OldTimer

A better way to word this is I lost all my ATSC/Open Cable Program Guide entries, and had to do a new program guide scan. I did not mean to sound like I lost my channels. Just my program guide entries. A quick ATSC rescan brought them back.

You aren't different than the rest of us, you should read more posts on this forum. In general we love EyeTV3, and found EyeTV4 to be buggy. This has not changed as of this date. You can find work-arounds for many bugs, but for me it all came crashing down when I couldn't reliably watch the evening news while it was being recorded. I could most of the time, but when it crashed during an attempt I lost both my playback and the recording. So back to EyeTV3 for me. My solution ATM is to hold my 2nd EyeTV4 installation in reserve, in case I hear they have fixed the issues. I also hope beyond hope that they increase the installations from 2 to at least 10. Hey, tests need to be made, and computers crash. But from what I have sensed, they have dropped funding for any new EyeTV4 fixes. In the meantime I have dedicated my last EyeTV3-compatible Mac (a 2012 4-core Mac mini) to running EyeTV3 on an ongoing basis. It is currently running Mojave and lights my life, lol. As far as the libraries go, I had no problem switching between EyeTV3 and 4 during testing. With one weird exception in that I lost all my local OTA channel scans in between, and had to rescan.

From reports it is an across-the-board 2 installations per license.

So we might only get only TWO installations? That’s nuts! If that is true, I can probably install once more (if they ever get v4 up and running), but I’ve had enough CPUs and failed disks to say a limit of 2 is crazy. Do they specify that anywhere? If they gave us like 10 installations, and advertised the limit, I’m very sure that would be enough to keep anyone from sharing their code!

From reading threads like this I wonder if this is a ONE-TIME ONLY license, which I don't think I've ever heard of. What I'm wondering is when you key the activation code in, does it call home and invalidate the license so it can't be used again? This would be a potential problem for me, as I was experimenting with several TV apps on an external drive (EyeTV, Plex, Emby, HDHomeRun), and whichever one I selected would have been installed on my internal drive. Now I think the only possible installation was to my test drive, and I would have never been able to install it on my internal later. If so, this is very weird licensing! I have since settled on using the last version of EyeTV 3 under Geniatech, which works great on Mojave, which is almost the highest OS my older Mac can run. So I will not be installing EyeTV 4 on my internal drive anytime soon (not until it offers something over Geniatech's EyeTV 3 stability and functionality). But if this guess is true, only install it on your production drive! And you will be glitched if you ever have a HD crash and have to re-install... 🤨

I thought I’d let you know what I ended up doing on my EyeTV. To recap, I had a 2012 Mac mini working perfectly with Elgato’s EyeTV 3.6.9 (7520) on Sierra 10.12. Then my hard disk crashed. So, had to decide whether to get off that very old but stable OS, and if I did, what app I would use for my PVR. A 2012 Mac mini is capable of 10.15 Catalina maximum (64-bit only), so I tried that. Unfortunately it crashed and rebooted twice within a few hours when activating the monitors from power saver mode, and Catalina was the only thing installed. So no Catalina for me. Backing up to 10.14 Mojave, I found a stable OS. So I tried EyeTV 4 (8531), but it was riddled with bugs. I was able to find a workaround for most all of them, but then I ran into one that was a drop-dead issue for me. You see, my main use for EyeTV is to time-shift the evening news. I have a reminder set to start watching about 8 minutes into the broadcast. That way I can skip all the commercials and finish the broadcast live. I love doing that, and it worked a few times with EyeTV 4. But then it crashed on an attempt, so EyeTV 4 had to go. Being that I backed up to Mojave, I could now also run 32-bit apps. So I put Elgato’s 3.6.9 (7520) back on it, and I have never looked back. Runs great! I am currently using over-the-air program guide, but I find it wanting. I have to manually update it at least once a day, and it does not distinguish ‘new’ shows. I was using xmltvlistings.com for a continuous and automated 2-weeks of listings, but their ability to distinguish new shows disappeared. So I dropped them. They never did mark a show ‘new’, but they used to mark the repeats. So I was using a convoluted Smart Guide search to record all episodes that weren’t repeats, lol. Worked on everything but SNL. But that ability is gone now. So if anyone knows of an XML service that marks new episodes, let me know! 😊

I notice Plex also. The prices seem similar (according to Google, Plex is $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $119.99 for a lifetime subscription, and Emby is $4.99 per month, $54 per year, or $119 for a lifetime subscription). Anyone have experience on both for live TV? Maybe even experience with a HDHomeRun receiver? “SiliconDust HDHomeRun (all models)” compatibility is listed for Plex, but there is nothing like experience! 😊

Thanks for the info on Emby! I will definitely check that out right away. 🙂

So I have a Mac mini 2012 on Sierra. Yeah, that’s old, but it has served me forever. That with Elgato EyeTV 3.6.9 (7520) was PERFECT for me. Unfortunately that hard disk just crashed. I am currently trying v3 7528 on High Sierra on a secondary drive. That doesn’t work nearly so well, would go back to Sierra/7520 in a heartbeat on the upcoming replacement drive. The reason I keep resisting advancement in the MacOS is EyeTV. It is one of my most important apps. So before I advance, I need to know EyeTV works, before I permanently commit all my drives to APFS. No going back then! So 7528 on High Sierra sucks compared to Elgato's 7520 on Sierra, which was golden. I see tons of problems mentioned here with v4, but the last version you guys mention is 8528, which is 2 versions back from 8531, the version currently listed on the download page. I get no visibility when 8531 was released (or what might have been released afterwards that doesn’t show up on the download page), but so far no one has mentioned it. Are all things quiet because 8531 addressed all of your issues??? My 2012 mini is capable of running up to 10.15 Catalina, which I’d quickly move it to if I had a working EyeTV app. Otherwise I’d probably install Sierra/7520, and buy a new Mac for the rest, which is what many of you may have already done. BTW, I have a 4th generation HDHomeRun, and the drivers Gentech provides for the HDHomeRun are not for the 4th Gen. No big problem, as the worst issue is confusing flashing lights and double recordings. It does record properly when there are two separate programs to be recorded, which is my focus. ATM it doesn’t appear Gentech intends to support the 4th gen series of HDHomeRun. But I would be up for buying a new receiver if I just knew the app didn’t have as many issues as are listed here, lol. Any other app recommendations to replace EyeTV would also be welcome. 🙂