After CES & Mac World’s Expo a lot of new gadgetry has come out. Before getting into the truly new, I thought I’d revisit an old favorite, Elgato’s Eye TV.

I’ve been an EyeTV user for more than a year now. It allows me to view TV on my Macintosh Laptop. It also allows recording of TV. I can connect my USB EyeTV box to any antenna feed or analog cable feed and treat my computer like I would my TV with a Tivo attached. Pretty cool. For detailed information on the how to’s of setting such a system up, check out the book for in depth information.

At Mac World Elgato launched their new software package, EyeTV2. The day of the announcement I couldn’t wait, and downloaded the new version. This time however, I had to pay $49.00 for my Elgato software, unlike the free first version of EyeTV. It seems Elgato is moving toward software manufacturing, and leaving the hardware part of the equation to other companies. I hope the new model works for them!

Once I got the license key for the new software in e-mail (it took hours to get after my purchase) I started checking it out. The interface is much improved, and worth the $49.00. Normally, to look at a TV guide you have to connect out to TitanTV via your web browser. Now there’s an integrated EPG (Electronic Program Guide). Big improvement, and something I was looking for.

TV-viewing and recording remain the same. You can select recording quality, size of file output, etc. The big changes are in the interface. Along with the new built in EPG users can also create “play lists” like ITunes. You can then organize your recordings into their own category folders. A nice feature. Additionally, now recorded show information is put right into your recording. You used to have to fill in the additional information on your own. Nice time saving feature!

On top of interface changes, Elgato also included some “bells & whistles” type features. Users have always been able to export their video to different formats for viewing with EyeTV. Now there are a few quick export buttons on the interface window. You can quickly select “Burning with Toast” to create a DVD with the Toast software (3rd party DVD software), or you can quickly export your content to the new Video IPod.

The image below shows the new “quick export” options. As you can see, users can get information on their recording, play it, “Toast it”, or send to the new IPod format. These quick buttons are definitely useful, but not a groundshaking upgrade.

Overall, the new EyeTV2 sports a great many new features that made the purchase worth while. Still, I was hoping for more. After experiencing software like SageTV while putting the book together I’ve devoloped an expectation in what I’d like to see in media management software. EyeTV 2 has gotten 65% of the way there, but SageTV (a Windows program) sports a great many more features. Given that EyeTV2’s retail price will be going up after the introductory period, and that it will be selling for the same price as Sage I hope to see some free upgrades in the coming months.

What would I like to see you ask? Well, I’d like to see the final step forward look a great deal like SageTV. That means:

  • Setting Favorite Shows through the built in EPG. Not a feature in EyeTV2 yet. If you want to record the next season of 24, you’ll have to manually enter each episode in.
  • Allowing the software to learn your preferences, and record shows it thinks match your interest.
  • Automatically creating folders by program name. EyeTV2 allows you to create such folders, SageTV does it for you.
  • Handling more media than just video recording media. SageTV offers to add your music and photos to it’s library list. Nice & convinient!

EyeTV2 is a great product, and worth the current $49.00 upgrade fee. For current EyeTV users I’d recomend getting this latest package. But after playing with Sage & Beyond TV on a Windows system while writing the book, I’m looking for more now in my Mac’s media management abilities. I think Elgato is the company that will bring that to me, so I patiently watch and wait for the next update!