There is no doubt that the number one requested feature for the Apple TV is the ability to record TV shows. Though AppleInsider recently revealed several patent filings that might lead to a DVR-like functionality on the Apple TV, there's no telling when or if that might turn into a reality any time soon.

Fortunately, there are many DVR devices out there that allow you to record your TV shows from your computer. Many of them offer the ability to export directly to iTunes to be synced with the Apple TV. So while we would LOVE for the Apple TV to support DVR capabilities, it is still possible to record your favorite TV shows and watch them on the Apple TV now. And, yes, all this without spending a dime buying those shows on iTunes.

One of the more advanced DVR devices for the Mac is the EyeTV 250 Plus. With this device, you not only get a powerful TV tuner that can receive analog TV, HDTV (ATSC) and digital cable (Clear QAM) signals but also an award-winning EyeTV 3 DVR software. To top it off, it comes bundled with Roxio Toast 8 Basic so you can record your favorite TV shows to your DVDs or CD-Rs to share with others.

Features

• Compact USB-based TV tuner and video converter
• Receives HD TV, digital cable (Clear QAM) and analog signals
• Dedicated hardware for better quality recordings
• Roxio Toast® 8 Basic for transferring recorded shows to DVDs and CD-Rs.
• VHS Assistant to convert videotapes to DVDs
• iPod Assistant to convert analog video to iPod/iPhone/Apple TV formats
• Works with Turbo.264 to speed up conversion process

What's in the Box

• EyeTV 250 Plus TV tuner
• USB cable
• A/V cable
• Remote
• Software Disc (EyeTV 3, Toast and other extras)
• Power supply
• Quick Start Guide

Initial impression

Don't be fooled by the size of the EyeTV 250 Plus hardware. Though it is only the size of two 3G iPods put together, it is packed full of features beyond its physical size. Elgato is able to achieve this compact size by not putting all the connectors on the box itself but rather on a break-out cable that attaches to a proprietary connector. A clever design indeed.

The bundled remote is pretty basic. It has just enough buttons to perform all the essential functions . This is in fact the same remote as the one bundled with Miglia TVMax+ that I reviewed last year. No surprise here since they get the remote from the same manufacturer.

Setting up

Getting the EyeTV 250 Plus up and running requires only a few simple steps. Just attach the TV cable to the box, attach the box the the computer, install the EyeTV 3 software, run the EyeTV setup wizard and you're ready to go.

During the setup process, the EyeTV software was quick to scan through and pick up all the analog channels and unencrypted digital channels including some HD channels and even digital music channels available from my cable provider. Though it was able to detect encrypted digital channels, it was not able display the pictures from those channels.

However, having just channel information alone wouldn't be that useful without having a program guide. Without one, it would be impossible to schedule any recording. Depending on the country you're in, the software uses a different TV listing service to provide a program guide to the user. Here in the US, the service is TitanTV.

Like iTunes for DVR

The EyeTV interface consists of 3 elements: the EyeTV Programs window, the TV window and the on-screen remote. Whereas the TV window is used to display the TV pictures, it is the EyeTV Programs window where most of the action takes place; it is here that you can schedule recordings, view the recorded shows and perform other DVR-related activities. Lastly, the remote offers a quick access to commonly-used functions of the software like changing channels, record, fast forward and rewind.

If you are familiar with the iTunes interface, you should have no problem navigating through EyeTV 3 Programs window. Its iTunes-like structure keeps the learning curve to a bare minimum. You hardly have to consult the manual to get the most out of it.

Like iTunes, the main window is shown in a folder/file list format. Folders with labels like “Recordings”, “Channels”, “Program Guide” and “Playlists” are shown on the left column of the EyeTV Programs window. The content of the main window changes according to whatever is selected on the left. Another iTunes-like touch is the search window located at the top right corner to allow for quick searches through the sea of TV programs available.

There are four main categories found on the left columns: Library, Smart Guides, Playlists and Channels. Under Library, there are four subfolders available.

• Recordings – this is where all the recorded shows are stored. Each recording is shown with a thumbnail and information about the show like the title, duration, date and size of the file. From this folder, you may view the recorded shows, burn them to disc or export them to iPod or Apple TV.
• Schedules – If you scheduled for shows to be recorded, you can find them under this folder.
• Channels – this folder lists all the channels available. Useful information about each channel like channel frequency, channel type is also shown here.
• Program Guide – This folder is probably where most users spend their time in. It is here that one can get the big picture of the shows available at a given time. A faint vertical line is drawn across the guide from top to bottom to show the actual time relative to the times shown on the guide.

Program Guides custom-made for you.

Admit it, we all like personalization. We like things to be exactly just the way we want them to be. No wonder Burger King is so popular. Because you can always “have it your way.”

With EyeTV Smart Guides, it is kind of like that. Rather than seeing all the TV shows available on one screen, you can make a custom guide that displays only shows that fit your criteria. Each Smart Guide can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. It can be as simple as listing only shows with a certain actor in them. Or, it can be as complex as listing shows that are only in HD, with an actor named “Tom Hank”, with duration more than an hour, with show time after 8:00 PM and originally released before 1999.

The best part is that you can have as many Smart Guides as you wish. Each guide continually live updates itself so you will always find new shows that fit your taste.

Playlists as smart as you are

Like iTunes, you can create your own playlists of recorded TV shows. But what's better than a manually-created playlist? A Smart Playlist, of course. With this feature, you can create a playlist of recorded shows that fit your exact taste. Whereas the Smart Guides feature helps your filter out shows that you don't want to see, Smart Playlists feature works the same way but only on recorded shows. You are given more or less the same options for filtering out shows as in the Smart Guides. EyeTV comes with 3 pre-made Smart Playlists; these are “Exporting”, “Recording Now” and “Past Week”.

