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Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Very Happy with the 250+

Written by JH from Indianapolis

Sep 3, 2009

The EyeTV Software is great and keeps getting better.
The EyeTV Recorder Box has been very reliable - I've had it for a year and have had to reboot it only 3 or 4 times, usually when the software has been updated or when I've changed how my hardware is configured.

The toughest part for me was the setup of my house. I had to run a coaxial across the entire length of my basement to reach my iMac. Software installed smoothly. Channel scan setup was a bit mystifying at first, but I'm well acquainted with process now after checking with the manual. The manual is very thorough and helpful as are the Elgato forums.

Since getting the 250+, I've returned the cable company's DVR. It has worked out better than I expected it would. A very powerful video product - check out the Elgato site to see all its capabilities. 4 out of 5 stars.

21 of 23 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Mostly very good

Written by MB from LaSalle

Jul 23, 2009

Good:
This is a very good product. The software (EyeTV) is easy to use, easy to customize, just easy. The video quality on analogue stations is not perfect, but it's close enough to make me happy. The video quality on digital (QAM) station is perfect.

Bad:
1) The input dongle is positioned at the front of the devise. I would prefer not see it.
2) The blue light on the front is entirely too bright.

Ugly:
1) I only have one real complaint. It's a big one too. From time to time, and only on analogue stations, the video will appear as if it's being strongly interfered with. It will show multicoloured distortions with an increase of 'snow'. This issue will continue until the unit is reset. (toggle the power)

Conclusion:
3 star. I would have given it 5 star except for the intermittent distortion issue. This is clearly a shortcoming.

Note:
I am disappointed with the price point on this product. If I was on a PC, I could reasonably expect to pay half the price for the same functionality. (I'll keep the Mac though)

17 of 21 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Mini USB pops out

Written by KS from Victoria

Jul 3, 2009

Would have been a better product with a regular size USB instead of the mini one which pops out when my cleaners dust behind the TV resulting in TV shows not being recorded.

8 of 22 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Bad Hardware

Written by BS from Atlanta

Mar 19, 2009

Repeatedly shorted out the USB hub on my iMac. I had to get two warranty replacements, both of which also shorted out, died, and killed the USB port it was attached to. I gave up before it destroyed anything else.

31 of 40 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Works for some, but not for all!!!

Written by SW from fontana

Mar 14, 2009

When it works, you write a great review! But for those of us who got a lemon, we say it stinks! This device is less than a year old and it doesn't work! I can't find the receipt, so I use it as a paperweight!

20 of 39 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Don't bother if you actually like to see what you're watching!

Written by TK from Mooresville

Mar 8, 2009

This product is a sad mockery of what a Tivo or a cable/satellite DVR can do.

Pros:
HD and Digital TV look great even in full screen.

Cons:
* Software
* Analog tuner is deplorable - like watching TV through a kaleidoscope (serious artifacting and pixelation issues).
* Doesn't offer the same level of features as a Tivo or other DVR - only basic recording functionality is available (series, etc) - poor conflict resolution and lack of special features which could easily be implemented in software (e.g. wish lists, suggestions based on viewing habits, etc.).
* Hardware runs *hot* - the outer housing is almost too hot to touch and have seen reports that the hardware fails after several months of use - this is probably because the hardware doesn't "sleep" when the computer sleeps - it's always on!
* Software is buggy and crashed on me several times while I was configuring settings
* $20/yr for program guide data simply because ElGato is using TVGuide for the data vs. TitanTV which is free. Plus, my TV gets TVGuide data over the air for FREE! RIPOFF!

39 of 51 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

And then some...

Written by ZD from daly city

Mar 8, 2009

Initially I wanted to see if this would record shows from my DirecTV service and nothing else. Upon installing the software (it did so by the way in an effortless manner) I plugged in the eyetv box and the cables from the DirecTV receiver and with just a click of the mouse to change the source to my box, I was watching and in a couple of minutes later, recording shows! The quality looks spectacular, I'm on a 20 inch iMac with 4GB of RAM and it could primarily be my secondary television! Not only is this capable of recording, it can output to a slew of formats. It can convert to an iPod format, an iMovie format so you can edit it later, by the way it converts to files that are suitable for Apple's movie editors (iMove, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro). I hadn't anticipated on converting my old VHS tapes to digital, but this can handle that as well. The software is intuitive and friendly, you can pause and go backwards just like the set top DVR's.

You can plug in a coaxial cable in the back if you have cable service, otherwise they include a break out box for the S-video and RCA plugs if you have other components to plug in such as VCRs or set top boxes. The one minor annoyance I have though is the unit is slow to recognize the control for the DirecTV when I want to change channels. Besides that, this is money well spent, and it makes your computer add another duty to its resume.

21 of 21 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

I want my money back!

Written by AR from Santa Clara

Feb 25, 2009

I just sat down to watch a scheduled recording, and the program was not recorded. When I tried to catch the ending of the program, the EyeTV software told me that it could not communicate with the device.

I reset the EyeTV device by removing the power cable.

This is unacceptable. I purchased the EyeTV to record programs when I'm not home, thus I'm not able to reset it whenever it crashes.

