AAUG Reviews

by Ron Schoedel, AAUG Member

I just got a new TV. It’s the size of a USB flash drive, interfaces with my Mac, allowing me to pause, rewind, and skip ads, and allows me to record all of my favorite programs for viewing on my schedule, on my Mac or iPhone. My new TV also hooks up easily to my VCR and allows me to digitize my old VHS videotapes for archiving on DVD or posting online. My new TV, and my favorite TV so far, is an EyeTV Hybrid, powered by the amazing EyeTV 3 software.

Elgato has managed to shrink a digital HDTV tuner into a stick the size of a so-called “thumb drive”, which turns any USB 2.0-capable Mac (G5 and later) into the coolest TV on the block. This little USB-plug-in device feeds an HD signal into the Eye TV software, which gives you access to a control center bringing together live TV, previously recorded programs, and a TV Guide-powered listings screen.

EyeTV affords me several luxuries by bringing TV to my Mac. First off, I can relax with one of my shows in any location, anywhere my MacBook Pro can go with me. On an airplane; at a friend’s house; lying in bed late at night; anywhere. Watching TV in full screen most closely replicates the traditional television viewing experience, with the added benefit of the beautiful on-screen channel navigation, program guide, and program information courtesy of EyeTV and TV Guide.

Watching television while otherwise working on my Mac is where EyeTV gets to be real fun. I can set the program window to hover over all other open windows on my screen, and watch TV no matter what else I am doing. Gotta get a spreadsheet done? Code a webpage? Write a review for AAUG? No matter what else I am doing, I can keep my favorite Red Green reruns playing to keep me amused while working the day away (Note to my boss: this is entirely theoretical. I do not endorse anyone enjoying themselves while at work).

The device itself is well-designed and well-built. On one end is a standard USB plug. The opposite end has a coaxial cable connector to hook the unit to your cable system or your rooftop antenna/rabbit ears. Any signal you can watch on a traditional TV, you can watch on EyeTV. HDTV, analog TV, cable, VCR. A clever little jack on the side of the stick, combined with an included RCA (red, yellow, white) cable pigtail, facilitates connection of VCRs and similar equipment. Without a video source, which can be as basic as a rabbit ear antenna, the EyeTV will not have a signal. So to watch live TV (and record), you need at least that much. But once your shows have been recorded, and you just want to watch recordings, the EyeTV Hybrid may safely be unplugged and the EyeTV 3 software does the rest of the work of organizing, playing, exporting, and editing your shows.

The new version of the EyeTV software sports some quite impressive features, such as instant export of shows to iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV compatible formats. Even cooler, is the ability to stream your shows over the internet to any web browser, from your Mac. So even if you forgot to load the latest episode of Bizarre Foods onto your iPhone, access to wi-fi combined with EyeTV sharing and its built in web server will keep fresh servings of TV coming your way.

The scheduler lets me set what TiVo users and iTunes buyers will know as a “season pass”: record every new episode of a given program, with the need to only set up the recording once. Even better is that EyeTV can wake up or turn on your Mac when needed to catch your show. I told you this was the coolest TV on the block. Oh, but wait. It gets better. Taking advantage of the “smart” frameworks built into OS X, such as Smart Playlists, Smart Mailboxes, and Smart Folders, EyeTV offers Smart Guides. Pick an actor, a director, or any of a host of criteria, and allow EyeTV to build playlists of shows meeting your criteria.

One of my favorite uses for EyeTV has become burning DVDs of children’s programming for use in the car. I don’t really like to hand my iPhone to the small people who ride in the back of my car, but we do have an in-vehicle DVD system. EyeTV’s built-in editor lets me cut out commercials, credits, and all the rest of the fluff that just annoys the kids, and then the included light version of Toast 9 lets me burn their shows into a DVD that will keep them happy the entire time we’re out and about. The editor is so simple to use that no manual or explanation was necessary to get started. Opening the edit window reveals a timeline, some grabble playheads (much like in QuickTime Player), and a few simple and self-explanatory buttons. Within a minute you’ll chop out commercials and cut off the lead-ins and tail-ends and produce a leaner recording ready for archiving or burning to DVD.

I realize, and Apple sort of agrees, that burning DVDs is becoming less popular with each passing day, and Elgato knows this too. I suppose this might have something to do with allowing you to export EyeTV programming to over a dozen formats. Simple preset exporting options like “for email” and “for iWeb” are a welcome addition to the capabilities of EyeTV. Whether it’s a brief clip from the news or a home video you’ve digitized, getting your material to your intended destination could not be easier. Want to send your clips to iMovie or iMovie HD for post-processing, or DVD Studio Pro? Easy. of course sending your clips to an iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, or iTunes is just as simple with one-click ease.

I experienced only one odd behavior while reviewing the EyeTV Hybrid, and it happened on all three Macs on which I tried the device. The first time the EyeTV was plugged in on each Mac, I received an error message instructing me to ensure the device was plugged into a USB 2 port. Well, all of my Macs only have USB 2 ports. Unplugging and replugging the EyeTV right back into the same port each time made the error go away, never to be seen again. Weird. But hardly a big deal. A little bug, nothing more, I assumed.

I’m also the owner of a TiVo DVR, and I find that EyeTV has become my favorite DVR device. Those who currently use TiVo or a cable company’s DVR will surely that find they enjoy EyeTV’s greater flexibility and lack of on-screen ads, and that the ability to edit recordings gives EyeTV the clear advantage over other DVR products on the market today.

As a user of a previous (analog) EyeTV tuner, much of the hardware and software was very familiar to me right away. And the improvements in version 3 of the software are impressive in their own right. But combined with the latest EyeTV hardware, the EyeTV Hybrid, I am certain that anyone who likes to watch TV will be tickled to add an EyeTV to their Mac. Five moose, all the way.