Last weekend I was browsing the Apple Store looking for a way of watching/recording TV on my iMac. I found the Elgato EyeTV range which I have heard others talking about over the past 6 months. After asking around for the best model to go for, I ordered the EyeTV for DTT Stick on Monday for £38.95. The features sounded perfect for what I needed, with the extra bonus of being able to access my recordings via Wi-Fi on my iPod touch.
This morning it arrived so once unwrapped I plugged it into my iMac, stood the antenna on the desk, installed the EyeTV software and let it search for channels. After the first scan it turned up 6 channels, all of which were very flaky. I tried moving the antenna in various positions but it didn’t help with the signal at all. I read through the reviews on the Apple store and pretty much everyone said that the antenna supplied is next to useless. They had to either opt for a digital indoor aerial or attach it to their existing roof aerial. We have three Freeview boxes scattered about the house at the moment, two which are connected to the outdoor aerial but the bedroom one is connected to an indoor aerial which has always provided a pretty strong signal. I didn’t expect to have any issues with the EyeTV antenna.
So, since paying someone to clamber all over the roof would be the last restort, I headed to Argos and bought a Digital Amplified Antenna for just £12.99. I did an extensive search through the channels after attaching it and it found around 120 channels with the signal strength being very strong. It’s a great piece of software - and I’m rather liking the TV Guide provided by tvtv which gives me the schedule for the next two weeks. I like being able to plan ahead and used to be a subscriber to DigiGuide when I was a PC user. However, I cancelled my subscription when I switched to the Mac and they (rather rudely) told me that they had no plans to develop the software for Mac.
At the moment I am recording Futurama on SKY Three, courtesy of EyeTV. The recording process is extremely simple - bring up the tvtv guide, click the red dot next to the programme listing. Done. My next purchase will be Roxio Toast 9 Titanium so I can burn my ‘creations’ to DVD and watch on my TV (unless anyone knows of a cheaper alternative, haha!). Currently we don’t record any TV shows via any other hardware. We have a VCR but we never got around to tuning that in so we can record…and to be honest it seems old skool buying VHS tapes anymore. We never got into DVD recorders but I have looked at set-top boxes with built-in hard drives as an easier alternative - and of course AppleTV which is on my to-buy list for later in the year. One of the cheapest HD recorders I’ve seen is an 80GB for around £85. Since I have near 200GB left on my iMac then a £38-95 device sounded much more fun to play with.
If you’re looking for a TV recording solution then I would recommend the Elgato EyeTV, but would also suggest you look into purchasing an alternative to the supplied antenna. I just wish I’d bought this earlier as I could have recorded the new series of Family Guy on BBC Three which started airing a few weeks back.
15 May 08
8:53 pm
It’s a great bit of kit isn’t it? Had one hooked up to a BIG Freeview aerial on the roof for over a year and is very good indeed.
Glad you like it!
15 May 08
9:25 pm
Hey!
I have the same, the EyeTV for DTT. I love it and tend to watch more TV on my mac than I do on my actual TV. I actually have two, one for me at uni and one I bought for the iMac in the kitchen at home. Strangely, the included aerial was useless in my uni room (which wasn’t really a problem seeing as there is a rooftop aerial socket next to where I use my computer), but works a treat for the iMac in the kitchen at home, picking up all the channels.
What I like about EyeTV so much is the simplicity of the software. All other ‘TV on your PC’ solutions seem a little ‘clunky’, but EyeTV is ace, especially the EPG included for a year. I haven’t really used my EyeTV library with my iPhone as of yet, never really had the need, but I know it works great (the only snag is encoding your recording into an iphone/ipod touch friendly format).
Anywhoo, enjoy your EyeTV, and don’t be staying up too late watching three weeks worth of recordings of Family Guy!
15 May 08
9:30 pm
Ooooh, forgot something.
Roxio Toast is a very slick piece of software, it does literally everything. I highly recommend it, despite the price tag.
An alternative with a better price is Roxio Popcorn, if you read the review on amazon given by ‘pizzacake’, this product seems to do what you want it to.
16 May 08
1:08 am
If all you want to do is burn mp4’s or whatever to DVD, what’s wong with idvd? Might as well give it a shot since you already have it and stuff.
16 May 08
1:37 pm
Hi Jon, it’s a lot of fun. Recorded 4 shows already and scanning through the TV guide to see what else I can tell it to do for me
Andrew, yeah the eyeTV software is awesome. And editing out commercials and bits you don’t want is ridiculously easy
I also streamed one of my recordings over wi-fi to my iPod touch which excited me somewhat, teehee.
Graham, yup! I didn’t realise I could export to iDVD until I read the manual late last night. That’ll do me.
18 May 08
7:39 pm
Both the eyetv hybrid and software are pretty neat. I like the ability of pausing and rewind live TV show.
Do you really want Toast 9? IMHO, Toast is pricey for serving the purpose.
Since I have Time Machine, I tell it not to backup stuff inside my EyeTV Archive folder.
18 May 08
7:45 pm
Hi Kenneth. No, I’m not going to buy Toast 9. I hadn’t realised at the time of writing this that I could use iDVD for my creations. So, that’s what I’m using now.
I’m glad you mentioned Time Machine as I don’t want to back up that folder either. Cheers for the tip
21 Jun 08
11:45 pm
Hi Sam. Is the Elgato EyeTV a HD receiver or just SD?
22 Jun 08
2:00 pm
Hi Nigel, nice to see you! It’s just SD as far as I know.