Elgato's EyeTV2 is Mac PVR Software. You can watch TV on your Mac, program it to record favorite shows and export them to your iPod with video or burn them as DVD to play back on your wide screen TV. It's like a TiVo for your Mac.

Elgato has done a great job updating the software for EyeTV. The software that was once free with Elgato's EyeTV hardware now costs $49. It is better integrated and easier to use. The first thing you notice is the new look of the on-screen remote control. But there's much more to the beautiful aqua design.

For starters, now there's an integrated Electronic Program Guide (EPG), making it very easy and convenient to look up your programs. To get to the Titan Program Guide you had to open a browser to view the schedule in the old software version. You still cannot set Favorite Shows through the built in EPG. If you want to record the next season of The Shield, you have to manually enter each episode.

You can create Playlists, like albums in iPhoto, to organize your recordings in folders by category. Now recorded programs include show information, which you use to have to fill in yourself. You can automatically add new recordings to the play lists. You can also create favorite channel lists.

There are two new quick export buttons, to "Burn with Toast," (Toast not included) and to send to the new iPod with video. When you export to the iPod, the best settings for the best iPod viewing are automatic or you can choose from an extensive list of presets and file formats. You can also set schedules to automatically export to your iPod. Simply choose to automatically export to iPod and when the recording is complete it will be sent to iTunes and be ready for syncing with the iPod.

In addition, EyeTV2 analyzes the recording and chooses the optimum export format of recordings for further processing in applications such as iMovie HD, iDVD or DVD Studio Pro, burning with Toast and the use of shows on the iPod. When you export to Toast, it opens the application and you can further customize settings for the best DVD quality.

If you want to edit the program and delete the commercials, you have to have a lot of time and a very powerful Mac. For every minute of commercial programming, it takes a minute and forty seconds to 'compact' it or delete it with the EyeTV software. If you don't have the time, then simply fast forward it on your iPod or pay $1.99 at the iTunes Music Store for commercial free episodes.

Additional features include:

• Action button menu for speedier editing
• "Invert Markers" command
• Clips saved as separate files
• Batch export
• Dynamically resizable previews

It is very helpful to go to Elgato System FAQ http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/main/, where you can learn what other programs work well with EyeTV2, which is beyond the scope of this review.

I look forward to updates from Elgato that will improve the EyeTV2 software for the Mac.