Another Mac Tax. Elgato’s EyeTV Goes To 2.0.

I’ve been an Elgato customer since they launched their first cable TV tuner for the Mac. I upgraded to EyeTV 200 for Firewire TV and loved it.

EyeTV’s software is excellent, best of breed, and shows up in other products. That’s a good sign.

A bad sign is the annual tax. Not just Apple’s annual iLife tax, or the new Mac OS X tax, but a tax nonetheless.

If you’re new to TV on your Mac, Elgato’s EyeTV 200 is a Firewire recording device that takes cable TV in, records it on your Mac. EyeTV is the software that controls the process. It works well.

Elgato’s new EyeTV 2.0 software is improved. It looks better, has more features, it’s faster, it exports video to iPods and, eventually iTunes (the place where we keep such things these days).

It’s also $49 even if you already own Elgato’s EyeTV 200 or other Elgato product. The previous version was included. Isn’t that a tax?

To be fair, EyeTV 2.0 has a number of handy features that the previous version didn’t have.

First, the on screen remote looks like a remote control device, instead of something designed by 1950s scifi fans. It doesn’t work any better. It just looks better.

The main window of EyeTV is restyle and looks just like iPhoto or iTunes. Column left, column right. Tools on top. Platinum plastic look.

Just like iTunes, you can create video Playlists in the new EyeTV. Make sure you have a big hard drive, because an hour of video takes up a lot of space.

I can’t imagine having a playlist that resembles what I have in iTunes (over 2,500 songs), or the Albums in iPhoto (over 3,000 photos).

New in EyeTV 2.0 is an integrated program guide. The previous version required Safari to open up TitanTV’s TV schedule web site.

Now the TV schedule, applicable to the TV schedule in your area, is built in. Point click. Record.

A major feature is the single-click iPod export control. Record a TV show or movie. Click to save it in a format for the iPod.

Then, go to dinner, get your nails done, wash the car—yes, it takes that long to convert to iPod format.

Tera’s been grumping about both of these issues. The “taxes” inherent in owning a Mac. To get EyeTV 2.0 for your Elgato device is a $49 upgrade.

The other issue is how long it takes to convert a movie to the iPod format, for storage in iTunes.

Even on a big PowerMac with dual CPUs and loads of RAM—well, there’s time for other things.

If you love Elgato’s recording devices, EyeTV 2.0 is a nice upgrade, with much needed features. That’s what you get with the “tax.” Click Here for the details.

Tera Patricks
I tried EyeTV over the weekend. It’s a nice update which looks and works better. But it’s $49 and that’s becoming a “tax”. More on that later.

Jack D. Miller
Carol, what do you expect? They’ll just improve the software forever, and you’ll get it for free? Improvements cost money. Pay the piper.

Alexis Kayhill
I keep thinking Apple will give us a solution here. So far, na da. I mean, a solution for recording video. The only solution for the tax is not to pay.