EyeTV App Goes Universal : Watch TV on your iPad

June 20, 2010 in General by Angelina Roberts

We are big fans of the Elgato EyeTV devices for Mac, they are not only an essential partner for any Mac Mini Media Centre but they can also supply TV directly to your mobile devices via the EyeTV App.

Last year we reviewed (and demoed) the EyeTV App for iPhone (read the review here) and now the application comes to the large screen of the iPad.

The good news is this is an update to the original iPhone application and thus won’t cost you a penny (if you have previously purchased the app). Using EyeTV on the iPad feels much more natural and better suited to the larger screen than on the iPhone version. I know plenty of people who watch movies and TV on their phones but it never really felt natural in my opinion.

Watch Live TV

If you are new to the EyeTV mobile application you firstly need to set up your desktop EyeTV 3 software for remote access. We have covered how to do this in detail in this post.

Load up EyeTV on your iPad and the software should find the Mac on which EyeTV is installed. You are not presented with a range of options from watching Live TV, through to controlling the recording schedule.

Click on the live TV to view the full EPG (Electronic Programme Guide). Clicking on a programme displays the option to either view or record the broadcast.

When viewing live TV the app buffers around 30 seconds of footage to ensure a smooth viewing experience. I have been watching a few programmes on the iPad and haven’t come across any viewing issues over wifi.

In actual fact the single negative I have found is not with EyeTV but with the fact my iPad dock is portrait. A landscape dock would be perfect with EyeTV.

Watching Recorded TV

When EyeTV (desktop) has finished recording a programme it automatically converts the recording into a format accessible by the iPhone and iPad. Viewing recorded programmes is particularly useful and EyeTV makes the process very simple.

A single click on a programme and it is displayed full screen on the iPad. You can quickly scan through a programme using the on screen scrubber with no buffering and reloading.

If you own an iPad and an Elgato device then the EyeTV app is definitely worth the £2.99. Programmes look stunning on the device and we were able to watch TV on the computer at the same time as a different family member watched a programme via the iPad.

Download the Application Here (iTunes Link).