EyeTV 200 enables users to watch TV directly on their computer monitors.
One of the great things about the EyeTV 200 is that it's incredibly easy to use. All you need to do is attach a coaxial cable or antenna to it, and then connect it to your Mac's FireWire port. The unit draws its power over FireWire, so you don't need to worry about a separate power adapter. Once you've connected everything, you can use the Setup preference pane to automatically tune in the channels.
To change channels, you can use either the full-size infrared remote control or the on-screen controller. Compared to its predecessor, the EyeTV 200 is much faster when it comes to changing channels. You can also connect the signal from a digital-cable or satellite TV decoder to the EyeTV if you want, although you'll need to change channels using your decoder box.
One of the EyeTV 200's biggest advantages over the USB version is that it captures video in MPEG-2 instead of MPEG-1. MPEG-2 is the encoding format used for DVDs and satellite TV, which means it takes up more space but also has better quality. You can choose between Standard, High-quality, or Super Video CD encoding, and there's even a Custom setting that lets you choose your own resolution, bit rate, and audio settings.
One of the great things about the EyeTV software package is that it can wake your Mac from sleep or start it up for a scheduled recording. While this feature worked flawlessly on a dual-867MHz G4 desktop model, it was a bit problematic when tested on a G4 iBook.
To use the EyeTV 200, you'll need EyeHome hardware, a G4 with a speed of at least 500 MHz or a G5 Power Macintosh, and Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later. QuickTime 6.4 or later and QuickTime for Java 1.4.1 or later are also required, with Java 1.4.2 being recommended. All in all, if you're looking for an easy way to watch TV on your computer monitor, the EyeTV 200 is definitely worth checking out.
Version 1.8: N/A