The TubeStick hybrid lets you watch TV shows on your Mac, iPhone or iPod. Together with The Tube, equinux' TV viewing application, the TubeStick hybrid brings both digital and analog television to the Mac. The USB TV receiver allows you to watch, pause and record live television on your Mac in HD quality. With The Tube software that comes with TubeStick hybrid, you can even chat with other viewers during each TV show. Admittedly, this is not something that I have any interest in doing -- when I’m watching TV, I just want to watch TV -- but the IMing, text messaging generation will probably love the feature.
With the new TubeToGo web services you can schedule, manage, publish and watch TV recordings via iPhone or iPod touch on the go. The TubeStick hybrid -- one of the smallest devices in its class -- has two built-in receivers, enabling you to watch free-to-air digital HDTV (ATSC) as well as digital (QAM) and analog (NTSC) cable television. In areas with ATSC, reception can be picked up by the antenna, in HD quality. If digital reception in your area is poor, then you might want to stick with an analogue tuner instead.
It comes with a white compact antenna and a break-out cable, that allows you to connect to your camcorders, analog video recorders and game consoles using S-Video or Composite. TubeStick hybrid is designed to fit in the USB port of MacBooks and MacBook Pros, without blocking other necessary plugs. However, it won’t fit into the USB ports of the ultra-slim MacBook Air without first attaching the included USB cord.
The TubeStick hybrid includes The Tube 2, equinux' latest edition of its TV solution for Mac users. The software provides you with manual and automatic Timeshift and lets you rewind the current program to record it from start with its Déjà Vu functionality. With The Tube you can schedule recordings of your favorite TV shows, manage them in a library and sort them by name or by date. The Tube supports Mac OS X's Spotlight to search for recordings and displays a QuickLook preview when showing them in Finder for Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard").
On May 13, equinux released The Tube 2.7, a new version of the TV software for the Mac. The upgrade introduces placeshifting. The current digital TV show can be shared with others via iChat. Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") users can simply drag a The Tube icon into an active video chat to enjoy the show with friends via iChat Theater. The iChat partner can even record a video clip of the show being shared.
The TubeStick also includes a second program called MediaCentral, a very nifty media center app that looks a lot like Front Row, but improves upon it in many ways. The software is easy to install, though it does require a rather cumbersome registration process (you have to go online and set up an account). Also (and this isn't a compliant, just a comment), MediaCentral insists that you download RealPlayer and Windows Media Player -- both free -- to take advantage of its IPTV features.
The strong point of MediaCentral is the gamut of media it supports. Besides interacting with your iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes folders, it can tackle IPTV, online clips (such as those from YouTube and Google Video), digital TV (DVB-T), Internet radio, picture feeds from sites such as flickr, Flash video games and even the Skype telephonic app. If you have an Elgato Systems' EyeTV digital video recorder (DVR) connected to your Mac, MediaCentral’s Movies screen offers the option to view movies stored in the EyeTV Recordings folder. The Movies screen also provides access to movies in your Mac’s Movies folder and lets you preview the same movie trailers offered by Front Row.
As with all equinux products, I don’t like the licensing scheme that ties the Tubestick software to a particular Mac (though you have four more installs.) At least, as with iTunes, you can deauthorize a Mac and use the license on another one if you need or want to do so.
Also, the hardware/software combo requires a good digital TV reception. From what I've heard, has some issues with PowerPC Macs, though it runs flawlessly on my Intel iMac. I wish you could pause or rewind live TV. And I wish the Tube had an electronics program guide.
However, if the Tube isn't yet as elegant as Elgato's EyeTV, it's shaping up to pose some serious competition. And that's a very good thing indeed.
Macsimum rating: 7.5 out of 10.
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