Miglia is shipping the EvolutionTV which sells for $240. This USB 2.0 external digital video recorder features a 125 channel TV tuner and supports MPEG-2/4 and DivX hardware compression. The EvolutionTV allows you to watch and record TV shows on your computer. You can watch live TV, pause, rewind or skip forward. An infrared remote is provided with the unit for controlling TV from a distance. On screen and keyboard controls are also available. EvolutionTV also provides S-Video, composite video and stereo audio inputs which allow users to convert analog VHS tapes to digital recordings on your computer.

System Requirements
Macintosh with USB 2.0 connectivity
G4/1 GHz or higher processor
256MB of RAM
Mac OS X 10.3.x or higher. Mac OS X 10.4.x recommended
QuickTime 7.0.x or higher

Setup
The EvolutionTV is easy to setup. Simply connect the DC 9V,1.7A power supply provided with the EvolutionTV to the power socket on the back of the unit. Now attach your cable TV connection or antenna to the back of the EvolutionTV using the RG-6 cable adapter. As an option, you can also connect an analog video source to the video and stereo connectors on the back. Next, plug the USB 2.0 cable into the EvolutionTV and the other end into the Macintosh computer. Once you reach this point, you are ready to install the EvolutionTV software from the CD. After the installation is complete simply launch the EvolutionTV application and setup your TV tuner.

The Miglia EvolutionTV software version 2.5.2 was installed during this review. When you first launch the software it allows you to select either an antenna or cable as your input source for TV viewing and recording. This example uses the cable selection. The following images display how the tuner setup process works:



The next item that will be selected is the TV tuner which will allow EvolutionTV to select the proper cable TV channel. You can select composite or S-video if you are using EvolutionTV to digitally record a VHS tape or another source to your hard disk. You can also use the composite or S-video connections if you are connecting a cable box or a satellite receiver to EvolutionTV.



Next, the zip code is entered. EvolutionTV uses TV Guide Online to determine what service providers are available in your area. You simply select your cable company, click the next button and start a channel scan.



EvolutionTV adds all of the channels to its directory once you click on "Get All Channels". Using TV Guide Online EvolutionTV is able to assign each channel with the proper number and name.



Once all of the frequencies are scanned EvolutionTV will display your settings and the number of stations available as shown below.

The use of

built-in hardware encoder allows it to encode video at resolutions as large as 720x480 with file sizes of up to 2.7GB per hour. According to Miglia the EvolutionTV can capture video at the following sizes:

. CPU usage can vary as the EvolutionTV utilizes both an EvolutionTV application and an EvoTVServer to provide DVR TV viewing options. The smaller resolutions utilized slightly less CPU time but not by a significant amount.

The TV picture quality produced by the EvolutionTV is very smooth and clear. As a test, two live simultaneous TV windows were opened on a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz to compare the quality of the EvolutionTV against the EyeTV 200. Each TV window was displayed in the normal 1:1 window size with the same live broadcast. Both units were set with factory default settings for color and brightness. The TV image quality seemed slightly better on the EyeTV 200 which had well defined faces and good skin tones. The EyeTV 200 also had a little smoother image. The EvolutionTV image was not far behind and in most situations the two TV images were very close. The EvolutionTV is about half a second closer to real time broadcasting than the EyeTV 200. As such, viewing both TV windows at the same time displays the EvolutionTV picture changing just an instant before the EyeTV 200 display. As picture quality can be subjective, a screen capture of the two TV images is shown below. Clicking on the image will display the EvolutionTV and the EyeTV 200 TV screens at full size for your comparison.

setup a recording manually or to use the TitanTV web site TV listings. To setup a manual recording, click on the File menu and select "New Recording". This will display the following dialog box.



Fill in the time, channel, and check the day if the recording is a repeatable event. Next, name the recording and push the add button. Your recording is scheduled and will start at your designated time. You can see your scheduled recording by clicking on the Window menu and opening "Scheduled Recordings".



Using the TitanTV web site for setting up a recording is probably the easiest way to add new recordings to your EvolutionTV software. Once you have registered with this free service you will see a window similar to the one below.



To use TitanTV simply type the name of the show you want to record into the search field and push the "Go" button. TitanTV will complete the search and display the available recordings within your requested parameters.



If you find a show that you want to record, click on the red record button on the left side and that program will be placed in your list of scheduled recordings.

Encoding Methods
EvolutionTV hardware has the capability to capture video using several different methods. Version 2.52 of the EvolutionTV software provides a preset setting for six different encoding options. The DVD-compliant MPEG-2 setting requires 1.8 GB per hour and has a 720x480 resolution. It provides very good quality with minimal CPU usage.



