Appletell reviews the EyeTV One TV tuner for DTV antennas

Provides: Over-the-air HDTV tuning for Mac and PC
Developer: Elgato
Minimum Requirements: Intel Core CPU, Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later, 720p or 1080i HD features require an Intel Core Duo processor, an internet connection is required to download EyeTV Program Guide information from the TV Guide data service, an antenna is required (not included)
Price: $119.95
Availability: Now

The EyeTV One is as simple as a product gets. It does one thing—converting an over-the-air DTV signal to USB—and it does that one thing very well. However, just that would be a boring review, and the questions surrounding this product aren’t so much about whether it works, but what it actually does, and where it would fit into a home entertainment setup.

I tested the EyeTV One on my one and only computer, a unibody MacBook Pro, with my ultimate goal for this device in mind: I plan to get an HDTV along with a Mac mini to serve as the hub of my entertainment system. Overall, the EyeTV One was a little awkward to use on a computer that isn’t solely an entertainment machine, but I can see the One fitting perfectly into my Mac mini-entertainment-center dream.

First, let’s outline what the EyeTV One does and doesn’t do: it does allow you to watch over the air television (i.e. your broadcast stations: local CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, FOX, CW affiliates) on your Mac or PC in high definition. It doesn’t take any sort of analog signal or cable signal (Elgato offers many other products for those of you with cable or some other needs). It also requires that you bring your own antenna (it specifies a DTV antenna, but don’t let that scare you, any antenna with a coaxial output will work.)

The EyeTV 3 software showing all recordings.

So, why would you want to pay well over $100 for a device that lets you watch nothing more than the channels available for free over the air anyway? The answer lies in the EyeTV software. It acts as a TV Guide, DVR (pause and rewind live TV!), and a library for all your television recordings. You can schedule recordings in advance, and EyeTV will even wake your Mac from sleep to record your shows. (This is one of the areas where EyeTV doesn’t work well on a personal computer. I tried to record Saturday Night Live so I wouldn’t have to stay up, but it turns out that a computer kicking to live and then blasting Saturday Night Live will wake a person up anyway.)

EyeTV’s TV listings interface allows you to set recordings in advance.

The limitations with the EyeTV One become apparent when two shows are on at the same time and you want to record both. Since EyeTV essentially just records the incoming feed from the antenna, it cannot record more than one channel at a time. For the same reason, you cannot watch any other channel while a program is recording. For me, this only presented a problem on Thursday nights (Fringe vs. The Office/30 Rock, which to choose!?) but it may be more of a dealbreaker for others.

The only true bug I experienced came when reception cut out. A loss in reception, even for a short period or only on one channel, has a tendency to all too often cause all channels to become “unavailable.” It’s easily fixed by closing and reopening the live window, but annoying nonetheless. Additionally, if there are small glitches in reception during a recording, when playing it back, it immediately jumps ahead to the next received frame, creating a disconcerting skip. Whether this is any better than a stuck frame for a few seconds is subjective, but it annoyed me.

Overall, I enjoy the EyeTV One very much, but I can’t see it as being practical in many situations. It just so happens that my TV demands are pretty tame, and so I don’t hit the limitations of the One very often. When I do integrate it into my as yet imaginary Mac mini entertainment center, I’ll likely buy another antenna to hook directly to the TV so I can watch one show while another records. Ideal? Not exactly, but I can live with it.

Bottom line, the EyeTV One works beautifully as advertised, but what is advertised may not be enough for some. Compared to Elgato’s other EyeTV products, which offer a wider range of abilities, the One seems like a curious decision, but it works for me.

Appletell Rating:

Buy the EyeTV One