[ckohler]

Can somebody with an EyeTV capture 30 seconds of footage at regular quality and post it somehwere so I can see how it looks? I'm interested in getting one of these but I'd like to see the quality of the video is at basic quality.

Someone posted some high-quality videos in a previous thread, but I want to see what basic looks like. Thanks a ton!

[Weezer]

my server box fried itself last night, so I dont have anywhere to host it currently. However, if you post your aim or something I can send you some clips, or if someone else wants to host.

[Weezer]

oops, damn back button...

[ckohler]

I don't use AIM I'm afraid. I would be grateful if once you get your server back up if you could post a link to a clip.

[megus]

I too would appreciate if somebody could do this.

I even e-mailed EyeTV Support a couple of months ago, suggesting that they should do such a thing.

They answered saying it was a good idea, but nothing has been put up on their site as of yet.

The EyeTV will soon be available in Europe and before buying it I would like to see what to expect.

//megus

[C.J. Moof]

Here's the intro to CSI:Miami. Standard VCD quality.

The eyetv is pretty cool, but I'm sending mine back. Here's why:

I can't get it to work with my 7 port hub- it must not supply enough power. I have enough devices to warrant a 7 port hub.

It didn't wake from sleep to record 24 for me yesterday, good thing I kept the VCR programmed as a backup.

The quality is good, but I keep obsessing about the "digital noise" on the images. Water and fire show the weaknesses of mpeg-1, they get all "blocky".

There's a 1.5 second delay between live TV and what's on screen. That's maddening when you wife is watching The West Wing on the tv 10 feet away but behind you. I thought I could watch the video on screen and hear that audio, but with them out of synch, it drives me nuts. This is probably my biggest.

I figured out I prefer to watch TV on my big screen on my couch than in a window on my computer. My next mac will be a laptop, and I'd rather take my computer to the big tv than tv to my computer.

Processor load gets pretty high on my little Cube.

And, it just crashed watching the HQ version of the West Wing I recorded tonight. Bah.

The good:
Easy to use and install.
Easy to make VCDs- as long as you have Toast.
Has video inputs for other sources, like your X10 video camera.
Good recording management system.
Decent editor.


I decided I should have a VCR or a Tivo. Can't decide which.

[ckohler]

Thank you C.J. for posting that.

The quality is slightly better than what I expected. I especially liked that the video image didn't have any excess "tv-safe area" borders around it. The EyeTV must crop the signal in real time when it encodes.

Most of your problems with the unit don't really affect me. I already own a Tivo so I'm used to the delay (every PVR such as Tivo or Replay are on a slight delay). I'm surprised you mention that the processor load goes up since all the encoding is done in the EyeTV's hardware. Maybe it's all the bandwidth across the USB port.

I do have a couple of questions if someone wants to answer them. Has anyone tried the new editing feature and if so how precise can you be with your edits? What I mean is can you crop a clip at exactly 16 seconds in or does it only allow you to crop around that time?

Also, when you crop how long does it take to output the finished cropped file?

Thanks for the help! I'm really close to getting one now.

[C.J. Moof]

You can get quite precise with them- quite detailed in "Fine" mode. Takes a minute or 3 to process it once they're placed, but no biggie. It's OS X- go load a webpage while it works.

It's a good product, I just decided that it doesn't fit right in my life. If you're into archiving shows, it's gonna be real nice. I gave up on that after recording 4 seasons of The XFiles, and only going back to one tape ever (the Jose Chung episode).

The delay is only maddening when there are 2 sources giving you nearly the same content at the same time. If I go Tivo, it will just be the Tivo.

Drive on up to Madison, I'll sell ya mine.