Support Center » Knowledgebase » Can I receive digital antenna signals with EyeTV after June 12, 2009?
 Can I receive digital antenna signals with EyeTV after June 12, 2009?
Solution
Digital TV Transition In The United States


On June 12, 2009, a FCC mandated change for antenna signals will take place.  The older analog antenna system will be transitioning to a new digital system.

In many situations, the same kind of antenna can be used before and after the transition.  However, not all TVs, or TV tuners like EyeTV, will be ready to take advantage of this new system.

See this page for more detailed information:

Elgato TV Tuners And The Transition To Digital Television

Here is the detailed FCC page on the transition:

http://www.dtv.gov/

EyeTV products sold in the United States over the past few years are ready for this transition.  Specifically, products like EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 250 Plus have digital TV tuners built in.  All you need to do is connect an antenna, and then Auto Tune for "Digital - Antenna (ATSC)" channels:





1) Open the EyeTV Programs window
2) Visit the Channels section
3) For Service, choose Digital - Antenna (ATSC), and then press Auto Tune

After a few minutes, the scan for channels will be complete.

Other EyeTV-compatible hardware is also ready for this transition - look for ATSC in the specifications.  Any product sold in the US that has Hybrid in its name should support ATSC.

If you need help with reception, or choosing the best antenna for your location, then visit http://www.antennaweb.org


All Digital Antenna Users Should Auto Tune Again


Due to the digital TV switch in the United States on June 12, 2009, some digital channels that EyeTV users have been watching for the past few years may suddenly change frequencies.

This means that EyeTV won't be able to find them, unless you Auto Tune again.

Therefore, it's recommended that all EyeTV users receiving digital TV over antenna, should Auto Tune again on or after June 13, 2009. 

Many stations are transitioning at midnight, and may be off until early Saturday morning.   Due to this, you may want to Auto Tune again sometime Saturday afternoon.

A benefit of this is that you may find  more channels than before, since new channels may start broadcasting, and many channels may increase the strength of their signal.


New Features Of Digital TV Over Antenna


• New Channel Numbers

These digital antenna channels, in the ATSC format, will have multipart channel numbers.  For example, what was channel 5 will now be called 5-1, and there may be a 5-2 or 5-3 as well.  This means that channel 5 is actually broadcasting at multiple channels, and each sub-channel may have different content going on at the same time.



• Open Multiple Channels From Same Frequency

EyeTV has an advantage over a TV, in the sense that you can open up multiple sub-channels at the same time.  See this article for instructions:

How do I open several multiplex channels?



• HD Content

These new digital channels often are in high definition (HD), either in the 720p or 1080i format.  If you want to find out the resolution of a digital channel in EyeTV:

1) Open Live TV Window for that channel, from the File menu.
2) Choose Show Stream Info from the File menu

A transparent overlay will appear on top of the video, telling you all about that channel. 

On average, a HD 720p channel may take 6GB per hour of recording, and a HD 1080i channel may take 8GB.  In the US, HD over antenna is in the MPEG-2 format.



• Dolby Digital Audio

You may also notice that Dolby Digital audio may be present.  If the channel supports multi-channel audio, then it will say Dolby Digital 5.1.  Check your Audio menu in EyeTV for the available audio tracks for that channel.








Article Details
Article ID: 3571
Created On: 08 Jun 2009 09:26 PM

 This answer was helpful  This answer was not helpful
 Back
 Search
Loading
 Article Options
Home | Contact Tech Support | Knowledgebase | Downloads | English | Deutsch | Français |

Help Desk Software By Kayako eSupport v3.40.01