EyeTV Sat Features

Watch and record HD satellite television

If you have a satellite dish, then you can watch, record, edit and enjoy the tremendous selection of freesat broadcasts that are now available, many in HD, directly on your Mac. EyeTV Sat is a USB 2.0 TV tuner that delivers the remarkable picture and sound quality of DVB-S and DVB-S2 from your satellite dish directly to your Mac’s high resolution display, so you get the complete HDTV experience. 

Superb quality recordings

EyeTV Sat has one quality setting, Lossless. The DVB stream is recorded unaltered to give you the full quality MPEG-2/H.264 file as encoded by the broadcaster, both in HD and standard definition. EyeTV Sat supports multilingual programming, Teletext and Dolby® Digital sound.

Satellite Pay TV

EyeTV Sat has an integrated CI slot which enables you to receive satellite Pay TV on your Mac. All you need is a compatible combination of conditional access module (CAM) and a Pay TV subscription smartcard. Please check with your Pay TV provider to verify support of third-party standard CI receivers. Some providers, such as BSkyB in the UK, allow their smartcards to be used with proprietary set top boxes only.

Windows PC Compatibility

If you have a Windows PC as well as a Mac at home, then you can use EyeTV Sat with either computer. EyeTV Sat is compatible with Windows 7, works great with Windows Media Center, and comes with TerraTec Home Cinema software for Windows. Many of the same features offered by Elgato’s EyeTV software are supported.

About Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite (DVB-S/S2)

Digital Video Broadcast Satellite (DVB-S) is the standard used for direct broadcast satellite services in many parts of Europe and around the world. DVB-S delivers excellent picture and sound quality thanks to high bandwidth and modern video compression methods. DVB-S2 is an enhanced version with a larger data stream, and it is commonly used as a platform to deliver HDTV via satellite. Viewing encrypted content (or Pay TV) requires a subscription and smartcard, and your satellite provider must allow access to encrypted content using a CAM (conditional access module). Please contact your provider for more info about supported CAMs.

The availability of DVB-S/S2 reception and free-to-view (unencrypted) programming varies by country, and even city to city. Check these links to learn more about DVB-S/S2 availability in your area:

To find out if you live within the Astra satellite coverage area, check the Astra website footprint tool. This additional tool based on Google Maps may also be useful.