Elgato TV Tuners and the Transition to Digital Televison

On June 12, 2009 the United States shut down all traditional analog television broadcasts. In its place, local television will be broadcast over-the-air in a digital format. After this date, you will require a digital (ATSC) television tuner and antenna in order to receive these television broadcasts.

All EyeTV products sold in North America for the past two years are ready for the transition; they can all receive ATSC digital broadcasts with an antenna. Check your product below.

Confused? Still not sure how this affects you and what choices you have?  Learn more...

The Upgrade Choice: Just TV, or EyeTV?

Are you thinking of buying a new HDTV for the Digital Transition? Then don't settle for a plain old TV. Choose EyeTV! Turn your Mac into a television and enjoy all the advantages of digital TV (high quality, more channels, better sound) plus...

* DVR (digital video recorder) functionality
Pause and rewind live TV. Set up Smart Schedules to record your favorite shows automatically.
  
* Comprehensive Program Guide
EyeTV goes way beyond the basic program information that you get with digital TV. EyeTV offers detailed descriptions of upcoming programs, including actors, genres, release dates and much more. EyeTV makes it easy to find shows you'll like, and even easier to automatically record them.
  
* Editing capabilities
Easily edit your recordings to remove unwanted material, or create clips of your favorite TV moments.
  
* Export to any format
Export and share your recordings with other Macs, iPods, iPhones or Apple TVs. You can even watch your recordings on a standard web browser.
  
* Capture from old videotapes
With this transition to digital, why not go all the way? Use EyeTV to transfer your old analog video tapes into a digital format. EyeTV Hybrid and 250 Plus feature video inputs so you can hook up your VCR and capture those precious old tapes. Once the video is in EyeTV you can burn it to DVD for safe keeping.  



For Mac users, Elgato's EyeTV tuners offer an inexpensive yet extraordinarily full-featured solution for digital television.
Read about the other options available to you...

The following Elgato TV tuners are NOT affected by the transition:

  • EyeTV Hybrid (2009 Edition)
  • EyeTV Hybrid (2008 Edition)
  • EyeTV Hybrid (2007 Edition)
  • EyeTV 250 Plus (2008 Edition)
  • EyeTV 250 Plus (2007 Edition)
  • EyeTV 500
  • HD HomeRun


All of these Elgato TV tuners receive free over-the-air digital television with an antenna.

What's more, EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 250 Plus have analog inputs and come with break-out cables for composite video and S-Video. You can continue to use them to connect a set-top box to your Mac for encrypted digital cable and satellite services after the transition.

The 2008 Editions of EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 250 Plus are also capable of receiving Clear QAM unencrypted digital cable.

The following Elgato TV tuners ARE affected by the transition:

  • EyeTV 250
  • EyeTV EZ
  • EyeTV 200
  • EyeTV Wonder
  • EyeTV USB


These Elgato products are older models and receive analog television only. In order to use them to receive over-the-air TV broadcasts with an antenna after 2/17/09, you will require a converter device with a digital tuner. Since the EyeTV products come with analog inputs, you can continue to use them to connect a converter device to your Mac after the transition.

For more information about converter devices with digital tuners, go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/.

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