The EyeTV 250 is Elgato’s follow-up to its successful product. Like the 200 model, it is an analog TV tuner with a built-in MPEG encoder (digital cable or satellite subscribers need to go through their converter box). It lets you watch live TV on your Mac or schedule recordings, which you can easily archive to DVD or your video iPod.The EyeTV 250 requires a single 500MHz G4 or greater and OS X 10.4. Since the unit has a hardware MPEG encoder — unlike Elgato’s other product, the—the computer processor is only minimally taxed when recording even the highest quality MPEG-2 video.Whereas the EyeTV 200 was a FireWire device, for the EyeTV 250, Elgato chose to go with a USB 2.0 interface. Though the move to USB doesn’t affect the quality of TV recordings, the 250 now requires an external power supply rather than being bus-powered. It’s not a big deal, but I never seem to have a free electrical socket.The EyeTV 250 can record TV programs as either MPEG-2 (for DVD) or MPEG-1 (suitable for Video CD).
These recordings can be edited with the included software to remove commercials and unwanted material. You can even pick a specific section of your recording to export. EyeTV 2 is tightly integrated with Toast 7 (not included), making it easy to make DVDs of your recorded TV programs. The EyeTV 2 software also has a button for single-click video iPod export.Elgato includes a breakout cable with S-video and composite RCA video connectors with the EyeTV 250. Using this cable and the included VHS Assistant software, you can create digital backups of your old VHS home movies. You can also plug in a gaming console so you can play games on your Mac’s monitor.
Normally, this would be difficult with a device that contains a hardware encoder, which usually adds a delay while rendering the screen. But Elgato lets you turn off the hardware encoder while in game mode, so there is no delay.Elgato’s EyeTV 2 software is the premium TV recording software available for the Mac today.
EyeTV 2 works seamlessly withto schedule recordings. You can even access program schedules from within EyeTV 2 (the previous version of EyeTV required you to go to the TitanTV Web site). In a recent update, Elgato added a Front Row-like full screen mode for their software. You can now navigate, schedule recordings, and play video from your couch, all via a supplied remote control, or with an Apple Remote.Macworld’s buying adviceThe EyeTV 250 is a great personal video recorder for Mac users. This is a particularly useful unit if you have a slower Mac, as the hardware encoder ensures high quality recordings without stressing the computer’s processor.Anton Linecker is a writer and video technical consultant living in Los Angeles.
A leading manufacturer of TV recording software and TV tuners, has updated its EyeTV software to add support for Apple’s iPad.EyeTV 3.4, a free software update for all EyeTV 3 users, adds optimized support for playback on iPad. EyeTV 3.4 now features one-click export of recorded television shows, automatically creating HD video files optimized for what Elgato promises is superb quality playback on the iPad’s higher resolution screen, as well as the iPhone, iPod and Apple TV.Elgato’s EyeTVThe Elgato update also includes support for streaming of live TV to the iPad using the EyeTV app for iPhone/iPad, which will be available on the iTunes App Store shortly. Recordings exported to the iPad format from EyeTV are displayed with elegant cover art and rich program details, including series and episode descriptions, film summaries and cast descriptions, and even parental ratings, where available.EyeTV 3.4 is a free update to existing EyeTV 3 users; EyeTV 3 costs $80. The is a $5 download from the App Store.EyeTV 3.4 is a universal application, which works on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs. An Intel Mac is required for streaming to the iPhone app. Elgato notes in a press release that EyeTV 3.4 is the last version that will support PowerPC-based Macs.
Eyetv Mac Os X
Future software updates will require an Intel Mac. EyeTV 3.4 requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later; Elgato recommends Mac OS X 10.6.3 or later with all software and security updates installed.This story, 'Elgato EyeTV software update adds support for Apple iPad' was originally published.