EyeTV: A Fantastic Addition To Any Mac

I’ve been using an Elgato EyeTV tuner for about a year now, and just realized that I should probably share a great product like this with y’all!

Not literally, mind you. I love mine way too much to part with it.

Anyways, the EyeTV is a small, simple USB device. Plug-in your coaxial cable and hook it up to your computer via USB, and you basically turn your computer into a TV. On my monitor, a 24” widescreen Dell, it’s like getting a brand new LCD or plasma TV at a fraction of the cost of a stand-alone set – and without taking up any more space. You can watch TV full-screen, or choose from a variety of sizes. I often have the news running in a small window, tucking it into the corner of my screen while I work.

Even better, it comes with Program Guide software that shows you a list of everything that’s on TV – and you can just click a channel to view. All you have to do is provide it with your cable provider info and zip code, and it does the rest.

You can also record programs, too – just click on the little record button on a show in Program Guide, or manually hit the Record button on the EyeTV “remote.” (Actually, it comes with a REAL remote as well, which works directly with the EyeTV box for changing channels and volume). You can save your recordings to a variety of formats.

And the EyeTV works like a Tivo – you can pause a live show and rewind, perfect for those quick trips to the kitchen.

The EyeTV Program Guide

There are a couple different versions to choose from. I’ve got the 250, which also gives you the ability to plug-in a VCR or camcorder and dupe content. The new EyeTV hybrid looks really, really interesting:

“New! Now with improved reception, FM radio, and TV Guide

EyeTV Hybrid turns your Mac into the world’s most affordable flat-screen HDTV and DVR. EyeTV Hybrid receives both analog and digital TV as well as FM radio, and can also record from a cable or satellite set top box, a video recorder, and a camcorder, using composite or S-Video (analog) connections.”

The only problem I’ve had with mine so far is that if I have it running and plug in my iPhone, it drops the cable TV signal. A simple restart of the EyeTV software is all it takes. I suspect this is probably more of a USB issue than anything else.

The only other problem with it – if you’re a Windows user, that is: this is a Mac-only product.