Elgato

Elgato Systems is a hardware and software manufacturer that makes television viewing and recording products specifically for the Macintosh family of personal computers, including internationally acclaimed EyeTV software. Founded in 1992 by Markus Fest, also known as the creator of the Toast CD-burning software for Macintosh, Elgato is a privately held company based in Germany with US offices in San Francisco, California.

Products

Hardware

"EyeTV Models, Past To Present"

1st EyeTV (aka EyeTV USB)

Elgato's first EyeTV product was unveiled on September 29th at the 2002 Macworld Expo in New York. Made of white plastic and roughly paperback-book in size, the $199 device was USB 1.1-based and had an analog NTSC TV tuner. While it could only record in the lesser-quality MPEG-1 format, the EyeTV was the first Macintosh-based TV tuner to offer the highly-coveted TiVo-like ability to 'pause and replay' live TV. It was also the first Mac-based TV tuner to partner with TitanTV, a free online TV-programming guide, to permit the scheduled recording of upcoming TV shows. The EyeTV's (same-named) software was easy to use and configure, letting users choose different recording settings, and different viewable-TV window sizes, including full screen. And because virtually any recent (G3 or better) Mac could process the MPEG-1 format without difficulty, even the EyeTV's lesser-quality capabilities worked in its favor. Now discontinued.

EyeTV 300

For free-to-air digital satellite television, or DVB-S, in the European/UK market, released in November 2003. Now discontinued.

EyeTV 400

Released in November 2003, EyeTV 410 enabled European and UK Mac users to watch and record unencrypted Digital Terrestrial Television, or DVB-T on a Mac. Now discontinued.

EyeTV 200 - FireWire D.V.R.

Elgato's second-generation EyeTV product. Unveiled January 6, 2004 at the Macworld Expo, San Francisco. Whereas the original EyeTV used a 12Mbit/s USB 1.1-connection and was thus limited to MPEG-1 only, the EyeTV 200 featured the much higher bandwidth of 400Mbit/s FireWire, and could easily support recording to DVD-quality MPEG-2. In addition, the EyeTV 200 possessed much-expanded D.V.R. (digital video recording) capabilities, aka PVR. The EyeTV 200 also featured a new, trade-size silver housing with a red IR lens on the front for the included remote. Among its many accolades, on December 13th, 2004, the EyeTV 200 won Macworld's Editors' Choice Award for Hardware of the Year. Now discontinued.

EyeTV 500 - HDTV P.V.R.

Unveiled June 29th, 2004 at the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.The EyeTV 500 was identical to the EyeTV 200 in most respects, but featured ATSC HDTV capability instead of the 200's standard-definition NTSC. While the EyeTV 500 could display an HDTV signal on a G4-based Mac, a G5 or better was required for hi-def recording and advanced DVR/PVR functionality. Now discontinued.

EyeTV 310

Released in June 2004, the EyeTV 310 replaced the EyeTV 300. It enables European and UK customers to receive unencrypted Digital Satellite Television, or DVB-S, on a Mac, and includes a Common Interface (CI) for PayTV.

EyeTV 410

Released in September 2004 at Apple Expo Paris, EyeTV 410 replaced the EyeTV 400. It is a DVB-T receiver for the European and UK market, and includes a Common Interface (CI) slot for Pay TV. EyeTV 410 has won a number of awards, including MacUser UK's 2005 Best Video Device, MacWorld UK's Reader's Choice award in both 2005 and 2006.

EyeTV 610

In November 2004 Elgato released EyeTV 610, the world's first digital TV recorder for digital cable television, DVB-C) and PayTV on the Mac, for the European/UK market. The product was apparently discontinued in November 2007; however, there are apparently limited supplies still available.

EyeTV Wonder

A joint venture between Elgato and ATI Technologies, using a USB 2.0-based ATI external analog tuner plus Elgato's EyeTV software. Released in January 2005, now discontinued.

EyeTV EZ

A joint venture between Elgato and TerraTec, using a USB 2.0-based TerraTec external analog tuner plus Elgato's EyeTV software. Released in September 2005, now discontinued.

EyeTV 250

A smaller-sized, analog TV tuner with hardware encoding to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. Can also be used to digitize VHS videocassettes or connect video game consoles (i.e. Nintendo's GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox, etc.) Released in April 2006 for US $199. It is being distributed in Japan under the Roxio brand instead. [ja icon [http://www.roxio.jp/products/partner/eyetv250/ r o x i o | EyeTV 250 ] ] Sonic Solutions, the company that owns the Roxio brand, has exclusive distribution rights in Japan by an agreement with Elgato Systems.

EyeTV 250 Plus

Similar in form and function to the EyeTV 250, the EyeTV 250 Plus receives both digital and analogue TV (rather than just analogue), released in summer 2007, for $199/€199/£139

EyeTV for DTT

Originally released in 2005 in a small TV-box format, EyeTV for DTT switched to a USB stick format in July 2006. For the reception of free-to-view DVB-T (or in the UK, Freeview). Winner of the MacUser 2006 Reader's Choice award for Best Video device.

EyeTV Hybrid

An external USB 2.0 stick, designed and manufactured by Hauppauge (HVR950), it is a 2-in-1 device with ATSC HDTV capability, plus NTSC standard-definition analog. Also available in DVB-T/PAL for the international market. Software encoder - uses the Mac's processor to encode the signal. Released in October 2006 for US $149 and 149 euro.

