Customer Reviews

Elgato Eyetv 200 Digital Video Recorder (10020221)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow. Let me just say that this product exceeded my expectations. Right out of the box, it took me about 3 minutes to get everything plugged in and the software installed. I was watching TV on my Mac literally 5 minutes after it arrived at my door. The unit comes with a free subscription to the online TitanTV program guide. The TitanTV is half the reason I'm so excited about this product. It is freakishly easy to use and you can literally set it to record a program with one click. -ONE CLICK!!! The TitanTV service somehow syncs itself up with the EyeTV program and everything is very seamless, elegant, and EXTREMELY easy to use. I was completely blown away by how easy everything is. I was ready to sit down and take a while to read manuals, etc. and try to figure this sucker out, but there's really nothing to it!

The picture quality also surprised me. I am running it on a new iMac G5 (17", 1.8ghz, 1GB RAM, 64MB Graphics), and everything LOOKS GREAT! (even at full screen) I haven't recorded anything yet, but it does record at a lower resolution, so recorded shows will probably look slightly less stunning at full screen, but I have high hopes.

Overall, I am extremely pleased. And would recommend it to anyone who is already interested enough to read this review. BUY IT! You WILL NOT be disappointed! Do keep in mind, however, that results will vary depending on the machine you are running it on. My iMac does the job fine, but a G4 Mac might struggle a bit...

[EDIT] - I now use it on my PowerBook G4, no difference in picture - still GREAT!

[EDIT] - Recording looks great!

I've had my EyeTv 200 for a couple of weeks now, and I've found that the clarity of the on-screen image is dependant upon your signal. I only have the regular TV stations that come in through an amplified TV antenna. The stations with a good signal are clear on the computer screen while those with weak signals are not so clear. Also, if you have problems with the TV signal for your regular TV then that problem may be amplified and look even worse with the EyeTv. Cable and satellite customers shouldn't have any problems with image quality or set up.

Set up is straight forward - no problems there, or with the software to make it work when you want. I had no problems getting it to work the first time through.

The EyeTv box itself does seem to get a little warm when left on, which is easy to do because the Fire-wire cable provides power to it. So, I don't set anything on top of it and give it a little extra space under my desk on a small shelf. Overall, a little better then I expected.

Well, now I can tell you something about computer TV recorders for the Mac, from actual experience. I have more experience, in fact, than I would like to have had.

First I got the myTV.PVR by Hauppauge, cheap (roughly $120). It ran, showing TV on my screen, and allowing channel selection for all our cable channels. It had a timer to catch programs, and I recorded a number of movies and a couple of Monk episodes. The movies had to be converted using a free online program in order to be recordable by Toast, and the synchronization between audio and video was imperfect. Then the unit began acting up: refusing to work, and seemingly messing up the hard drives. I talked to the company, and they admitted that they had received reports of a problem with overheating. Thereupon I ran the device with its case removed and a fan blowing on it, and it worked. I then replaced the case and attached an old computer fan for cooling, and it continued to work. Then, about a week ago, it died: it would not even turn on, and its indicator light would not glow. Kaput, dead, deceased.

So I ordered an EyeTV 200 (by Elgato) through Amazon.com for more than twice the cost of the first device, but still cheaper than at the Apple store, which did not have any available, anyway. It came today. It showed a much better picture, and could pick up TV schedules from the Internet. It uses FireWire to connect to the computer, which is a good idea. It also is designed to record according to a schedule you program; it also is said to convert VHS to digital. It appeared to be a much better device than the myTV.PVR.

I was about to recommend the EyeTV 200 with enthusiam, but then. ... it abruptly stopped receiving any channels. It would not even play VHS fed to it through the composite video port. It would play back video clips from the computer, though; so apparently its tuner and analog input system are dead.

I had the unit all packaged to return, when finally an email from the Elgato support arrived just in time, with a list of suggested cures for the problem. The one that worked was the old "trash the preferences" therapy. Now the EyeTV is working well, with a few minor software quirks which only add to its interest.

It is probably the only viable recording device of its kind for the Mac. The Canopus digitizers may be technically slightly better, but lack the TV tuning capability, and the ability to schedule recordings. So the EyeTV is the one.

