Elgato enhances HDTV support for the Macintosh; EyeTV 500 now available for digital antenna and cable.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Elgato today announced the addition of Clear QAM digital cable support to its EyeTV 500 HDTV product. EyeTV 500 is the only fully featured high-definition digital TV recorder for the Mac and supports digital unencrypted cable as well as digital terrestrial reception. EyeTV 500 is easy to install, set up and use, and allows users to watch, record, edit and enjoy interference-free crystal-clear HDTV in remarkable digital picture and sound quality.

"Nothing beats the enjoyment of HDTV on the Mac! Since its introduction we have seen a tremendous interest for HDTV. With the added support of digital cable for free TV reception we have expanded the capabilities significantly," says Freddie Geier, Elgato's CEO. "Elgato provides the broadest range of digital TV recorders for TV standards worldwide."

The digital TV recorder EyeTV 500 allows users to:

--Watch high-definition television live via free-to-air digital HDTV (ATSC) or unencrypted digital cable TV (Clear QAM) on the Mac.

--Record television to the Mac's hard drive, creating an archive of their favorite shows with MPEG-2 encoding and sort by various by date, title size and more options.

--"Shift time" by pausing live television, rewinding or fast forwarding.

--Edit out unwanted content using EyeTV's built-in editor that easily identifies where programs and scenes start and stop

--Export recordings for further editing to applications like iMovie(R), iDVD(R) or DVD Studio Pro(R).

--Program EyeTV 500 through the manual control panel or Electronic Program Guide (EPG) from TitanTV. Users can even program EyeTV remotely via the Internet.

--Archive programs to DVD or Video CD, to create an archived collection that can be played on most standard DVD players.*

Pricing & Availability

EyeTV 500 is available for $349.00 (USD) at Elgato's online store, at the Apple Store and in select retail stores throughout the US. For a list of distributors, please visit www.elgato.com.

During Macworld Expo EyeTV 500 is available for the show special price of $299.00.

System Requirements

Macintosh computer with minimum PowerPC(R) G4 500Mhz or G5 processor and built-in FireWire port. Dual G5 processors and 23' display required for full frame rate HDTV playback at full 1920x1080 resolution. Mac OS X 10.3 or higher and 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended); up to 8 GB of hard disk space per hour of recorded HDTV. An Internet connection is required to use TitanTV, EyeTV's optional Electronic Program Guide. EyeTV 500 further requires an antenna (not included) to receive the ATSC signals; for reception via cable a basic digital cable subscription from your local cable provider is required.

*A CD/DVD recorder and Roxio's Toast 6 Titanium software are required to create DVDs or Video CDs.

About Elgato Systems

Elgato Systems (www.elgato.com) creates award-winning hardware and software products, combining the benefits of the Macintosh computer with popular consumer electronics devices such as the TV to create the ultimate digital home. With their premiere product, EyeTV, Elgato is a worldwide leader in digital video recording for the Macintosh. Founded in 1992 by Dr. Markus Fest, the inventor of Toast CD recording software, and led by CEO Freddie Geier, Elgato is a privately held company with its headquarters in Munich, Germany and a US subsidiary in San Francisco, California.

Elgato's award-winning EyeTV product series includes EyeTV USB, EyeTV 200 (FireWire), EyeTV 300 (DVB-S), EyeTV 310 (DVB-S with CI), EyeTV 400 (DVB-T), EyeTV 410 (DVB-T with CI), EyeTV 500 (ATSC) and EyeTV 610 (DVB-C). Most recently, the editors of Macworld US recognized EyeTV 200 with the Eddy Award for "Best Hardware."

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