EyeTV 3: First Week of Use

I have the opportunity to review EyeTV 3, the popular TV Tuner/DVR software for the Mac, and being the Mac head I am, I of course took the chance and I must say that I am happy with the upgrade with two caveats. Click through for the full first week rundown.

First off, the UI has had an overhaul to make it more unified with Leopard, and I must say that it is much, much better looking than before. It has more subtle tones throughout the windows, and the on-screen menu also doesn’t have the blinding tint of blue anymore, which has been substituted for a dark, translucent gray.

Now here I would show you the updated EyeTV Programs menu featuring the guide, but here’s problem number one: guide data is not being downloaded from TitanTV. It keeps saying that the server is being accessed from too many peers, yet it does that every time I sync with it. I have sent a support ticket to Elgato and will update when this gets fixed.

Also revamped is the Compacting feature which allows you to take commercials out of a recording. Instead of having a tiny bar at the bottom to make your changes with, however big your video area is, that’s how big an area you have to make changes. Just select the commercials within the triangles, click the gear, and click Compact. Simple as that. It’s very nice and much better than the old Compact.

Another feature I have not gotten to work is the EyeTV WiFi Access, but I submitted a support ticket to Elgato and once again will update when this has been fixed.

I recommend EyeTV 3 as an upgrade or a first-time purchase, even with a few glitches. Hopefully they will be ironed out with an update, or perhaps it’s even a fault on my part.

Elgato