Review: Elgato EyeTV 500 125
The package is simple. The 500 comes with the box itself, which is slightly larger in all dimensions than a paperback book; an IR remote control and batteries; a CD; a quick-start card; and a standard 6-wire FireWire cable. The back of the box has antenna-in and -out jacks (the purpose for the antenna-out jack is unknown. As delivered, it has a plastic cover on it), two FireWire jacks and a DC power input jack (there is no power supply, um, supplied, and DC power input is optional. They do not recommend you plug bus-powered devices into it if the EyeTV device itself is bus-powered). The front panel has a window with the IR remote control receiver and a status LED. The box is light for its size and liberally perforated with ventilation holes, but in extended use I couldn't detect any heat.
The installation procedure is simplicity itself: You connect an antenna to the antenna jack, you connect the FireWire cable between your computer and the box, you insert the CD into your computer and drag the EyeTV application from the CD to your Applications folder (or anywhere else you want it). The first time you start the EyeTV application, you'll get a setup wizard that will ask about your EyeTV hardware, discover it, and begin the auto-tune procedure.
This is the first place that EyeTV stumbles ever so slightly: The purpose of the auto-tune procedure is to fill in the channel list used for the channel up and down buttons and for the channel list drop-down menu. It takes a couple of minutes to complete, but the first time I did it, the EyeTV missed a station that I knew it should have found. When I repeated the procedure, it found that one, but missed a different one. Finally, the third try yielded 28 streams (I have a good outdoor antenna in Santa Clara, CA, aimed at the Mt. Sutro tower). Elgato should add some way of manually adding or deleting channels (I don't really care about non-English language and home shopping channels).
The other thing to keep in mind is that this receiver is designed strictly for over-the-air reception, and for good reception, you'll very likely need a good outdoor antenna. If you get cable TV, then this isn't for you.
The software integrates well with TitanTV.com, which provides program-guide information. You can click on shows on the TitanTV web site and watch the EyeTV tune to the correct channel or set up to record the show. Recording shows is more or less on a timed schedule basis - it's not quite up to the standard of a TiVo season pass. But the software does poll Titan for schedule changes (if you allow it).
Once you've recorded a show, an iMovie-like editor lets you locate the commercials and cut them out, although the job of finding and marking them is a manual procedure. Once you've marked them, you can compact the show, which permanently removes the marked sections, reclaiming the disk space they were taking.
And speaking of disk space, the CPU and hard disk requirements for digital TV content are enormous. 1080i shows can take potentially 20 GB per hour. An episode of CSI:Miami, after being compressed to 41 minutes, takes 11 GB. A 41-minute episode of The Tonight Show takes 8. Simply displaying these streams at full size in a window takes about 75% of the available CPU of my wife's 1.6 GHz single-proc G5. I wouldn't recommend buying one of these for a machine less powerful than that. The software will scale the image down if it needs to, so it won't outright fail on lesser hardware (and you will be able to access multicasted streams), but the big selling point of this box is being able to watch 1080i shows at full size on your 23" cinema display. If you want to do that, you'll need some serious processor muscle.
All in all, I give this product a big thumbs-up. Digital TV will truly revolutionize broadcast television over the course of the next few years just the way color did for our parents and grandparents. At $299, the EyeTV 500 is a great way for Mac owners to get started without spending a lot, but still enjoying all of the benefits (and breathtaking pictures) Digital TV has to offer.
Thanks to nsayer for this review. Have an interesting review in mind? Slashdot welcomes feature-length submissions.
Still waiting for component HD recording (Score:5, Interesting)
The big problem right now is that I can record over-the-air HD with devices like this (and even some HD VCRs and HD capture cards in computers), but I can't record the analog HD signal out of my DirecTV HD box and if I ever got digital cable, I wouldn't be able to record that one either. If I want to record DirecTV HD, my only option right now is to get a HD TiVo (for about $1000), but that's not an archiving solution. (and yes, I know there's hacks, but I'm talking off-the-shelf technology that my mom could use).
I'm very well versed in this stuff but I find it incredibly frustrating trying to sort out exactly what types of signals I can record and when.
-S
How long till the MPAA and broadcasters come after (Score:1, Interesting)
DMCA anyone?
Still a little confused (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:TiVo (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, I can't speak for the developers, but this thing does HDTV right?
Well, the first thing that springs to my mind is that 30" behemoth Apple announced a couple of weeks ago...
-- james
Re:Would love it (Score:3, Interesting)
Only problem is that they don't sell it outside of Japan, and it's frigging impossible to get anyone to import electronics like computer components.
Re:Still waiting for component HD recording (Score:4, Interesting)
It would in theory be possible to create a device that ignores the "broadcast flag" or hack an existing device to behave fairly. Unfortunately, under the draconian laws of the so-called "United" States of America, this is illegal. Of particular import is the DCMA that would make this act a federal felony. I, too, have a lawsuit pending to render the DCMA unconstitutional.
In conclusion, I recommend a total and far-reaching boycott.
Sincerely,
Seth Finklestein
Media Rights Privacy Expert Watchdog
Re:Too expensive (Score:3, Interesting)
At the risk of being provocative (what, on slashdot?) I have to ask if you've had your vision checked recently. OTA HDTV blows DVD out of the water! Even if the material on Leno is lame the picture is stunning. Just for the record the resolution of DVD is 720 x 480 interlaced. That is about half the resolution that FOX was using (480p) but is being cranked up to 720p which is 1280 x 720. The other HD resolution is 1080i or 1920 x 1080 interlaced.
Never mind. What I'm guessing you mean is that you enjoy watching DVD's on your HDTV but not the TV stations. Depending on your location there might not be much available to your antenna but all the major networks are doing their new programs in HD. That includes PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, WB, UPN, and FOX (with FOX making the transition this fall). We get all those in Minneapolis except for UPN. That is a lot of programs and they all put DVD to shame for picture quality but that is no guarantee the story will be similarly improved.
On the other hand if you are watching upconverted regular programming or 480i the picture is usually better than NTSC but seldom as good as DVD.
Re:Don't bother purchasing these right now... (Score:3, Interesting)
Your best bet is to get a digital cable box with Firewire (your cable company is legally required to provide one) and hook it up to your computer.