Elgato EyeTV review

Review by Maria Arguello

EyeTV Mobile

Elgato http://www.elgato.com

$99.95

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd, 4th, and 5th generations) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Three out of five stars.

The Elgato EyeTV Mobile is a TV tuner that lets you watch live streaming TV on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch over the air without Internet access.

Packaging is quite beautiful. It comes in a black box. The tuner is located and visible on the upper deck, the rest of the accessories are cradled within a compartment underneath.  It has a built-in antenna and a larger external one for better reception. The QuickStart Guide is printed on the box flap itself. You’ll need excellent vision or a magnifying lens to read the tiny white on black print. My EyeTV Mobile needed charging which took about 4 hours to fully charge. You get a USB cable to connect to a power source when not connected to the iPad or iPhone like a computer. A red light indicates low power and green a full charge. Once fully charged it can last beyond 12 hours. New dock connectors may need a Lighting-to-30 pin adapter.

Elgato’s EyeTV Mobile plugs into your dock connector to provide over the air access to TV stations. The moment you connect the EyeTV Mobile to your iPad or iPhone it connects to the App Store to download the free app. Once the app installation is finished, position the antenna, open the app, and follow the instructions.

The scanned channels in Bala Cynwyd, PA were WCAU and WTFX Fox. The picture came in very clearly. Adjustments are available for pause and resume live TV, close captioning, and small screen to large screen view.

The second time I scanned for channels, I got three; the same two mentioned already plus ei qubo but the resolution was blurry and the sound choppy. It was more of a kid’s channel.

I had a cable black out for a day and the EyeTV Mobile came in handy at least to watch the news on the limited two scanned channels.

I have been a fan of Elgato products for many years.  I can’t justify the price of this product for just three channels of TV viewing however.

Pros: You don’t need the Internet.

Cons:  It eats your battery and your data allowance quite rapidly. Needs PIP. Limited scanned TV channels.

Maria O. Arguello has been a long-time member of NCMUG and an Apple evangelista. She enjoys teaching new technology, swimming, fine dining, family, friends, and her Mac addiction.