The Netstream device has hardware encoding on board and it shows with pin-sharp HD content.
I installed the Eye TV software on the Mac-Mini that I have connected to my TV, initially, and was immediately surprised at the quality of the Video. In my case my Dish is pointing to Astra 28.2 so I merely had to select that, in the software, as the preferred source and away we went!
PC and Mac software is provided with the device, or you can download the software for iOS or Android and continue from there. You have a number of options for the next part of the setup.
Having connected the 4 LNB feeds and the Cat5 lead I powered the unit up and waited a few seconds for the ready LED to light. not sure why it needs two?) and a power socket and switch for the supplied wall-wart. 2 leds on the front panel, round the back there are 4 LNB sockets, a Cat5 ethernet socket, 2 USB ports (only used for maintenance purposes. It consists of a 25 x 12.6 x 4.1 cm box with the bare minimum of controls and interfaces. On the surface it seemed to offer a perfect fit. Normally I would spend hours rebuilding and re-installing but this time I had seen the Elgato EyeTV netstream 4Sat advertised and wondered if it offered a better solution. However, recently the PC failed completely, refusing to start up at all. I deal with computers as part of my day job and so am used to finding them valuable and frustrating in equal measures. PC updates, power outages and the PC failing to re-boot successfully causing scheduled recordings to be missed. This had always worked well, the only hiccups being hardware related. The excellent DVB Logic software was used, which as some will know combines the signals from the various feeds and allows for streaming on a number of different devices, DNLA clients, iPads, android tablets 7 phones etc. The signal for these is provided by 4 feeds from an octo LNB. 2 of these were Hauppauge S2 units, the other 2 sources being provided by a Pinnacle dual card offering standard definition feeds only. Guest review by Ian Webster some years my previous arrangement for distributing satellite across various devices in my home was a PC (located in the loft) fitted with a total of 4 satellite cards.