Furthermore, programming the EyeTV to record series requires setting up a "Smart Guide." I find these rather confusing! I have a degree in Computer Science and work with SQL on a regular basis; a non-programmer might not understand the system.

15 of 29 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

A superior product

Written by JM from STATEN ISLAND

Jan 22, 2009

I had this product since june and had no problem with it.

15 of 30 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Dissapointing

Written by AR from Santa Clara

Jan 17, 2009

The first EyeTV that I bought worked for 2 hours and then stopped working. I tried it on another computer and determined that the device was defective. After a wasted evening, my local Apple store let me exchange the device, and when I plugged the new one in, it worked.

EyeTV's software is great for watching live TV, but questionable for replacing a DVR. In the one week that I've had it installed on my Mac, it's deleted all of my scheduled recordings, missed recording one show, and only recorded 3 minutes of another show. Sometimes the software needs to be restarted. As a professional software developer, these issues are outright unacceptable.

The EyeTV device is always warm, even when the software isn't running.

I really wanted to have a hassle-free 100% computerized home theater. I'm disappointed.

36 of 47 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

woooooooooooow!

Written by MH

Nov 20, 2008

amazing!.. a must have!.. -mh

10 of 88 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Love my EyeTV!

Written by LD from Fullerton

Oct 22, 2008

i love this product. it's great for watching TV in my room while doing work on my computer, or falling asleep in bed. i even record things for when i am away which is great. just one click to record! then you can also have it repeat each week or day or whatever you'd like. i haven't had any problems at all, and toast that it comes with has been great as well for burning things. and converting old VHS tapes has been awesome as well. really, just a great product.

74 of 77 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Works Well

Written by EK from Ipswich

Sep 14, 2008

Wanted to add cable tv capability to my iMac. This gave me Cable TV on the iMac, a second DVR for the house, and the programs that I want to transfer to my iPod download to my iTunes automatically. The set up was easy, just plug it into cable on one end and the USB on the other and install the software. Wish companies still provided a complete instruction manual but details are available online and it was not to hard to figure out by trial and error.

75 of 78 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

really good but

Written by JE from East Elmhurst

Sep 5, 2008

glad i discovered this gem.
I just took delivery of a 24in imac and this nice little tv reciever saved me $200 because i returned the 22in flat tv that was no longer a neccessity and now i even have DVR for FREE and a tv guide like on sat tv or digital cable. this is great (internet required)

this thing has a fine picturer on my iMac even better than the dedicated flat panel lcd. you can even export recorded shows to your iPod ect ect.

id like to give it a five "BUT" here are my gripes:
The blue led is way way to bright in a dark room
The remote is really kind of Cheesey but it works
There is no control on the remote that will sleep or shutdown the computer. making the remote only useful for changing channels and volume if you are going to bed.
the software will not sync the tv signal comming out of sleep mode if eyeTV was running when you go into sleep mode.

i highly recommend this device.

213 of 227 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Works well with Verizon FIOS but...

Written by JR from Great Neck

Jul 30, 2008

I have this device connected to my Mac Mini with Verizon FIOS TV. It works really well, but bear in you CANNOT use a single remote to surf and change channels. Other than that it works wonders with recording TV (I tested it on Shark Week and the quality was really good). High recommend using coaxial cable for optimal use (A/V and S-video cables don't have TV listings for people like me with the basic STB). I only gave it four stars because of the remote control situation (mainly an issue of lag and having change settings).

48 of 58 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Cannot control your Rogers Cable Box

Written by CC from Mississauga

Jul 2, 2008

The product does work with one major flaw. It will not change the channel of your Rogers Cable Box. I bought the system to do recording while I wasn't home, well that is basically out of the window as you have to remember to remote into your mac and change the channel on the cable box otherwise the recording will be of the last channel that was used. Also there is no built in cable guide for Canada. You need to spend $20 and subscribe to a 3rd party 'MacProgram Guide' which does allow you to do one-click recording to Eye-TV. However, the changing channel program highlighted basically makes this functionality useless. Other things do work, it can easily export TV show to iPhone, iPod etc... if you can be bothered to remember to change the TV channel everytime you have a recording.

67 of 122 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Awesome with Mac mini

Written by CP

May 9, 2008

I have this setup in my living room with a Mac mini connected to my Philips HDTV. The setup wizard made it pretty easy to configure and I'm now happily watching many standard and HD channels from my Comcast cable. The picture is perfect and the recording features are fantastic. I even programmed my Harmony remote so I can operate EyeTV and FrontRow.

265 of 313 people found this useful

Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital TV Recorder

Easy to setup - works great!

Written by MG from San Francisco

May 8, 2008

I'm not sure what "BM" is implying by saying it doesn't come with everything you need to start watching TV. Everything is listed on the box it comes in. You buy this thing, you hook it up to your Mac and load the EyeTV software (which is excellent) and you attach your video source (antenna, standard cable, cable box, game console, etc.).

Read description of product:
"EyeTV 250 Plus delivers free-to-air digital TV to your Mac (ATSC), unencrypted digital cable (Clear QAM), as well as conventional analog TV via standard cable or antenna."

Did he think that it came with free cable service or an antenna? Does he want Elgato to specifically state "Video source not included."? Anyway, this is a great product!

326 of 384 people found this useful