EyeTV Update : Overview
As you may know we are massive fans of the great Elgato EyeTV system. For years I personally have searched for the best computer based TV recording system and I have to say EyeTV is pretty hard to beat. Elgato released EyeTV 3.1, a free update to version 3 users.
There are three aspects to this upgrade, a premium EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) which appears to offer considerable features but is a US / Canada service only, a Smart Series Guide and Parental contols.
Parental Controls
Elgato have managed to add a feature we would love to see on the AppleTV : Parental Controls
. To help parents protect their children from objectionably content, EyeTV 3.1 adds support for Parental Controls. EyeTV supports US and Canadian ratings systems as well as the rating contained in DVB video streams.
I am not sure how this will work on the TVTV system but users can also be limited to particular TV Channels. Given how computer centric home entertainment is becoming we think certainly a step in the right direction and is especially handy for managing TV recorded after the 9pm watershed.
Each user has their own pin that can be changed by the master account. The users are pulled from the Mac user accounts but it would be nice to be able to add users just to the EyeTV system.
Smart Series Guide
Thanks to Vox O’Malley we discovered the “Record All” option. TV programmes that show 1/6 in the their listings can be recorded via series link. Click on the programme in the guide and the listing should have a “Record All” button. 
Click this button and the programme series will be added to the sidebar.
Notice that unlike Jonathan Ross the Doctor Who has the series link icon.
Thisi s a really nice feature for recording series at a time. If the programme you wish to record does not have a series record option then the Smart Guide will help you record all the episodes you need, follow the steps below.
A Smart Series Guide can be created with a single click. It works by searching the guide for key phrases in various information fields.
In the side menu click the + at the bottom left and select “New Smart Series” In this example we are going to record the latest series of ‘Friday Night with Jonathan Ross’.
Name your Smart Series Guide and click ‘Create’. You will now be offered a range of options including the number of recording that should be kept before being deleted. You can set the programmes to automatically export or add them to a playlist if necessary.
EyeTV then searches through the current listings and lists possible programmes to record. Search for just ‘Jonathan Ross’ brought up ’Film 2009′ as well as Friday Night with Jonathan Ross so it takes a little tweaking. You can set a range of different rules to ensure you only record the programmes you need.
The ability to record entire series of programmes automatically will definitely make EyeTV easier to use.
EyeTV keeps getting better. Although I would go as far as calling it true series link the Smart Guide is a nice addition to the application. Add this to the ability to easily export TV shows and movies into iTunes to sync with an iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV the EyeTV is a great TV system for any Mac owner.
Point of Correction sir! 3.1 does have the equivalent of series link, a feature more advanced than the smart guides. It is pretty basic I have to admit as only seems to work on things which the DPG or DVB information has linked as “series” but on searching through a number of possible series in the programme guide a “Record All” button does appear and having pressed it a different symbol appears amongst the other smart guides.
To help… Where a series says something like “1/6″ or “12/22″ meaning the first of 6 in a series of 12th of 22 the “Record All” button seems to present itself. Hope this helps.
Thanks Vox, Updated the guide now. This is such a nice feature.
1) you forgot to mention that the software for their tuner & encoder hardware is very lame when it comes to preserving the integrity of the video stream.
specifically, there is extremely limited support for subtitles & auxillary audio tracks.
… which in effect means that you lose alot of valueable ancillary content on both dvd’s & from tv signals
2) there is very spotty support for EPG (electronic program guides) outside of usa.
3) there is NO support at all for tagging, metadata, or any mpeg7 features.
elgato has a very narrow concept of its remit.
no big picture (no pun intended).
part of the problem is that elgato doesnt want to invest in developing its own core competency in hadrware design ; it just oem’s merchant chips, do its functionality is always several years behind the best value proposition possible of elgato developed its own intellectual property.
to be fair, companies like elgato live in the shadow of apple’s ability to nuke a vertical market, at the drop of a hat … eg, appletv could morph into a real DVR at the drop of hat, and cringely has been touting rumours about dedicated h264 silicon in all macs ….
so yes, a company without vision or conviction or gumption might chose to slink around in fear for being out-smarted or out-spent by apple; it’s just too bad that the bizarre nature of the apple eco-system generates such a perverse side-effect: without alot of third-party competition (due to a smaller TAM), many mac-only companies occupy a profitable niches that are sustained by monopoliies (high prices, fewer features) – yet tthese niches can not attract further competitive investment precisely because they depend so precariously on apple deciding to enter these markets.
so mac users get the worst of both worlds: high prices due to limited competition from third-parties, and low investment due to potential competition from the first-party (apple).
grrrr.
ps: yes, i know this review was focused on elgato’s /application/ software that supports many other vendors’ hardware; the object of the review was not about the drivers for its own hardware …. i make a comment about the bigger picture (no pun, blah blah) to suggest that readers consider using elgato software but think twice about using elgato hardware — elgato seems to be in a constant state of declaring their own tuners & encoders EOL (end of life).
I have to say my experience has been quite different. I have tried various Windows solutions and even the Media Center PC and I find the versatility offered by Elgato products make a total must. Quick exports, ease of recording and simplicity of set up are massive plus points.
When I think about my current system other than the ability to record more than 1 channel at once I can’t think of a feature I am craving for.
I bought the Elgato system last year because of the Digmo recommendation. It’s excellent and keeps getting better with every release.
I also use Vista Media Center and find it excellent as well – they both have + and -