In short, EyeTV 3 does all you'd expect a DVR to do. The only trick Elgato seems to have missed is, given how small the Deluxe is, adding the ability to use two of the tiny tuners to let you watch one channel while recording another.
Terratec Home Cinema, the Windows app Elgato bundles with the Deluxe, doesn't appear to either. You can use multiple tuners, but only one at once. THC isn't as visually attractive as EyeTV, but it provides the same level of DVR functionality with more settings to tweak than you can shake your pocket protectors at.
Perfect for all types of skinny laptop
Incidentally, in addition to the Windows driver for the Deluxe - it's for Windows 7, but it also worked on our WinXP netbook - Elgato has also supplied drivers for the previous version, its Diversity, Hybrid and EyeTV Sat tuners, though these aren't fully certified. The Windows 7 support means the Deluxe will work out of the box with Media Center if you prefer that to THC.
The new DTT Deluxe costs £80. Elgato's standard DTT, which does the same job, only costs £50, so you're paying a lot extra for the miniaturisation. As such, it's hard to recommend the Deluxe for anyone setting up a desktop-style media centre - you shouldn't need to care about the tuner's size, so go for the cheap one. The DTT comes with EyeTV, but not Terratec Home Cinema, but Windows users have plenty of other cheap tuners to choose from.
However, the Deluxe comes into its own if you have a netbook or thin'n'light laptop. Here, it's the ideal compact, no-fuss offering that'll get you telly on your portable PC, and it's small enough to leave connected permanently, if you're careful.
Verdict
The DTT Deluxe is so tiny and cute it's hard not to find it appealing despite the £30-odd premium you'll pay for it over any other basic USB TV tuner. It's the tuner for thin'n'light laptops and netbooks - whether they run Mac OS X or Windows - where size and portability really matter. ®
More Elgato Reviews...
Video Capture |
Turbo.264 HD |
EyeTV 310 HD |
EyeTV DTT |
Elgato DTT Deluxe
COMMENTS
@AC
iPlayer doesn't (yet) do other channels and gobbles Wi-Fi bandwidth. TV broadcasts don't.
Pointless
Absolutly pointless if you can get a wifi feed and 'tune in' to iPlayer...Ok its smaller than a 3g dongle.
Surely a BT Remote would be the better option? (they needn't bother with a BT reciver or sell as an option) this could then facilitate Multiple Tuners and would eliminate the need for the dongle to be line of sight.. then this would then work for desktops, underdesk towers, slimlines with rear only USB etc..
@DGL
Focus on Linux? Why? A target market with 0.4% penetration and you have to watch television on the command line?
My, that makes sense.
Re: One at a time limitation
The eyeTV is USB based and is chucking more than 1.5Gb per hour () down the wire. That equates to a sustained stream of about 5Mbits per second. Elgato (like all the other USB TV vendors) tell you not to plug the device into an external hub, but only directly into your PC/Laptop, otherwise bandwidth starvation can be an issue. Remember that even the USB ports on your PC/Laptop go through an on-board hub and the available bandwidth will still be shared by all the devices plugged in to the machine.
Perhaps they fear that trying to handle two channels would lead to resource starvation - either processor, or bandwidth to the hard drive when recording. I have a TV card in one PC that can handle two channels, but then it is PCI...
@Dan 55
Well I have to agree, MythTV is almoust as bad as those supplied software packages. I mean who in their right mind would use a MySQL Server for that kind of thing.
The standard solution for DVB is however VDR.
