I am a long time user of Elgato’s EyeTV PVR (personal video recorder) for the Mac. For quite a long time I was using my EyeTV 200 with analog cable TV, allowing me to record, archive to DVD, export to my iPod, and watch my recordings on the TVs in my home. I often used to remote program my EyeTV from the Titian TV website from work to record programs for me at home.

Switching to FiOS TV, which is basically no different from digital cable and satellite TV, leaves you having to deal with a set top box (STB). When I had analog cable TV, I simply used the included analog TV tuner built right into the EyeTV 200 hardware box connected with an RG6 cable. Well this is no longer an option with my new FiOS TV install. Well EyeTV lives again in our home and we are a happy bunch.

Now, why am I so excited you may ask? Why did not just “rent” the FiOS TV Motorola QIP6416 DVR Box from Verizon at $12.95 per month? Or go all out and get the Motorola QIP6416 Media DVR Box for $19.95 per month from Verizon that allows you to watch your recordings in multiple rooms? Surely, these were options and if recording HD content is important, one that many may choose and be quite happy with.

My reasons are that I want the ability to archive some of my recordings onto DVD, export recordings to my iPod and Apple TV, play my recordings on my Macs and PCs and be able to remotely program what I want to record from any web browser. None of these features that are important to me are really available with the FiOS DVRs. TiVo users have similar features, except for the “neutered” TiVos offered by some digital cable and satellite TV providers.

With the FiOS DVRs, I can record to it’s internal hard drive, watch it on the TV that it is connected to. Once the hard drive is full or the STB needs to be replaced, there goes my recordings. Forget the iPod, PSP, Apple TV, and Mac playback. Forget making DVDs and remote programming. Not to mention the continuing rental fee for the DVR. EyeTV has only initial equipment cost with no monthly fees.

With the EyeTV, recordings can be added to my iTunes library automatically, allowing any connected users to view these recordings on their computers using iTunes built-in sharing, or Apple TV. Moving content to your iPod, PSP and burning a DVD is a snap. EyeTV even comes with an editor to manually remove commercials and trim the start and stop times.

To get these recordings to play on the TVs in my house, I was originally using EyeHome (discontinued) boxes connected to two of my TVs. These days I just use an Apple TV connected to my Family Room TV and a Mac mini connected to my bedroom TV using Apple’s included Front Row software and Apple Remote.

The EyeTV 200, EyeTV 250, and EyeTV Hybrid can record the signal from your digital cable or satellite STB easy enough as they come with the ability to record from composite, S-VHS, and RCA audio connections from any STB including FiOS TV. Changing channels on the STB when scheduling recordings is the trick you must overcome. Elgato does not yet include an IR (infra-red) control on any of their products like Sling Media’s Slingbox and some TiVos have. You need to get a third party USB “IR blaster” to accomplish this. Luckily, with Elgato’s new 2.4 software release this just got easier.

IR Blasters
The IR blaster solution consists of a USB IR unit and software that runs on your Mac. There have been two popular IR blasters for the Mac to consider, ZephIR ($49.95) and IRTrans with iRed license ($99). The IR blaster can “learn” any IR remote control code and the software can allow for channel changes at the appropriate times. These codes basically clone your STBs IR remote to change channels.

I ordered the ZephIR ($49.95) from studioZEE. I picked the ZephIR over the IRTrans with iRed license ($99) because it was half the price and the IRTrans with iRed is from a German website that seemed a bit harder to order from. studioZee has just updated their included software to match Elgato’s software update, that some say improves the ZephIR solution.

Set Up
Set up was quick and pretty straight forward. I connected the EyeTV 200 (this would works the same basic way if using the EyeTV 250 or EyeTV Hybrid) to the FiOS TV Motorola STB by connecting an S-video cable and RCA audio cables from the output of the STB to the input of the EyeTV 200. Connected the EyeTV 200 via firewire to my Mac. Installed the EyeTV software (2.4) on my Mac. Then installed the software for the ZephIR that I downloaded from their website. The ZephIR came with a disc, but the website had a newer version of the software (3.1b6). I then connected the ZephIR blaster to my Mac’s USB port, placing it in the range of the FiOS TV STB IR sensor (in front of it).

I picked the Motorola STB from the list in the ZephIR software and named it FiOS TV (the naming is important). Click on the “WebztIR” text, go down list to Motorola. I picked cable -> DCT2244 and this profile worked just fine. Note you can add IR codes, check with the ZephIR documentation.

Then I ran the EyeTV Set-up Assistant. The new software, 2.4 from Elgato includes support for the IR blasters so this makes this easier than in the past. Elgato has instructions for setting this up that I will recreate for you.

Configuring the EyeTV (2.4)
Run the Setup Assistant. This will start automatically after installing the EyeTV software or updating it on your Mac. Or start it yourself from launching it from under the Help menu. Agree to the EULA and pick your country United States (this does not work in all countries as per Elgato). Note you cannot configure a Set Top Box without an active Internet connection.

On the “Connect Antenna or Cable” panel, check the second check box. You will see a panel labeled AV Inputs with a Configure button on it. Press “Configure”.

Under “Service” choose “Configure Set Top Box.”

Now name the set top box, FiOS TV in this case, I told you this name was important.

Select which device input you use (S-Video or Composite). I used S-Video as this offers better quality.

Select your Zip Code. Choose a Service. The list of available services at your location is looked up at TitanTV.com every time you open this dialog, because it may change at any time.

Here is where I ran into a wall. There was no Verizon FiOS listed at TitianTV for my area code. I sent two emails to TitianTV to ask them to add a guide for my area code with Verizon FiOS as a provider. My guess is they will eventually add FiOS TV. So what I did was add the area code for Keller, Texas (the first community that had FiOS). The guide is close enough to use for now. I will of course switch to the correct one when it becomes available.

When you click OK, EyeTV will download all the channels available from the chosen service. It will then begin to download the program guide for those channels. This may take a long time (8 days of program guide for hundreds of channels are about 30MB), so don’t expect the Program Guide to be updated immediately.

Confirm that the downloaded channel list matches the channel list on your set top box. You may want to deselect all channel numbers that you do not subscribe to. Picking Favorites is also a nice idea.

I tested the EyeTV’s capability to change channels using the on screen remote control by double clicking on a channel in the channels list. This causes EyeTV to send a channel change notification using the ZephIR blaster. The IR blaster will send the channel number requested by EyeTV to your STB. Worked right away for me. The ZephIR software needs to be running at all times and remember to leave your STB powered on.

Burning EyeTV recordings to DVD uses Roxio Toast.

The EyeTV software integrates nicely with iTunes and Front Row on my connected Mac. Once the recordings are made, exporting them to Toast, Apple TV, iPod, or PSP is as easy as pressing the right button.

Configuring your EyeTV to put your recordings on an external hard drive is easily done. Just go to EyeTV -> Preferences to set this up. I am using an Intel Mac mini with a OWC 500 GB miniStack V2. EyeTV works with PPC or Intel Macs. Using multiple external hard drives can be done using iEye Captain for EyeTV ($15 US) shareware which also adds other features to EyeTV. I have not tried this yet.

So far, the recording I have scheduled have looked fine. Allowing me to use the recordings the way I want without the limitations of the Verizon DVRs. Glad I got back all my EyeTV features. I will take this setup over the FiOS DVRs or the “neutered” TiVos anytime.

Now that Sling Media Slingbox supports Apple TV, streaming this recorded content anywhere is now an easy reality. I just ordered an HD Connect for my Slingbox Pro and I can’t wait to try this.

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