EyeTV Diversity

Released in October 2006 at MacExpo London, EyeTV Diversity, designed and manufactured by Hauppauge (WinTV-Nova-TD) is the world's first application of Antenna Diversity technology in a TV tuner for the Mac. In Diversity mode, the device can receive DVB-T signals deep indoors and at speeds of up to 160 km/h. In Dual-Tuner mode, the device becomes two conventional DVB-T tuners, enabling the user to watch two different TV channels at the same time Picture-in-Picture, or watch one channel and record another simultaneously.

HD HomeRun

A 10/100 ethernet network attached device, designed and manufactured by [http://www.silicondust.com/ SiliconDust] , the HD HomeRun (HDHR) provides two ATSC and QAM compatible tuners to any computer on the network with enough bandwidth to receive the data stream. Gigabit ethernet is recommended, although wireless connectivity with 802.11n is possible. The HDHR works simply by transforming MPEG-2 transport stream packets into UDP network packets. The HDHR acquires its local IP address via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is powered by 5 volts DC at 2.0 amps. It is sold by Elgato with two licenses of EyeTV included [ [http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/HDHomeRun/product1.en.html HDHomeRun for the Mac: EyeTV Multi-User Software] ] .

"EyeHome"

Elgato's EyeHome is a hardware- and software-based digital media player that allows users to view their music, photos and video (including EyeTV content) on their televisions or home entertainment centers.

In implementation, the EyeHome hardware connects via composite, S-Video, or component jacks to a TV or stereo, and then "bridges" to a Mac via 10/100 Ethernet, either directly by cable or by using an 802.11g wireless router (802.11b can be used, but only for audio files and pictures - no video). The software then installs on the Mac - or multiple Macs, with a separate installation of the software needed for each. Supported media formats include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AAC, MP3, JPEGs, GIFs, and even DivX with subtitles.

The EyeHome was unveiled January 6, 2004 at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, and is basically identical in appearance to the EyeTV 200, even featuring the same IR lens on the front for an included remote. Initial reviews of the device were mixed, but focused mostly on the shortcomings and limitations of the software. The device continues to sell, however, and as of mid-2006, the EyeHome software stands at version 1.8, including support for iLife '06 as well as Universal Binary coding for Apple's new Intel systems (see external links). Now discontinued, likely due to its functional similarity to the Apple TV (albeit the Apple TV has narrower support for different media types).

The EyeHome hardware is compatible with other Syabas-based media servers. The open-source wizd software (among others) can be used to server content to the EyeHome hardware.

"Turbo.264"

The Elgato Turbo.264 is a hardware video encoder designed by ADS Technology packaged in a USB connected stick, similar to USB memory sticks. The hardware is specially designed for encoding H.264 video and is advertised to perform the encoding up to four times faster than without special hardware. Slower computers achieve bigger speed-ups, but high-end multi processor systems might encode videos faster without the Turbo.264 hardware. Encoder user can specify basic video properties, such as resolution, frame rate, video and audio bitrate, and the encoded video should be playable in any hardware that supports displaying H.264 encoded video, but Elgato specially advertises Apple iPod, Apple TV and Apple iPhone support. The bundled software also includes a preset for Sony PSP, but presets can easily be customized for other devices. Videos can be encoded from any application which support exporting via Apple Quicktime, and also with the bundled simple drag and drop application. Elgato sells the Turbo.264 for 99 euros including VAT.

oftware

"EyeTV"

functionality, and integration into the Mac platform. [cite web |url=http://www.macintoshdigitalhub.com/reviews/eyetv/index.html |title=EyeTV Review |accessdate=2008-07-26 |publisher=Macintosh Digital Hub |date=2002-07-15 ]

"EyeConnect"

"EyeConnect" is Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) software which allows users to stream media content, including Apple iLife files and/or EyeTV recordings, from a computer to a separate TV or stereo system.

"Toast"

Toast, although owned by Roxio, is developed by Elgato.

"Other EyeTV Support"

* EyeTV was also shipped with Products designed by Miglia Technology, but this has ceased in 2007. EyeTV software is also bundled with some products from Terratec and Twinhan.

* [http://code.google.com/p/pyetv/ PyeTV] is a Plug-in that integrates with Apple's FrontRow

See also

* Comparison of PVR software packages

References

* [http://www.green-traveler.com/mro/eyetv-500-review/ EyeTV 500 Review]
* [http://www.machome.com/reviews/0604/eyetv2.lasso MacHome's 5-out-of-5 review of the EyeTV 2 software.]
* [http://www.macworld.com/2006/03/reviews/eyetv21/index.php/?lsrc=mwrevrss Macworld 4.5-out-of-5 review of EyeTV 2 software.]
* [http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/06/05/eyehome/index.php New EyeHome software update supports iLife '06 and Universal Binary.]
* [http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=2286 Macworld.co.uk's 5 Star review of the Elgato Turbo.264]

External links

* [http://www.elgato.com Elgato's Website]
* [http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/overhauled_eyetv_a_must_have_upgrade Macsimumnews' 10-out-of-10/a must-have for the new EyeTV 2.0 software.]
* [http://homepage.mac.com/chamady/MacMiniReview/ A Mac mini-based entertainment center featuring Elgato]
* [http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402UMac.htm Plextor's "ConvertX PVR 402U for Mac" with EyeTV software]
* [http://www.mrobsession.com/ EyeTV & HDTV Blog]
* [http://www.iphone-scene.com/iphone-forums/iphone-software-forum/2007/apr/02/h-264-hardware-encoder-mac-encode-movies-ipod-apple- iPhone-Scene Article about Turbo.264]
* [http://www.allmacshop.co.uk/brand/116/Elgato/ Elgato's range of products for the UK]