The EyeTV 250 connects via USB to bring standard and high-def TV to your Mac.

At its couch-potato simplest, the EyeTV 250 Plus brings TV to your Mac. This USB box tunes TV channels from cable, over-the-air analog TV (NTSC), and even over-the-air digital TV (ATSC). But the EyeTV 2 software makes a Mac more than just a TV. It also pauses live broadcasts, schedules and records shows, and otherwise acts as a digital video recorder (DVR). It lacks a few features and an intuitive interface, but the combo is still a good way to capture video and watch TV.

We recorded perfect digital shows after plugging in an antenna (that we had to provide, as will you). The EyeTV 250 Plus even captured HDTV this way, although it can’t record a high-resolution signal from a cable box. Analog TV shows also looked good, but your reception for either will ultimately depend on your location. The EyeTV box includes ports for coaxial, S-Video, and composite video inputs, along with RCA audio plugs, which work great for digitizing video footage from an old camcorder.

While the hardware is strong, the software is just adequate. We easily recorded single episodes of shows, but more complicated requests, such as recording regular episodes of a series, require extra steps. And the onscreen remote is a confusing mess of icons. It’s possible trim the commercials from a recording, provided you have the patience to deal with the slow, unintuitive timeline.

The bottom line. A few thoughtful features, like the ability to automatically reformat newly recorded videos for the iPod and export them, make up for many of the interface misses. The EyeTV 2 software is merely OK as a DVR, but the package’s strong hardware functions great as a TV tuner.

COMPANY: Elgato Systems
CONTACT: www.elgato.com
PRICE: $199.95

REQUIREMENTS: G4 or later or Intel processor (HDTV requires G5 or Intel), Mac OS 10.4 or later, 256MB RAM, USB
Tunes over-the-air analog and digital channels. HDTV looks great onscreen. Automated export options. DVR records shows. Includes limited version of Toast 8 for basic DVD archiving. Includes IR remote.
Software interface sometimes confusing due to poor design. Powerful features take extra steps. Tunes only one channel at a time.