[MW Forums]

Elgato Systems announced EyeTV version 2.0. EyeTV 2, a digital video recording (DVR) solution is available immediately for an introductory price of $49. more

[gogoman]

$300+ for the hardware and they want $49 for a software upgrade. You are gonna have A LOT of people really NOT liking this Elgato!! Price point should be set at $10 is anything at all.

[TheTSArt]

Until now software updates have been free. This is really cheesy of El Gato, especially since it seems every other update is a bad one that you have to wait until the next to be fixed.

[saurus]

I agree. There's nothing that 2.0 can do that you couldn't do in 1.8.4 so I don't quite see the reasoning behind spending $49 to make it look nice n' pretty.
And to boot, I got their EyeTV 500 last Macworld, with a free copy of their EyeConnect and I've yet to find a half decent piece of hardware to use it with. Their OWN EyeHome is STILL not HD compliant and they have no intention to manufacture one. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Until 2.0 can do something new (and I've no idea why I'd want to drag 'n drop anything), Elgato can forget it.
Elgato should take a page out of RogueAmoeba's Airfoil page, FREE UPGRADE to Airfoil 2 with lots of NEW FUNCTIONALITY...

[PSM]

My EyeTV works well enough as it is, I won't be paying for this update. I would pay at least $10 for one simple feature -- keep the EyeTV window on top of all my other windows -- but it's not mentioned among the upgrades. But $70, for an upgrade is ridiculous. What do they think they are, an operating system, or Photoshop?

[saurus]

In reply to:

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...especially since it seems every other update is a bad one that you have to wait until the next to be fixed.

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Had to laugh at that. I agree it seems that the only releases worth trusting end in an even number greater than 0! If Elgato was smart they'd have called this 2.0.2...
LOL

[Machound]

I have to agree with the negative comments about EyeTV software 1.8.0 through 1.8.2 this summer. Those were painful "updates" that killed my EyeTV 500 for 3 months with all the crashes and failed recordings. 1.8.3 and 1.8.4 is a total joy to use by comparison. I hope 2.0 will follow suit. I just wish ElGato had gotten rid of the funky hexadecimal .mpg filenames in the new version but, alas, that's not the case.
I don't mind paying for added functionality. Without ElGato's innovation there wouldn't be any digital TV on the Mac. Sure, Miglia is riding on ElGato's shoulders now. But without ElGato we'd all be buying Windows machines and MyHD cards instead of enjoying our HT Macs.
$50-70 seems a bit exorbitant for this cosmetic update. $25-30 would have been more reasonable. I suppose given the relatively small size of the Mac TV recording community ElGato has to spread its development costs over the user base that exits.
Like others here I think I'll wait this one out -- at least for now. I have my system running smoothly and I'm afraid to upset the balance.

[Machound]

In reply to:

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I got their EyeTV 500 last Macworld, with a free copy of their EyeConnect and I've yet to find a half decent piece of hardware to use it with.

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EyeConnect works with I-O Data's Linkplayer2. Presumably it will work with the UPnP compliant Zensonic Z500, which is available in Australia and soon to be released in the U.S., or the Snazio SZ-1350.
Regarding the Linkplayer2, I've had one since May and it produces excellent playback with hardly any load on my Mac. Beware of applying the last two LP2 firmware updates that incrementally kill this player. I'm still running June, 2005, firmware and mine works fine (for the most part) despite a number of bugs/ quirks/ annoyances. It's not the ultimate solution but it's the best we have right now. I keep hoping Apple will make a Mac Mini that can handle 1080i playback and 5.1 channel digital audio output, but as we saw today it didn't happen yet.

[yangzone]

What an unsavoury pecuniary exaction! I'll wait for 2.5 or 3.0... 1.8.4 is fine for now ... unless there's some incentive ... like some hardware thrown in... . Otherwise, ... go easy on the hallucinogens, ElGato... those dollar signs are an illusion... .

[alexjohnson]

I completely disagree. I don't know about the US so maybe the comments are fair but here in Europe the changes in the software over the past year have been significant, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect this to go on forever, particularly when Elgato now licences the software to third party manufacturers. I think $50 is a fair price for a great product, and the inclsuion of the guide data within the application is why I have already upgraded. The team are very responsive to questions and comments and I have to say that if/when Apple does do a DVR, I hope they get it off the ground by buying Elgato.
If Nick is reading this: the only thing you have left out now is Front Row integration.

[infojunkie]

1st time post on here, thought I'd respond to some of the negative comments with some positive contributions. [edit - agree with the previous European poster - this is a good solution for UK/European users]
Personally I decided to take the plunge for the reasons below. I consider myself a pretty heavy user of eteTV so for me it was not a big desicion. I guess $49 is a relative proposition in value terms, and at the end of the day Elgato need to recoup some of their development costs. After all we got some pretty cool features "free" in some of the previous 1.8x updates - added support for digital radio? Admittedly a couple of releases had some bugs but I always found their support guys very responsive. I've given away my VCR so use eyeTV as my sole Digital TV recorder. Other family members have HD-DVD recordsers and Tivo like boxes, and the eyeTV by far is the superior solution (so long as you have a Mac that is :-) I have mine hooked up to a mini and run it via the TV. Controlling it over Airport with VNC. I guess it's the nearest I'll get to the to the Mac Mini HDTV "Media Hub" experience that never materialised. Can't wait till the BBC start broadcasting in HD. Only 12 months to go!
Double-clickable EyeTV recordings:
A double-click on an EyeTV recording document in Finder will start playback of that recording in EyeTV.
(One of the bugbears for me with the older versions was that the "original" recordings were not portable as self contained packages.)
Support for DVB and ATSC EPGs:
If tvtv or TitanTV guide information is unavailable, EyeTV can used the DVB or ATSC guide information. (This will save me the $15 I'd have had to pay in a month's time to renew my tvtv subscription - offsetting the cost of the upgrade. As the DVB EPG goes 2 weeks ahead it is sufficient - for me - to loose the online scheduling function)
Invert Markers command:
This command, in the editors action menu, inverts the sense of the edit markers; instead of marking a sequence, you mark the rest of the show. (Will save me time when editing - I hate it when the start end padding preferences cut into the timeline for two consecutive shows on the same channel so usually combine these into a single recording. This feature will make editing such recordings easier.
Batch export:
EyeTV can export multiple recordings as a batch. It exports one recording after another. (Another time saver)

[infojunkie]

What did you say about hallucinogens? Self-medicating maybe. LOL

[Deejemon]

>What an unsavoury pecuniary exaction!
Buh... words talky me good... heh... talky........... kitty....!!

[grbear]

I mirror the previous comments about charging for the update. I bought my EyeTV for the hardware, not to be charged for software upgrades. I'm truely disappointed by this decision and it's completely snuffed out the consideration I had for upgrading to the EyeTV 500. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif