clubsport said:
I've been looking for reviews of the EyeTV, but I can't find many. I was just wondering if any of you have EyeTVs - if so, what do you think of them?
If anyone has an EyeTV 300 or 400, I'm especially interested. If someone could take some screenshots of it in action that would be great!
I really want to know what sort of reception and quality you get, and how easy the software is to use.
Thanks guys (and gals)! 🙂
I hope you're not located in North America. From their
FAQs:
Q: Does EyeTV 300 work in Europe and Australia?
A: Yes. There is no North American version available at the moment.
Q: Does EyeTV 400 work in Europe and Australia?
A: Yes. However, the availability of EyeTV 400 in Australia is subject to final negotiations with Dolby Laboratories. There is no North American version available at the moment.
Their FAQs don't mention HD TV, but I doubt they suppport it. TiVo is coming out with support for that. I still believe stand alone PVRs like TiVo and ReplayTV are the best for digitally recording TV. Their services are much better than those of EyeTV or ATI's All-In-Wonder cards because with those stand alone services you can program them to record all instances of a show (option ot exclude re-runs), so you never miss them even if their times/dates change. This is not so with products from Elgato and ATI.
If your concern is over being able to save/burn the shows you record, then there are programs like DVArchive that allow you to easily do so. TiVo is coming out with their TiVo to go service, but that's a rip off since it's a pay service that will use DRM security.
Bottom line is I do not think computer-based products like this are quite at the level of those like TiVo and ReplayTV. The technology might be there, but the service that comes with them are not, and that's what makes the difference. I have a PC with ATI's card in it and it does a fantastic job of recording shows, and it only cost a bit over $100. I can save/burn the shows to (S)VCD/DVD no problem, and the quality is great. However, I just don't like the recording/scheduling program. It does not auto record only the new shows(exclude re-runs), nor does it adjust it's recording scedule if the times/dates changes, which is frustrating. I'm really considering getting ReplayTV for it's features (which look like are up to par with TiVo and more) since it takes some of VCR programming pain out of this process, which is what it's all about right? You can set it simply and it'll do all the work for you, no thinking or worrying. Just watch what you want, when you want without the hassle of scheduling programming all the time.
Sorry for the lenghty response. Just my little rant after thinking I could save some $$$ by going the media computer route.