EyeTV 3.3 conquers 3G iPhone video streaming
Elgato seems to have overcome iTunes App Store restrictions and now has a 3G video streaming solution for the iPhone.
In October, Elgato's original EyeTV for iPhone (iTunes link) allowed streaming video over a 3G network connection via a backdoor, which broke the iPhone OS SDK rules and Apple yanked EyeTV from the App Store. A later version of EyeTV removed the backdoor, and the world assumed that 3G network streaming in EyeTV was gone forever.
However, yesterday Elgato proved the assumption premature by releasing EyeTV 3.3 for Mac OS X and a new Elgato Web site.
To use the new video-streaming features of EyeTV, you must update the software to version 3.3. Mobile Safari on your iPhone handles the rest by launching this Web site: https://live3g.eyetv.com . Launching the Web site results in the execution of a new iPhone Web app called Live3G that lets you watch live television on an iPhone anywhere via a 3G connection.
According to Elgato, the app also--with the right cable--lets you watch live and recorded TV on a larger screen or projector by connecting your iPhone with a compatible cable. (Web apps actually have access to the TV-out on your iPhone, apparently.) We've requested more information on the cable requirements for TV-out, but we haven't received a response.
Elgato is calling Live3G a "nice complement to the EyeTV iPhone app." It can, however, cause a little confusion at first. We launched the Web app and were prompted for the credentials to an Elgato EyeTV account that we had set up in October, but a second log-in prompt was a surprise. A few e-mails later and we had a solution from Elgato: The second log-in prompt is only active if you configured EyeTV on your Mac to use a PIN to gain access your live video feed. So the response to the second prompt is to use the user id eyetv and your PIN for the password.
With everything properly installed, our test phone had us watching streaming live TV video with the capability to change channels (both analog and digital HD), plus our own recorded video, over a 3G cellular connection.
Updated: December 17, 2009, at 3:33 p.m. PST: David Fanning, an Elgato representative, advised us that the cable required for TV-out is the $49 Apple Component AV cable (part number MB128LL). Technical information about the cable can be found in this Apple support document titled iPod and iPhone: TV out support.