How to stream Live TV to Boxee with Eye TV

[tdhz77]

A side project of mine was trying to get Live TV from a Macbook air to stream to Boxee.
This works on every platform that runs boxee. Apple TV users :) Welcome to the party.
Linux, Mac, ATV!

Hardware:
I used a Elgato 250 Plus (usb)
Here is a list of supported hardware: http://www.lucid-cake.net/cytv/index_en.html#N40271


Software:
EyeTV 3 (http://www.elgato.com/)
CYTV (http://www.lucid-cake.net/cytv/index_en.html)
VLC (http://www.videolan.org/) (Optional)


Download CyTV
http://www.lucid-cake.net/cytv/cytv_0_6_pre5.dmg

Install to applications folder Cytv Server and Cytv client.

(I restarted MacBook Air) Not sure if this is needed.

Open cytv server. (command + space "cytv server") Or look in applications.

Open up cytv client and make sure you can see the stream.

http://www.lucid-cake.net/cytv/servers.jpg

Or you can connect using VLC. Open network stream >> Http >> 192.168.x.x:8001
(Port 8001 is default, but some users have reported that its not a good port, best results so far is 9001.) (ANY COMPUTER!! WOOT WOOT)

Next we need to edit the source.xml for boxee.

*You can find sources.xml on Linux in:
~/.boxee/UserData/profiles/[USERNAME]/
on Mac:
~/Library/Application Support/BOXEE/UserData/profiles/[USERNAME]/


<source>
<name>LiveTV</name>
<path>http://192.168.x.x:XXXX</path>
<thumbnail>http://dir.boxee.tv/hulu.png</thumbnail>
<private>false</private>
</source>


Edit <name>: To whatever you want
Edit <path>: With the IP address and port number of the cytv server.
Edit <thumbnail>: I'm still looking for a good image :)

Issues:
- As noted by Mr. Speedy, port 8001 is not very good port to use. I used port 9001, but the audio and video seems to go out of sync. I'm going to test a few ports to see if the issue can be resolved.
- Channel changing is awkard. Currently, I VNC to the cytv client and change the channel using my iphone. Any suggestions here?


Update 1: I'm going to try and tidy up this post. The original post was rushed, so I will try and make it better.

[dcram71]

Sweet, subscribed! Working on making a media center out of an old Intel Mac Mini using an external USB or FW400 750GB HDD full of Handbraked DVD's, an EyeTV 250 Plus 2008, a USB 320GB HDD for DVR duty, Frontrow and boxee. Hoping to have a decent system to rip and watch DVD's, record television from cable, and then store them in some sort or logical system that's easily searched. This article should help get me started.

[marcel]

instructions are clear ..sorry i can not check it as i do not have eye tv..lets see what other users make of it..

[Mr. Speedy]

<source>
<name>LiveTV</name>
<path>http://192.168.x.x:9001</path>
<thumbnail>http://dir.boxee.tv/hulu.png</thumbnail>
<private>false</private>
</source>



This is cool! But shouldn't it be <path>http://192.168.x.x:8001</path>

[Mr. Speedy]

This is cool! But shouldn't it be <path>http://192.168.x.x:8001</path>

No, it is actually 9001, weird things happens when you use 8001 like video studdering. On 9001, it works a little better but the video lags quite a bit and is completely out of sync with the audio. I am running both the server and Boxee on the same box (Mac Pro Quad core) and using http://localhost:9001 as the address in the sources.xml.

[Jesper]

A side project of mine was trying to get Live TV from a Macbook air to stream to Boxee.


I will be following this thread. Tell me, what television source are you working with, and what country are you in?

[djhomeless]

Sorry for dredging up this old post, just wondering if there was a simpler way to get this working when the source is local?

ie I have a mac mini that is connected directly to my TV, and the mini is running both boxee and eyetv.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Geoffrey

[tdhz77]

Sorry for dredging up this old post, just wondering if there was a simpler way to get this working when the source is local?

ie I have a mac mini that is connected directly to my TV, and the mini is running both boxee and eyetv.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Geoffrey

Tell me your hardware specs and I will surely try.

[djhomeless]

Tell me your hardware specs and I will surely try.

Mac Mini 2ghz core2duo, w/2gb RAM.

Thanks!

[ffirefox]

that's fine, thanks ;)

[mfeubanks]

http://your-mini.local.:2170/eyetv/#home

is the bonjour address for "ipad" streaming that is built in to eyetv but the boxee browser can't open it. It does open in safari. Haven't tried Firefox, but I will later.

Works just like the ipad version... if there is a way to open the page in boxee we'd almost be there.

Mary

[yalag]

Any update on this? Now that we're in 2011?? Is there an easier way to integrate eyetv into boxes if they are both running on the same machine instead of relaying it though cytv?

[darcilicious]

Boxee's priority to support live TV is pretty low so unless a 3rd party developer writes an EyeTV app, you're in for a long wait, I think...

[docbrown]

not sure if this has already been mentioned, but the simplest solution ive found so far when using boxee and eyetv together on the same computer is eyeremote:

http://www.jibapps.com/en/products/eyeremote/

it has native commands for eyetv by pressing the menu button on the apple remote, and you can assign different launchers to the menu, like boxee.

not quite the same as having live tv within boxee, but it saves me from having to mess with scripts and other 3rd party remote software. its also very girlfriend/wife friendly. hope that helps.