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Elgato EyeTV Mobile now available for the iPad 2 [video]

Chris Oldroyd — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:52:04 +0000

Elgato has announced that its EyeTV Mobile DVB-T tuner is now available for the iPad 2. The EyeTV Mobile was announced back in August and is now beginning to ship. The tuner clips into the 30 pin dock connector on the iPad 2 and comes complete with a telescopic aerial. The tuner is a DVB-T freeview tuner which is geared towards the European market.

A portable and easy-to-use device, EyeTV Mobile connects directly to the iPad and does not require an Internet connection. The EyeTV Mobile app, available for free at the App Store, offers a full range of TV viewing features including pause, rewind and record. The integrated EPG lets users view up to 7 days of detailed programme guide information and send recommendations to friends by email. EyeTV Mobile is available immediately at a price of 99.95 Euro.

It is going to be interesting to hear if anyone picks one of these up. Depending on your location, the reception on DVB-T tuners can be very patchy even with a fixed aerial. The telescopic aerial supplied with this accessory will have to be really good to offer a usable experience. Of course you could connect it to a fixed aerial, if you were planning on using your iPad 2 in a fixed position while you watch it.

Source: Elgato

Apple: HTTP Live Stream Technology Now Required for Streaming Video

Rene Ritchie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:39:47 +0000

HTTP live stream technology is now required for streaming video according to Apple’s new iPhone developer RSS feed.

An innovative feature of iPhone OS 3.0 is support for HTTP Live Streaming technology. One of the great benefits this technology delivers is the ability to dynamically adjust to varying network bandwidth conditions. It lets you store multiple video clips of different quality on the server, and then deliver the one that matches what the requesting customer is capable of viewing given the network they have access to. Use of it is now required for all applications which deliver streaming video. You must include a low quality stream of no more than 64 Kbps for your app to resort to when network conditions demand it, along with the higher quality streams you want to deliver to your customers when the network can support it.

See the HTTP Live Streaming Overview in the iPhone Reference Library for details.

We’ve read about — and seen — HTTP Live Streaming before, but with Apple insisting on it, and companies like Elgato using it in EyeTV to allow streaming to the iPhone over 3G, it could be getting interesting. Concerning EyeTV’s implementation, TUAW‘s Erica Sadun says:

Powered by the EyeTV 3.3 update (free to existing owners of EyeTV software), this technology avoids App Store hassles while providing on-demand video access to your home TV recordings and live programming. [...] As an added bonus, since Mobile Safari has access to the iPhone’s TV Out capability (third-party apps can’t use it, but Apple apps can), you can use a component or composite video-out cable to display your streamed video on any convenient TV.

Win/win?

Updated: EyeTV App Error Allows Streaming TV over 3G?

Rene Ritchie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:03:00 +0000

Unlike the recently redeemed VoIP, streaming TV over 3G to an iPhone is still a no-no according to AT&T’s terms of service, but has an error (or “error”) on the part of EyeTV [$4.99 - iTunes link] developer Elgato allowed them to go where SlingPlayer is still forbidden to tread?

Apparently so, if instead of tapping okay to dismiss the warning, you tap the message text instead. Then it’s 3G away you go.

Of course, AT&T lets other devices use SlingPlayer over 3G, and of course Apple’s YouTube app, and apps from Ustream and Stickam stream non-TV over 3G, so who while the whole policy makes the kind of sense that doesn’t, it will be interesting to what reaction, if any, AT&T and Apple have to this little workaround…

UPDATE: Apple has pulled EyeTV off the App Store. Elgato has issued the following statement to TotalApps:

“Some test code that enabled live TV streaming over the cellular network was accidentally left in the the EyeTV App. Apple requested that we remove the code since their agreement with AT&T does not allow redirecting TV signals over the cellular network. The code was removed and a 1.0.1 version of the EyeTV app was submitted.”

[Via AppAdvice - Thanks Tyler!]