Plethora of channels, only a few worth watching

I have to admit. I subscribe to digital cable and have access to literally hundreds of channels. But when it comes down to it, there are only a few channels that I watch regularly.

With EyeTV, you can group the channels you watch regularly and put them in a folder under “Channels”. In my case, out of all the hundreds of channels, I only have about 10 that I watch regularly. I put these channels in my “Favorite Channels” folder for quick access.

However, you can also use this feature to organize channels the way you like them. Say you want to categorize channels by genre, you can have folders for “Sports Channels”, “Local TV Channels”, “Music Channels” and so on.

One drawback I encountered with this feature was when I wanted to remove channels from a folder. I found that this was not possible. I had to create a new Channel folder and start over. However, I am sure that Elgato will address this issue in the future releases of the software.

My favorite show is on but I'm not home

Have you ever had that happen to you? You are at your office and your coworker just informed you that your favorite show is going to be on while you're stuck at the office.

With TitanTV's web interface, you no longer have to worry. You can log on to your account on TitanTV and remote schedule a recording from anywhere there is internet access. The only thing you have to remember is to make sure that computer is on to record the shows you want.

We all love to share

EyeTV 3 offers 2 ways to share recorded shows with others. You can do it the iTunes way where computers running EyeTV software can share recorded shows with each other. Or, you can set it up so that shows can be shared wirelessly with web-enabled mobile devices like cell phones, Internet tablets (Nokia N810, etc.) and iPhones.

With “EyeTV Sharing”, you can individually configure each computer to share its shows with others or look for shows on other computers or both. The remote libraries are then shown in the “Shared” folders along with the other folders. It is very much like sharing iTunes libraries on the network. One drawback is that you do need a relatively fast network in order to stream shows from a remote computer.

With “Wi-Fi Access” sharing, recorded TV shows are first converted to be easily played on web-enabled devices. To access the shows, the user just needs to enter a web address pointing to the sharing computer. Once connected, a web-based user interface is shown on the mobile device allowing the user to select the shows to watch. Since the shows have already been converted for mobile devices, this type of sharing does not require as much network bandwidth as the first.

But what about the Apple TV?

Once the shows are recorded, it is just one click away from exporting to iTunes to be synced with the Apple TV. EyeTV3 provides an “Apple TV” button that takes care converting the selected shows to “Apple TV” format and then export them to iTunes. Of course, EyeTV also exports shows formatted for iPods.



If you are familiar with Elgato , you know that the company also makes a USB device called Turbo.264 , which is a dedicated piece of hardware for speeding up video conversion process. Good news is that if Turbo.264 is attached, EyeTV software would leverage its processing power to speed up the conversion. During the export process, EyeTV indicates that it is using the Tubo.264 by showing a red progress bar along with 4 blinking dots. Depending on the speed of your computer, you can speed up the conversion process by as much as 50% or more.

Shows just the way you like them

Like the shows but don't like the commercials? No problem. EyeTV provides a simple yet powerful editor that allows you to edit the shows to be just the way you like them. With the editor, you can edit out commercials and other unwanted portions from a recording and export it directly to the format of your choice.

A Toast to your TV shows

As mentioned, EyeTV 250 Plus is bundled with industry standard disc burning software, Toast 8 Basic. This software allows your TV recordings to be transferred to DVDs or CD-Rs. It is a great way to share your recordings with others who might not have the same kind of high tech gadgets as you do. It is also great for backing up the shows when you are about to run out of disk space.

A little gripe

Conclusion

All in all, EyeTV 250Plus is a must have for those who want the flexibility of recording their own TV shows rather than buying them from iTunes. With features such as Smart Guides and Smart Playlists, it is easy to find the shows you want. Also, the ability to share the recordings with others makes it ideal for a family that want instant access to shows whenever and wherever they want.

If you've been wishing for an Apple TV with a DVR functionality, stop wishing and just get yourself an EyeTV 250 Plus. There is simply no better way to get your favorite shows on to your Apple TV. You will be glad you did.

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus with EyeTV 3 software retails for $199.95.  For more information, you can go to EyeTV 250 Plus Product page here . 

Pros

• EyeTV 3 software is very simple to use and leverages existing iTunes skills.
• Smart Guides feature makes it possible to view only the shows that fit your criteria.
• The Editor can easily edit out commercials and unwanted portions from a recording.
• Easy to share TV shows with other computers and mobile devices.
• One-click export makes it simple to get your shows on to the Apple TV.

Cons

• Channels in Favorite Channels folder cannot be removed.
• The transition from analog to digital signals takes a couple of seconds.
• Pictures from analog channels are not as sharp as when shown on a regular TV.

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Comments (5)

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written by Greg , March 13, 2008

The export to Apple TV when you record an HD show is fantastic 720P quality video.

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written by Mike Buettner , March 17, 2008

Absolutely the best combo with AppleTV.

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written by T , March 27, 2008

Is it possible to use eyeTV on your Mac and connect a 42" TV as a second monitor(or dual) and have the TV window show up on the 42"TV? If so, how? If not, why not?

Thanks for the info.

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written by moth , May 19, 2008

could you not simply hook up with a VGA connector and choose the PC input on your TV menu? this works on my Sony Bravia

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written by JPSJP , June 17, 2008

Will the Eye 250 plus allow me to convert my old VHS family tapes to dvd? Also will it be a clear & smooth transition to view on any dvd player? Thanks

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