By Lauren Hirsch (photos by Aaron Steinfeld)

From the outset, Elgato has a problem with its EyeTV 250 Plus. In this age of products that promise to “bring your computer to your TV,” such as AppleTV, TiVo, and even the Nintendo Wii with its weather and news clipping services, Elgato has decided to be the salmon of the computer world, swimming against the current to bring you a product that promises to “bring your TV to your computer.”

In all fairness, it’s not such a bad premise (also, salmon is tasty. Hey, I’m pregnant. I think about food a lot.) After all, what is a TiVo or an Apple TV? It’s a processor and a hard drive in a box. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Hey, I’ve already got one of those.” “Exactly,” says Elgato. And maybe--just maybe--you’re the streamlining type who would like to consolidate those functions into one fabulous app. Killer app, you ask? Perhaps, depending on your needs. TiVo killer? Well, not so fast.

First off, what is it? Simply put, the EyeTV 250 Plus, one of a number of similar products by Elgato, turns your computer into a DVR through a USB-connected video converter and TV tuner. Similar to other DVRs, the software on your computer takes the video input and time shifts, records and replays. For the EyeTV 250 Plus, video sources include standard cable, over-the-air (OTA) digital signals and, at long last, QAM.

Installation is simple, though long. There are few choices to make other than identifying which video source you are feeding it and then telling it which service provider you have so that it can associate guide data and channel numbers. Unfortunately for me, despite forcing software updates and various different zip codes, I could not get it to give me any guide information for Verizon FIOS. Presumably, later software updates will take this growing market into account. Despite this setback, and after a nap (did I mention I’m pregnant?) during which the device took almost 45 minutes to scan and recognize all the channels present in the source, I was able to see guide data for OTA and local channels, and could still browse, watch, and manually record by time unlabeled channels. Choosing programs and recording them was a breeze, as was setting up single and recurring recordings—at least on channels for which it had guide data. Those using strictly OTA or more traditional cable providers should not have such overwhelming guide problems.

EyeTV also takes advantage of its proximity to the rest of your Macintosh by letting you add recordings to iTunes and converting to iPod compatible formats without the same restrictive copy issues that TiVo imposes. One perk is that it doesn’t have to transfer the recordings from another drive across your network in order to do so.

The device suffers from one serious problem however: it has no ability to decode encrypted video sources. While TiVo has tackled this problem by adding CableCARD functionality, and provider-specific DVRs have such decoding built-in, the EyeTV is limited by what it can find on the analog stream and QAM. Slowly, but surely, cable providers are removing channels from the analog stream and moving video source over to encrypted digital. Of course, if you receive most of your television OTA or watch mainly local channels for which reliable QAM streams are always available, you may not find this terribly troublesome. But if you’re a movie-watcher and HBO addict like me, it presents a limitation that takes some of the versatility wind out of its sails. Now, Elgato has tried to address this problem by adding cable-box compatibility through an IR system, which changes the channel on the cable box, and thus the incoming video channel, but because the coaxial output from your cable box is strictly analog, you lose the ability to enjoy HDTV from your cable source. Of course, OTA HDTV is still an option, but you also lose HD QAM once you switch from the coaxial output from your wall to the one directly from your cable box. A cursory look at Elgato fans online has discovered many a user waited impatiently for some kind of CableCARD functionality to come to EyeTV.

Quality is more than adequate, and responsiveness rivaled my cable box and TiVo, even running on an older Titanium G4 PowerBook. On analog, non-HD sources, of course, there was no obvious difference to speak of between my TV and the picture on my computer. HD was similarly crisp, though it does become difficult to discern differences when you’re comparing a 52” DLP display to what is a relatively much smaller computer display. The device does have video-out capabilities, but limits you to s-video and composite video out—obviously not meant for the videophile. That being said, one videophilic solution would be to have the software running on a computer driving a much larger display where the link between computer and display would preserve the resolution. Presumably, video quality would be excellent for those channels displaying in full HD digital. For those intending to use the EyeTV as their primary video device, a creative setup might include a dedicated Mac (such as a Mac Mini), a large Apple display, and the Elgato EyeTV. Using its included remote control, and assuming the device adequately addresses your video needs, such a setup would be impressive.

Regardless, full HD digital, and really all video in general, is a data hog. From the outset, I had the EyeTV record directly to an external drive dedicated exclusively to it, and I would recommend anybody intending to use the EyeTV more than occasionally to do the same. With external storage so incredibly inexpensive, it makes little sense not to.

I’ve been waiting for the Next Great Thing to TiVo. I love my TiVo, but what made it great was how much of a paradigm shifter it was. However, Elgato falls far short of the mark in its role as TiVo killer. So I await the next monumental shift with bated breath. For those with….lower expectations, or for someone who would like to turn their Macintosh into an occasional TV, the Elgato EyeTV 250 plus might just fit the bill.

If you've tinkered with the EyeTV 250 Plus on your end and have something to say about it, let us know over in the comments or forums.