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How do You Import Video Signals into Your Computer?

9 Responses (Add) | Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 7:51pm


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How am I supposed to get VHS and DVD video into my computer? No matter how I tried to put one of those into the MacBook, it just wouldn’t go. Wirelesspacket even told me on Vent that I better be careful. Geesh. Who knew it would be so hard to do? Thankfully, I have the EyeTV 250 Plus to save me.

EyeTV 250 Plus is a hybrid TV Tuner for the Mac with a powerful hardware encoder for higher quality recordings and smaller sized video files. EyeTV 250 Plus receives both free over-the-air HDTV as well as analog TV, and offers a complete solution for moving your video collection from VHS tape to DVD-Video. EyeTV 250 Plus is future-proof for the upcoming digital TV switch-over in 2009, and is ideal for those who want the flexibility of a digital and analog TV tuner together with a hardware encoder in one device. EyeTV 250 Plus delivers free over-the-air digital TV to your Mac in stunning 720p or 1080i HDTV (MPEG-2) and other digital television standards, as well as conventional analog TV via standard cable or antenna. EyeTV 250 Plus also comes with a break-out cable for composite video and S-Video, enabling you to connect a set-top box directly to your Mac. EyeTV 250 Plus’ powerful hardware encoder also records high quality video from analog sources, compressing audio and video signals to small size MPEG-2 files and freeing up your processor for other activities. MPEG-2 is a premium-quality video compression standard which is the basis for DVD and digital television. Use EyeTV 250 Plus to capture video and convert VHS tapes into high-quality digital files. EyeTV 250 Plus’ easy-to-use VHS Assistant will walk you through each step, from connecting your VCR or camcorder right through to burning a DVD or sending the recording to iTunes. Export clips and entire episodes to your video-capable iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone Store your collection on an external drive, or burn it to disc using Roxio Toast 8 Basic (included) Convert old videotapes to digital files using the VHS Assistant.

I needed to pick this up for my recent Gnomedex 8.0 conference. The reason I needed it was to be able to take the video feed from the cameras into the MacBook. There aren’t many video inputs on a Mac, unless you have some kind of conversion card. So I grabbed this EyeTV, which includes a cable to connect it to the MacBook. It also has a hardware encoder built into the machine, so it was as good a quality as it could be. There isn’t an easier way to get video signal into my Mac. The even better thing is that it will export video signal to an iPod or iPhone.

I also reviewed the Elgato Turbo.264 last year. Basically, this is what sits inside the EyeTV. All around, it’s a great way to do what I need as far as transferring video signals. It works well, and the only drawback is the unit needing AC power. I wish it was USB powered.

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9 Comments

DogReader

September 8th, 2008
at 3:18am

Chris Pirillo Should Search Engines be Community Driven?How do You Import Video Signals into Your Computer?GoDaddy Coupons How Do You Find Files From Across the Network? Have You Ever Been on the Cover of a Magazine?

Geeks!

September 7th, 2008
at 8:09pm

[...] How do You Import Video Signals into Your Computer? [...]

Jake Kramer

September 7th, 2008
at 8:16pm

On my windows pc I have a box like that it’s called a dvd express from ads

woolf2k

September 8th, 2008
at 7:04am

ATI used have a video digitizer/video card called ALL-IN-WONDER … I think that was it’s name…
it was the BEST digitizer ever… AND it had fast play back cause it was all in hardware… and the video overlay was flawless… not sure if they make those anymore though :/

only issue was digitizing copyrighted video tapes… but then I’m sure all the legit vidgitizers had the same issue.

Daan Berg

September 8th, 2008
at 11:52am

Hi Chris,

I have a Dazzle DVD Recorder from Pinaccle Systems. I like it because it doesn’t requires an AC/DC adapter (it uses USB power), it’s fast and nothing is stored on the hard disk unless you want it; there’s an option for DIRECT burning to a DVD. It works great with all my machines, and I have 6 here, so that’s… OK.

Maybe you could do a review about that little thing. It would be great; alot of people are interested in this device but don’t know how it works, how it looks or what you think about it. So go on, try that thing out! You’ll love it.

PS: I thought it was also working with the Mac, but I’m not completely sure of that, but since you’re also running VMware Fusion, that doesn’t matters really much, right…?

Media coverage

October 27th, 2008
at 3:55pm

[...] knew it would be so hard to do? Thankfully, I have the EyeTV 250 Plus to save me." Read Article     August, 2008 PC Magazine, US HD HomeRun Product Review, HD [...]

wmmguru

October 31st, 2008
at 8:50am

gonna get one today for my MacBook.

Jake

November 6th, 2008
at 7:24am

And for my mac i have a Pincal Box that i orderd on the net for like 40 $ and i have not got it yet i may go to a store and buy one lol

Murphy Mac

November 9th, 2008
at 8:05pm

Interested in the elgato products, especially the 250 Plus. But what is involved in converting for Apple TV and iPod? I have to go through a long conversion, on my computer?

I’d be a lot more interested if it did h.264 in the box and left my computer out of it.

And if it could capture in iPod or Apple TV format up front.

What Do You Think?