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EyeTV on Mac: seriously bad behaviour - refuses to Quit. Help!September 13th, 2007

Does anyone have any decent information on terminating an application in Mac OS X when it refuses to quit by any known method?

I’m talking about EyeTV, which every so often hangs during playback (spinning beach ball), but refuses to quit.

Here’s what I’ve tried, all to no avail:

  1. “Force Quit” icon on dock
  2. Run "kill -9 $pid" from the Terminal command line (where process ID is found using ps aux | grep EyeTV

When using the second method, I get this kind of output:

andy 576 0.0 0.0 0 0 ?? E Mon10PM 0:00.00 (EyeTV)

The “E” status means that the application is in the process of ending.

Only it never does. The only way I can quit or relaunch it is to restart (or log out), which is really annoying if I’ve got a lot of other applications open.

EyeTV is the only application that does this. I’ve done all the usual housekeeping stuff I can think of (repairing permissions, etc).

Does anyone have any ideas? It’s a real pain.

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15 Responses to “EyeTV on Mac: seriously bad behaviour - refuses to Quit. Help!”

  1. bjoljo Says:

    I’ve the exact same issue. The hardware I’m using is EyeTV EZ and the software version is 2.4.1. What hardware and software version are you using?

    /Bj

  2. Andy Says:

    I’ve got the Elgato EyeTV Diversity (dual-tuner USB stick) and version 2.4.1. It’s been OK recently, but there doesn’t seem to be much obvious logic to when it does it.

  3. Damon Says:

    I have the same problem. Restarting the computer is the only way I have found to really quit EyeTV. It gets in this state at least once a week, which is really bad because it means that it freezes up and doesn’t record the tv shows.

  4. Andy Says:

    A new version of EyeTV is now available. Version 2.5 may solve these problems, but it’s hard to tell yet.

  5. Damon Says:

    The new version still freezes and I have missed several recordings already. So I have not experienced any better stability with the new version. I can’t even get the new version to stream video to my iPhone.

  6. Nicholas Says:

    I have the same problem on a G5 system with the EyeTV Hybrid and version 2.5 of the software.
    Logging out and back in clears it (no need to reboot).

  7. More OS X applications refuse to quit, may be linked to hardware?-- Andy Merrett Says:

    […] EyeTV on Mac: seriously bad behaviour - refuses to Quit. Help! (6) […]

  8. Ben Says:

    I find removing the USB stick and releasing the driver will allow you to quit the application.

  9. Isaac Says:

    I am currently having a few problems with EyeTV myself. I suggest try some of the following:

    1. On your keyboard hold down “command-option-shift and esc” key simultaneously for a few seconds.

    2. In the “Caches Folder” try deleting all the caches. The can be found via “Hard disk-Library-Cache”. Select and move all caches to trash can. Before deleting restart your computer then empty trash.

    3. Look at your TV aerial. The one supplied by when buying EyeTV is usually inadequate for good reception. Here in the UK I had to go to a well known chain store called “Argos” and from their catalogue in my local high street I bought a more powerful aerial for £45. To get good reception I put the aerial on a high chair on a bucket turned upside down and close to the window. By and large it has worked but still have the occasional problem with reception.

    4. Still on the subject of aerials. Connect your EyeTV freeview box to the outside aerial. Buy one and fit it outside if you have to.

    5. A solution I am considering is forgetting about EyeTV alltogether and trying to run VirginMedia (or Sky) through my Apple MacIntosh. More about this fifth solution in a separate blog or reply.

    I hope all this is of any use. Please let me know if it is.

