EyeTV 250 Review

What is EyeTV 250?
Do you know TiVo? This isn't that. It also isn't a PVR. What El Gato's EyeTV 250 is, however, is one of the best things that has happened to Mac as it happily and easily relates to television viewing and digital recording. It deserves its own category instead of being compared to something similar. It is what it is and I will try to explain it as best as possible. I personally feel it is a perfect companion to anyone with a Mac particularly those with MacBooks or MacBook Pros. It is also ideal for those people who travel with their laptops (oops, I mean notebooks) and want access to television where it is otherwise unavailable.

What is it Already?
EyeTV is a way for you to watch television on your Mac. It also gives you the option to record television onto your hard drive to watch something at a later time. But it also lets you watch live then pause it if necessary, say, for example, if you have to go use the restroom. Upon returning, you simply just need to press a button to watch where you left off. It allows this function because it records what you've missed. If you want to watch it live, just click on a button and it will return to live viewing. It also requires NO monthly fee!! Another cool thing about EyeTV 250 is that you can connect game consoles to your Mac, and play, play, play.

What does it look like?
EyeTV 250 is a cute little box, a box small enough to fit in your hand (it fits in my hand and I have small hands), think of it as the size of a thick iPod. But to be more precise the measurements are as follows: height: 4.1 inches; width: 2.5 inches; thickness: .7 inches; weight: .3 lbs. The box contains the video tuner and a hardware encoder that captures the incoming signals and compresses it into MPEG format, all in real time. The EyeTV box is also equipped with jacks that allow capturing from a camcorder, a VCR or other analog device (to convert, for example, old VCR tapes to a digital format). There's also a jack for a coaxial cable. The box is connected to your Mac via the USB port and you can watch live on your Mac's desktop, and capture your favorite shows on standard television channels, analog and digital cable or even satellite channels if you so desire.

EyeTV 250 also comes with a cute little remote, absolute necessary for convenient and comfortable television viewing.

What do I need to do?
EyeTV comes with software that brings everything together and creates the magic that is EyeTV. Once installed, you are taken through a very easy installation process that helps you along every step of the way. After that, can enjoy the full features of EyeTV. You will see an interface of the controls on your desktop and once you do a scan to find the programs available, you can choose your channel and watch on-screen. You can change the size of the viewing screen to be fullscreen or something smaller. Simply click on the bottom right corner and drag the screen to the desired size.

If you're wanting to take your VCR tape and bring them to the digital world, you can! And EyeTV makes it super easy to do with an "Assistant" that helps you set up everything correctly. It's so amazingly user-friendly.

How do I record?
Glad you asked that. Find what you want to record and press the record button. You can schedule it as well by indicating the start and stop times for a show, film or other program to be recorded. Note: Your Mac must be awake to record.

How do I archive and transfer to DVDs?
Easy. Just burn your shows from your EyeTV archive using iDVD or Roxio's Toast.

System Requirements
G4 (500 MH` or higher), G5 or MacIntel, 256 MB of physical RAM, built-in USB port, Mac OS X 10.4+, 589 MB of disk space is required for one hour of recorded TV (video CD setting), CD/DVD recorder and software are required to create DVDs, SVCDs or Video CDs. Available for PAL/SECAM as well as NTSC.

For more information and to order now, click here:

EyeTV 250 Plus

Also take a look at the EyeTV Hybrid

Final Notes
I travel a lot and blog a lot (separate from the Mac world). Sometimes I blog about what I've seen on TV and EyeTV comes in very handy to record something I need to see later, so I can write about it later, all while on the road. I've taken EyeTV with my MacBook and it doesn't take much space in my bags and I love having TV whenever I want. I highly recommend EyeTV 250 because, well, I love it.

El Gato Systems