative to flash movies on web sites and through iTunes movie downloads. I'm surprised Quicktime doesn't play humax .ts files, perhaps changing the file extension would help?