We currently have an HTPC connected to my 40" LCD TV running Windows7 and its the only thing we use to watch TV e
tc. Its only shortcoming is the lack of
a decent 2nd tuner. Its currently got 1 DVICO FusionHDTV T1 which was purchased about 5 years ago now and a 2nd FusionHDTV Dual Express which is pretty much useless. The T1 has been used almost exclusively with the various iterations of Windows Media Centre over the years and hasn't skipped a beat. The Dual Express however was given to me by a friend about 6 months ago as it just 'never worked right' for him but thought I can have it if I can make it work. It still doesnt 'work right'. The same signal that the T1 loves won't run the Dual Express, even with an antenna signal booster from Bunnings to compensate for any drop in signal strength from having 2 cards(3 tuners) connected. So something had to be done. I wasn't going to forgo my shows for MasterChef!
With my more recent love affair with my Macbook, choosing a new TV tuner meant it had to work with both Windows and Mac. H
aving had the chance to play around with an Elgato EyeTV in the past meant I was able to test it out on a Windows PC. It was pretty trival to get it working with Vista Media Centre as it identified itself as a Hauppauge Nova-T making it easy to find the drivers. With that in mind, an EyeTV seemed a natural choice to me, given that my GF and myself both hav
e Macbooks (i.e. portables). More specifically the EyeTV Diversity model seemed an attractive option with its purported ability to receive better signal strength with its 2 antennas (and twin tuners), targeting it for mobile use. So putting all that together, I reasoned that if the EyeTV Diversity does what is says it can do with weak signal strength and the real possibility of having it work on the HTPC too, not to mention its also a dual tuner (when not in diversity mode) it seemed like a clear winner. TV on our Macbooks in bed perhaps?? =P
Needless to say, I picked up an EyeTV Diversity. I got it from the new Apple Store that recently opened in Westfield Doncaster for the RRP of $249. I figured I was prepared to pay RRP if they were willing to let me return it if the Diversity doesn't live up to the hype. The difference being about $20-30 saving if I was to get it elsewhere.
Eager to get home and try out my new toy, I was tearing off the shrink wrap less than a minute from leaving the store. But
there was still shopping to be done and food to be eaten, not to mention a plastic sticker sealing both ends of the box. It had to wait. Once home I carefully opened the seals with a Stanley knife and the remaining packaging with scissors in case I was going to return it. I hate it when customers at work think they can just return stuff in any state!
First up was setting it up on my Macbook. Installing EyeTV and updating it was a doddle, just like most Apple software.
Next was tuning the channels in. I cant say I was surprised that it didn't work with the included antennas. They are tiny, so switching to my rooftop antenna did the trick and pretty quickly i had 2 channels showing on my Macbook. So I looks like we wont be watching TV in bed after all (at least not without an antenna cable running into the room). All up though it was easy, but that was pretty much a given.
My next task was getting it to work on my Windows7 HTPC. Unlike the basic EyeTV I had tested previously, the EyeTV Diversity didn't identify itself as a Hauppauge Nova-T. It actually showed up as an 'EyeTV Diversity'. 
So other than a few hints from googling for other people trying to do the same thing with this tuner, I was on a mission to find a working driver.
So other than a few hints from googling for other people trying to do the same thing with this tuner, I was on a mission to find a working driver.For the uninitiated, to get this to work properly, we need to force an 'incompatible' driver to install. There are a few ways to do it but the way I
did it was to open up the Device Manager by right clicking on 'Computer' ('My Computer' for all you XP Luddites out there still) and choose 'Manage' which brings up 'Computer Management'. About 2/3s of the way down in the left hand pane you should be able to see 'Device Manager'. From there I right clicked on the newly found 'EyeTV Diversity' and chose 'Update Driver Software' from the pop-up menu. On the next window you are presented with, click on 'Browse my computer for driver software'. 
On the next Window click on 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'. 
Next click on 'Show All Devices' then click 'Next'.
On the next Window click on 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'. 
Next click on 'Show All Devices' then click 'Next'.
On the following screen click on the 'Have Disk' button. 
Which brings you to the window below. Click the 'Browse' button and point it to the extracted drivers you have previously downloaded. You may need to use WinRAR or some other similar tool to extract the drivers out of the file you downloaded if for example the drivers come with their own .EXE installer. In the case of the Pinnacle drivers they come in a basic Zip file so they just extract out nicely to any folder you specify.
Which brings you to the window below. Click the 'Browse' button and point it to the extracted drivers you have previously downloaded. You may need to use WinRAR or some other similar tool to extract the drivers out of the file you downloaded if for example the drivers come with their own .EXE installer. In the case of the Pinnacle drivers they come in a basic Zip file so they just extract out nicely to any folder you specify.
You will have to bravely ignore the the driver warning about using a driver not intended for your device. 
If you get it right, you should now have a working piece of hardware. I have done this in the past for Logitech webcams that weren't supported in Vista 64bit.
The first driver I tried was the Terratec Cinergy Diversity. It showed promise. Starting up Media Centre and going to configure the tuners, it popped-up showing that it has detected new tuners however when it came to actually tuning channels it would go to 100% almost immediately with no channels found. After a few other failed driver attempts for other seemingly similar devices, I had success with the Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Diversity Stick 2001e drivers. (Here is a link to latest Pinnacle drivers page. Search for 2001e to find the drivers I used.)
Pretty soon I was watching and recording 2 different channels with the EyeTV Diversity on my HTPC. Im still somewhat frustratingly unable to have decent enough signal strength to run both the DVICO T1 and EyeTV with the same antenna signal booster. The EyeTV does however work fine when its the only tuner connected to the antenna, unlike the DVICO Dual Express.
So there you have it! An EyeTV tuner that works for both Windows and Mac! Albeit with a little bit of hacking. =]
