The EyeTV 250 is great. I love mine. The reason it can be
used with TV game boxes is because it combines the TV signal
decoder with a fast video co-processor, which in "Game Mode"
has no perceptible time lag. The co-processor is also used in
exporting recordings to other formats. The EyeTV 250 has
coax, composite and s-video inputs, so you can have several
devices connected at once.
Jim, if you already have FiOS, you can connect your coax cable
directly to to your 250 to get unencrypted digital (Clear QAM)
channels. If your FiOS is similar to mine, this will include all of the
"local" (in a fairly broad sense) broadcast channels and some of
their secondary broadcasts, the URGE radio and Music Choice
audio channels (nearly 100 of these), some religion and shopping
and weather channels, etc. For some reason I also get WGN.
I receive 161 unencrypted channels all told, but I have
a lot of duplication because some channels are in both SD
and HD and I get both NY and Philly network stations.
If you do connect it to a set top box, for time-shifting purposes you
supposedly can set up EyeTV's scheduler to work with an infrared
blaster to change the channel at the time of recording.
I've recently started using an EyeTV 250 to time-shift TV programs.
Have only had it for a few days so am still learning about it. In
addition to processing both analog and digital signals it allows me to
record my old VHS tapes to DVD. 'course you need a working VHS player
to do this. Also has a connection to allow X-Box to use the computer
monitor. I bought mine as a refurb from OWC - www.macsales.com
The digital picture quality is terrific on my monitor in a resizable
window.
I am using a cheap ($20) antenna sitting on a shelf in the office.
Saved recordings tend to be huge but it ships with a version of Toast
so you can processes it as you like.
Plan to try to connect it up to Fios TV converter box when I have
time.
Not as simple a solution as recording direct to VHS however it does
have its pluses.
Jim
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