6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
EyeTV is a digital workhorse
Date of Review: Jun 1, 2004
The Bottom Line: For the price, you can't go wrong (until something cheaper and better comes along next month).
I have used this product for more than a year and have recorded several hundred movies with it. The interface is simple to use (unfortunately not as simple to understand: the manual is even simpler, and there are a couple of undocumented tricks that improve the precision of editing that I found by "trial and error"). Use the Option key to move frame-by-frame, and hold the Shift key down when dragging the editing triangles to the spot you want.
The output quality is generally pretty good, with a good interface with Roxio's Toast for burning. The recent software upgrade that allows you to export to a format that can be burned onto a DVD is a substantial improvement.
I have had a number of crashes of the software in low-memory situations (turning on the memory buffer helps reduce this somewhat), but the application nonetheless tends to run well in the background without slowing the system down noticeably.
Another tip I can offer is that if your cable connection is not in the same room as your computer, then you may be able to use a Radio Shack or similar product to broadcast the signal from your cable box to a receiver that is connected to the EyeTV box (use the A/V port for better quality). Once you get the antennas positioned right, the video is a tiny bit blurred, but the sound is fine.
