Today I’ll be watching the Lakers-Celtics game with my new Elgato EyeTV HD DVR for HD cable and satellite TV. I’ve had an EyeTV 200 connected to my Mac Pro desktop computer for years; it does a decent job with standard cable television (although the Firewire 400 connection gets a bit flaky at times). The EyeTV HD is a significant improvement over El Gato’s previous models, and their first device that lets you view and record HD signals from set-top boxes.

The biggest new feature, of course, is that you can connect the EyeTV HD to any standard cable or satellite HD-capable set-top box, and with the help of the included EyeTV DVR software, do everything a TiVo does and much more. Video is recorded in H.264 format, and can be exported in various formats, including for iPod and iPhone. (And the videos look fantastic on an iPhone display.)

The EyeTV HD hardware is contained in a 125mm square silver box. The back panel has inputs for component video (RGB cables), S-video, and L/R audio, and a USB port for connecting to the Mac. All power is supplied by the USB cable, so you’ll need to plug it into a powered port; I plugged it into a free port on the back of my Mac Pro.

There’s also a plug for the IR Blaster, a great new addition to the EyeTV devices. The IR Blaster is a cable with a small infrared LED on one end, that sends the necessary signals to change channels on your set-top box. The cable has adhesive pads so you can stick it to whatever surface is most convenient; it has to be within line of sight to the box’s IR sensor, of course.

Instead of using the adhesive pads, however, I simply laid the cable across my set-top box with the IR light hanging over the end, less than an inch from the box’s IR sensor. It looks something like this (in fact, it looks exactly like this):

Positioned this way, the IR Blaster works flawlessly to change channels; I set the speed one tick below the fastest setting and it never misses changing to the correct channel.

If you’re a new EyeTV user, installing the EyeTV recording software will get everything set up correctly. If you already have the EyeTV software installed, you’ll need to run the EyeTV Setup Assistant to properly configure your IR Blaster to match your set-top box.

But to the real nitty-gritty: the quality of the HD signal is really excellent. On a Mac 30” monitor it’s a wondrous thing to behold. Recording works flawlessly as well. If you have a cable or satellite system that offers HD video, and a Mac computer, this is an accessory you should own. High Definition video will spoil you very rapidly; after you spend a while watching HD, standard video looks awfully grainy. And Apple monitors are terrific at displaying HD content.

The EyeTV software, after years of development, is also excellent; in the past I had problems with crashing and other issues, but the latest versions have been rock solid. Scheduling recordings is a one-click process, thanks to a very nice interface that connects to either a free guide service, or to the official TV Guide service which costs money but offers expanded listings and better information and reviews.

My one kvetch is that the EyeTV HD has no optical audio I/O, which means you’re limited to L/R stereo sound. This is a relatively minor complaint, though, for a ground-breaking piece of Mac hardware.

Rating: four stars out of five. (I’d give it five stars if it had optical audio.)