As a recent convert from PC's I had used another brand tuner in Windows. The Tyetv 200 is a much better product and I was up and running a few minutes after opening the box. Te biggest selling point was the firewire connection as I use a laptop and have limited USB ports.

Good picture and sound quality. I would recommend this to an yone that wants a good tuner for their MAC.

After a year of use on my G-5 Dual 2Ghtz Mac the unit just up and quit. (Just after warrenty expired) Major among the continuing problems was the inabliity to record any file greater than 4 gigs. which of course excluded most longer TV shows etc. (Toast does not compress and Popcorn does not use the MPeg format) Another annoying problem was the frequent need to restart the unit by removing the firewire plug and replacing (as recommendated by the manual) Picture quality seemed to be above average but not spectacular. Not being able to put into a firewire chain is another negative (manual recommends isolated firewire connection). Lastly the unit is overpriced for the limited use and features and poor tech support. The tragedy is that there are relatively few such units available for Mac.

It started right up and ran fine for 3 hours but it crashed after that. Working with the support team I was able to get it going after a few false starts. It does work exactly as planned. The documentation with the system is poor. The on-line documentation is for an earlier version so I would rate this **. The support personnel helped a lot but all communication was done by E-mail which was somewhat frustrating.

I am very pleased with eyeTV 200. It fills all my video recording and backup needs regardless of source (VCR, DVD, digital video camera, or cable TV). I especially like being able to schedule TV recordings and automatically export to iTunes for my video iPod. I highly recommend purchasing/upgrading to Toast 7 when you purchase eyeTV 200. By a single click a recorded program opens up the Video window in Toast 7 which in turn very quickly encodes & burns DVDs. The eyeTV programming Guide is directly linked with free TitanTV service, so there are no monthly fees and no encrypted content (unlike some popular DVR & commercial programming services).

I got this one after first buying the Miglia EvolutionTV PVR and returning it because the software didn't work well at all. The Eye TV works well and the new 2.0 software is somewhat easy to understand as well (it's not as smooth as Apple stuff, but who's is) and I've had no problems editing the commercials out of the programs (it's not as good as a iMovie, it's rather basic, but it does work) and exporting it to a number of formats is quite easy.

One of the things that I was looking for it to be able to do was export the audio only of some programs as I'll listen to them on my iPod, but I don't have the video iPod so I didn't need the video portion. It does this well, but I found to do anything over 6 minutes, you have to export in Apple lossless format.

One of the nice things is that it doesn't need external power since it runs on firewire. I did wish the firewire didn't need to directly go into my computer as I only have one firewire port, but I'll live.

Between this one and the Miglia, it's better to pay the extra $$ for the better software (unless you don't intend to ever edit your recordings).

Hello,

I bought this and tried to use it on a Powerbook G4 with 512 ram. The eyetv200 did work, but not well. The video is choppy and grainy. Other problems include that it locks up often, and you have to unplug the unit from the computer and restart it. It wouldn't wake the computer from sleep to record a tv show, like it is supposed to. The other problem is that the tv listing the software uses, is not accurate. It had incorrect times for shows. I reported this and they admited it, and said they contracted the listing with another company. Most importantly there is NO phone contact provided with Elgato. They refuse to provide it. You have to email them with problems, and they email you back.....Days later. They say it will work on anything G3 500 or higher. I strongly disagree! This company needs to provide phone contact and improve their product before anyone should buy it. Great idea, Poor product.

I owned an EskapeLabs myPVR and was not at all satisfied with the quality of the software and the amount of heat my PowerBook generated when using it. I purchased this Firewire unit instead and am very pleased so far. It needs no external power supply and my PowerBook is happily cruising at around 55 degress Celsius when on power supply (processor set to highest in System Preferences -> Energy Saver) and around 45 degrees Celsius when on battery. The EyeTV application has a medium CPU usage of around 30% when encoding to MPEG2 at 720 x 480 which is excellent when compared to the 50%+ used by the EskapeLabs.
The quality of the recordings is good, the software (EyeTV 1.8 or 2.1) is way better than EskapeLabs' myPVR, and I absolutely love the ability to cut out commercials off a recording without re-encoding the file again. But the best feature overall is the excellent customer support I have received from EyeTV before and after purchasing the product. They appreciate their customers! Every time I had a question the turnaround via e-mail was at most four hours and by phone - instantly. Great company! Keep it up.