Both the Pinnacle and El Gato EyeTV tuners are lacking CableCard support, which makes them nearly useless for people with digital cable service.

CableCARD needs to be licensed from Cablelabs. They won't certify any standalone solutions. The only thing they will certify is the whole box, complete with DRM.

Vista users are going through this as well - you can't build a machine and install a CableCARD Slot - the whole machine needs to be certified. So you'll only see a handful (if any) with this capability.

While cable card is a whole can of worms there is no reason why these new tuners lack QAM other than cost reasons may be. QAM tuner gives people the ability to tune to unencrypted digital cable channels including any HD channels (typically local network HD stations). While I use OTA and am happy with the eyeTV hybrid, some of my friends would really benefit from a QAM tuner. I believe there is a miglia product that can do QAM (may be). eyeTV 500 did it but that is discontinued. Also, what is eyeTV lite. What is lacking?

I see nowhere a citation or link to a Press Release or other information that clearly defines a Mac OS release. Is this a hoax?

While CableCard support means the unit must have a QAM tuner, it also means ALL the channels one subscribes to are available. Having just the QAM tuner makes a unit like bommai says. Where I live (big urban concrete jungle) OTA isn't an option.

I'd also be concerned about the total lack of any form of OS X support, I find that to be a sticky wicket. They don't even say "the hardware will work on a Mac but none of the software we make will ever work and we are not going to discount it so you have to pay for the winblowz software, even if you can't use it (thank you so much for supporting winblowz)"

If I'm thinking right, the Pinnacle stick[s], the Hauppauge HVR-900(PAL/DVB-T)/950(NTSC/ATSC) & the Elgato Hybrid stick are the EXACT SAME product. They're branded differently, and standards specific (ATSC for N. America or DVB-T for Europe).

I know the Hauppauge & the Hybrid are the same, as I have a Hybrid and a friend has an HVR-950. We both can use EyeTV and WinTV w/ either device. Pinnacle's HD Pro Stick (or Hybrid Pro for Europe) is supported by EyeTV 2.x as well as Hauppauge's HVR-900/950.

Honestly, buy the Elgato Hybrid instead of Pinnacle's stick and save yourself a lot of money. I doubt the extra 50$ will get you better recording/exporting software than Elgato's EyeTV (full).

EDIT: I forgot I pre-ordered the Hybrid from Elgato and got a discount.

Still the Hybrid (with EyeTV full) sells for the same price as Pinnacle's Mac stick (with EyeTV lite). Pinnacle better have good Mac software to record (and export) from their stick. If not, you'll have to upgrade EyeTV (for probably $50).