EyeTv is available with USB and FireWire 200. I have been enjoying the USB version since one year. The USB version allows you to burn 7 hours of video mpeg1 on a DVD using Toast 6.03. The quality of recordings performed with the FireWire version using mpeg2 is superior. But it is required to remove the USB version preferences before installing the new 1.3.4 version in order to have a proper installation. You will also have to select the 2 option Satellite + tuner. The last version 1.3.4 of EyeTV is available in French and other languages, and common to all El Gato models. Image quality is noticeably improved, in addition it is now possible to use a S-video cable. There are menu to setup satellite and VCR options (composite, RVB, Pal/secam, S-VHS). In DVD standard mode, you can burn 2h20' of video (1.8GB/h, 4 Mbps VBR 6 maxi audio 48 khz 224 kbps (mp2), the generated mpeg file is automatically recognized by Toast without changes required. Regarding satellite recording, the quality is lower, so it is possible to create smaller file (480x576 2,5 Mbps VBR, (4 Mbps max) Audio 48.0 kHz, 224 kbps) such as 1.1GB/h in mpeg2, so a bit less than 4 hours of video /DVD; this will allow you to record 2 movies without eye-astonishing differences in terms of image quality. Toast is re-encoding the files, so you will need to use Sizzle, the last version (0.5) even allows you to burn on the same DVD, mpeg files having non standard size without encoding. Do not forget to select the option in the main menu which will allow you to visualize tracks info and menu. Finally, with the price of DVD media going down, 2h20 or 3h45 of recording capacity for one DVD, it is reasonable interesting. |
ElGato