  10. Isaac Says:

    Does anyone have a solution to the following EyeTV problems? Has anyone encountered such problems? Below is a letter I wrote to “Elgato Technical Support” so I am putting the same letter out to forum readers. PLEASE HELP!!!. To summarise they are:

    1. Payment Methods for “tvtv” with Elgato?

    2. Subscription problems with “tvtv”?

    1. Payment Methods for “tvtv” subscription.
    My “tvtv” account with Elgato has expired after only some nine months and I want to renew it. It say £14.99 for a year which is affordable but I do not possess a credit card or debit card due to bad financial history. I can pay however by the following methods:

    1. Cash from the UK
    2. Cheque from the UK
    3. PayPal Account via the internet
    4. Direct Debit from my UK Bank Account
    5. Cash vis Western Union or Money Gram

    The above five methods are available to me. My favourite method is with my PayPal account because it is not a credit card but an Online Debit Card which suits me and millions of other users. If the money is not there you cannot make a payment. SIMPLE!!! Also know credit reference is needed because you are not borrowing money. You have to put money into that account for it to operate. SIMPLE!!! Cheque from the UK or Direct Debit are also very good options for me. The issue here is not affordability but payment methods. Bye ignoring the above five payment methods I have mentioned above Elgato and tvtv are losing out financially by limiting the payment methods of customers like myself.

    I depend on EyeTV for my TV viewing and love it passionately so please help. As a very, very last desperate resort and it will be a last desperate resort is to give up on “Elgato EyeTV and tvtv” and try and run either VirginaMedia, Sky or a separate Freeview Box through my computer. I do not want to do this as I spent a lot of money on EyeTV to watch it on my mac.

    2. Subscription Problems.
    To get the full service with EPEG date for all programmes I have tried to subscribe. I have had to do it a number of times since February 2007 to the point where I now have five usernames and five passwords from the same package and matching usernames and passwords can be a little difficult. Is it possible for you to give me just one username and password and delete all the rest for me. I am concerned having so many is causing problems with me using the service. I have tried phoning Elgato in Germany but they do not seem to be open on a Saturday so I have left two messages. There also needs to be an English version of the Website as the site I got through to was in German and I do not know any German.

    As I have said already I do not want to give up on “EyeTV or tvtv” so please help as soon as you can (ASAP).

    I have the money to pay for the “tvtv” service so PLEASE be flexible and increase my payment options. Thank you.

    Isaac

  11. Dave Kendall Says:

    Well hacked off now. Had all the TvTv epg probs since last Wedsnesday ( 12/12/07) Most progs in prog guide had vanished on the following Thursday and despite clearing prefs and caches, downloading the new software update and re scanning countless times, I have the same problem of not being able to quit.
    My TvTv subscription runs out on the 26th and I won’t be re subscribing.

  12. DJ Fall Says:

    Last night, EyeTV did the same tie up of my MacBook with the bouncing ball. I had open at the same time Excel with an inventory of a workshop which I had been working on for 3 days. I did the usual pull the USB cord and force computer shut down with the start button.

    The problem is this morning, all my Safari surfing history to value the workshop was gone (not so bad), but my Excel worksheet would not be recognized by Excel and when I opened it with a text converter, all data was gone (disastrous).

    How could you ever expect to watch EYEtv in small screen mode and work on something else in another program if this might happen again?

    Can anyone offer a suggestion of how to get my data back, could it be somewhere on my computer? I had of course saved the worksheet many times; it was just open when EYETv went hysterical.

  13. Maximych Says:

    Today, having not yet practically used the device (I bought it three days ago), I ran into the same problem: my EyeTV refused to quit and even to ForceQuit. Only restart repaired the situation. And that is rather embarrassing, especially so that I’m not sure whether I got the right thing. The salesman in BestBuy asuured me that the device will work with cable as well as with an aerial. As for the aerial, it does work (however poor the reception in our area is), but what concerns the cable - no way absolutely. Can anybody enlighten me on the subject? Thanks.

  14. Rory Says:

    This thing has worked like a treat for me coming on 2 months now. Occasionally the reception can be weak but a restart and retune fixes it most the time. Maybe your macs are end of the road/full of junk. Use Onyx to clear it up. All the best.

  15. Andy Says:

    I hope not, the problem started on a brand new iMac!

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