EyeTV software gets 2.5 update

One-click iPhone export and Wi-Fi access

26 September 2007 8:15 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

EyeTV 2.5 is a free update to the EyeTV 2 television software and includes new features for viewing on the Mac, the iPhone, and iPod touch.

The update, which should download automatically if you're already an EyeTV user, will include the following:

Wi-Fi Access
Owners of an iPhone or iPod touch can access their library of EyeTV recordings and watch recorded shows over a local Wi-Fi network. iPhone or iPod touch connect via Safari to a web server running within EyeTV 2.5 and can browse the EyeTV Archive and its playlists. Movies can be selected via the touch screen and played back.

Record from Live Buffer
The timeshift buffer contains the portion of a television show that lies in the past and has already been watched "live". EyeTV 2.5 can record this portion and store it as a complete recording. To do so, navigate to the desired start point (by scrubbing in the timeline using the on-screen remote control, or rewinding, or jumping) and then click the red record button. The new recording will start from the actual playback position. All navigational controls such as Pause, Rewind, and Fast Forward remain fully functional while recording from the live buffer until you decide to stop the recording.

IPTV Support for Freebox
EyeTV 2.5 adds support for watching live television streamed over the local network from the Freebox, an IPTV set-top box available in France for users who have purchased ADSL Internet access from Free. Free is one of the largest European IPTV providers with over 300,000 subscribers. This feature is available to customers who purchased hardware by Elgato, or have purchased an EyeTV 2 retail or upgrade license.

One-Click-Export for iPhone and iPod touch
For owners of new iPhone and iPod touch devices, EyeTV 2.5 offers a simple export via mouse click to enable easy transfers of recorded television shows for later, off-line viewing on the go. Simply select the recording and click the new, convenient iPhone button in the EyeTV toolbar. EyeTV can also automatically export to iPhone when scheduled recordings have completed.

Float-on-top
EyeTV 2.5 features the option to have the playback window float in front of all other windows, always remaining the frontmost window, even in front of other applications. This applies to live television windows as well as recordings. The floating window can be moved and continuously resized, and supports picture-in-picture functionality.

More New Functionality
In addition to the features highlighted above, the update contains many new enhancements. EyeTV 2.5 improves H.264 HDTV playback performance. H.264 HDTV playback remains quite CPU intensive and requires at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. EyeTV 2.5 now supports timeshifting functionality for analog TV tuners without built-in hardware compression, such as EyeTV Hybrid.