Tim Flight

EyeTV 2 is an update to the software that drives EyeTV devices from Elgato Systems. Although I’ve only been using the new software for a brief amount of time, I’ll share my thoughts and suggestions for future revisions.

EyeTV 2 comes with a new interface, both in the onscreen remote control (controller) and the primary display of your recordings. The controller has an updated, brushed metal look. The buttons are more clearly displayed and the functions are more intuitive.

The EyeTV 2 Programs window is where the real changes take place. This window is now displayed in a style similar to iTunes. A column of categories follows down the left side of the window with filters and a search bar across the top. Also along the top are buttons providing one click access Toast and iPod exports while you are browsing Recordings. A status bar at the bottom provides information such as the size of a particular recording and the amount of disk space remaining. A new slider also allows you to change the size of recording thumbnails similar to iPhoto. If you have several recordings, the search box will provide quick access to hunt down a lost recording.

Future scheduled recordings are now separated into their own view called ‘Schedules’. This is much more intuitive over the older software where everything was lumped together. Here, most of the functionality remains the same except now you can specify a particular playlist the recording will go to after it is recorded. There is also an option here to copy the new recording to your iPod.

The ‘Channels’ view lists all of the channels that have been identified on your TV network. Suggestion:

• I wished I could simply click on the name of the channel to edit the name directly from this view, similar to renaming a song title in iTunes. Instead you click once on the channel, go up to the Action menu (gear thing) and select ‘Rename’.

The Program Guide is the big new feature for me. Instead of going to the always slow TitanTV website, the program guide is now available from directly within the EyeTV 2 software. While this is my favorite new addition to the software it is also where I have the most suggestions.

• While you can select the Date and time for the display conveniently at the top of the window, I would also like to see a ‘Now’ button. After looking to see what is on tomorrow evening, I’d like a shortcut to get back to ‘Now’. You can click on another view such as Channels, then click on Program Guide again, however I would still rather have a ‘Now’ button.
• I would like to be able to change the default font size for items in the window.
• The start time being displayed in each cell is redundant, perhaps offer a preference to turn this off. Also it is currently displayed with a 24 hour clock, unlike the timeline that goes across the top. Also related to time, I would like to see the Hour menu have thirty minute granularity; you can advance to 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM, but not 7:30PM without using the scroll-bar.
• You can setup ‘Favorite Shows’ by dragging and dropping channels from the ‘Channels’ view onto the Categories column or onto an existing Favorites playlist. However you cannot drag and drop a channel from the Program Guide in the same manner.
• While you can setup Favorite Channels, you cannot setup “watch lists” like you can from the TitanTV website. I would like to see the ability to setup a Playlist and put favorite shows into the list or “saved searches” for things like favorite actors and have a schedule populate showing those favorites
• While looking at the Program Schedule there is a great, simple button to schedule a recording. Why not have another button that when clicked will automatically add a reminder into iCal?
• I dislike using the mouse whenever possible. Everything that requires a single click on an element and then a trip to the Action (gear) menu to make a modification for should also be accessible by control-clicking or right-clicking on the element.

The Program Guide also has a search box. At first I was afraid the search box would only search on show titles, however don’t worry, it will search the show’s description and actors as well if the information is available.

There are many other good enhancements as well such as the way files are stored in the finder, the single-click iPod export will be huge, and the presets for exporting into different formats will be a help for those not familiar with all of the various formats.

One item I would have liked to have seen improved was the editor. While I eventually figured it out, the editor never seemed intuitive to me. The new Invert Markers won’t help me, but may help others. I keep moving the timeline slider forward to where the show starts, clicking the double-triangle button, then moving the timeline slider forward to where the first commercial starts, clicking the double-triangle button, then moving to where the first commercial ends, clicking the double-triangle button, etc. This doesn’t work. I live moving from left to right without needing to drag things back. I’ll figure it out one of these days.

Overall this is a great upgrade to the already good EyeTV software. You will have to decide for yourself if the new features are worth the upgrade price. I will still depend on the TitanTV website for my favorite’s list, however with that exception I’m glad everything is now completely within the EyeTV software.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 16th, 2006 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Computer Technology. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.