EvolutionTV also offers DivX Home Theatre and Portable encoding. The DivX Portable codec produces 352x240 resolution files that utilize 384 MB per hour. While these files look good on a small portable video device, the DivX Home Theatre codec looks much better on a computer screen. The Home Theatre codec uses 913 MB per hour and has a resolution of 720x480. Another option is the MPEG-4 codec which uses 940 MB per hour and has a resolution of 720x480. The last option in the menu is MPEG-4 VGA resolution for use with iMovie HD. Using this codec allows you to import your video source into an iMovie HD project for editing and/or creating a DVD with it.

After testing the different EvolutionTV preset compression settings, my favorite for TV recordings is the DVD-compliant MPEG-2 setting. Video recorded with this setting looks wonderful when being played back on the Macintosh using VLC, with the EyeHome unit on a television or with the Philips DVP642/37 DVD Player. While EvolutionTV can record using MPEG-4 and DivX compression, in my opinion, the results do not look quite as good on as wide a variety of playback devices. The downside to the DVD-compliant MPEG-2 setting is that it requires 1.8 GB of hard drive space per hour. However, you can easily copy your recordings to DVD if you want to keep them or just delete them after watching them. If you need smaller video file sizes, I would consider using the DivX Home Theatre setting which uses 913 MB per hour. However, once you have experienced the quality of an EvolutionTV DVD-compliant MPEG-2 recording you may find it difficult to settle for DivX.

One advantage that MPEG-4 and DivX encoded recordings have is that QuickTime 7 is able to play them on the Macintosh. MPEG-2 recordings require VLC for playback. However, I use VLC for all of my movies as it plays all of the formats that the EvolutionTV can produce. All formats produced using the EvolutionTV can also be utilized with the EyeHome unit. I find watching movies with EyeHome on the TV much more enjoyable than on a computer screen.

EyeHome
If you purchase an EvolutionTV, I would recommend that you also consider an EyeHome unit too. EyeHome allows you to play EvolutionTV recordings on the TV using an ethernet network cable. While EvolutionTV makes great recordings, the first thing you are going to want to do is play them on your TV. You can export EvolutionTV recordings to DVD and play them on the TV with a DVD player but that takes time and CPU power. With the EvolutionTV you can create a recording and then use EyeHome in the TV room to watch your recording over ethernet on the TV. This works even if the computer with the movie on it is in another room. EyeHome turns EvolutionTV into a TiVo with the extra ability to burn DVDs, and use video recordings with other multimedia Macintosh programs. In my opinion, using EvolutionTV with Eyehome provides a great TV viewing experience.

provides no internal editing capability. However, Miglia does have an "Editing Plug-in" in beta testing. For those that like to remove commercials from TV recordings before watching them, you will need to plan ahead. There are several ways you can edit video recorded by EvolutionTV. Here is a list of the methods I have tried.

1. Purchase an EyeTV license for the EvolutionTV for $79. Elgato sells a license that allows you to use EyeTV software with the Miglia EvolutionTV, Plextor ConvertX or the TerraTec Cinergy. The EyeTV software provides easy internal editing that allows you to eliminate commercials in a matter of minutes. You simply select the areas of video that you want to delete in the edit menu and push the compact button. After a minute of processing the commercials are gone. You can see more on the EyeTV edit functions in the AMUG EyeTV 200 review. The EyeTV Software for EvolutionTV also provides additional preset encoding options. You can view them in the image on the right. Instead of having six encoding options, EyeTV software provides sixteen preset encoding settings plus the ability to customize your encoding setup. When you consider the internal editing, advanced encoding options and the lower CPU requirements of the EyeTV software built for the EvolutionTV, it is worth the $79 for the upgrade.

2. Encode your Movie as MPEG-4 VGA resolution (For iMovie HD) using EvolutionTV software and import the recording into iMovie HD for editing. Expect to wait 80 minutes on a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz to import a two hour video into iMovie if it is setup for DV source. If you create a new project and set the source to MPEG-4, importing will be reduced to about three minutes. You will then edit the movie and create a DVD or export it using the Share function under the File menu. Unless you are making a DVD and are willing to spend some time editing it, this option may take longer than most people are willing to spend just to cut commercials.

3. Purchase QuickTime Pro for $29 and use it to cut the commercials from your movie. The cuts will not be as easy or as clean as when done with the EyeTV software, but it will work. In addition, saving the movie back to disk can take a few minutes. Exporting it to a new format can take an hour or more.

4. Don't edit out the commercials. Just fast forward through unwanted footage using the remote control.

5. Try the Miglia "Editing Plug-in" in beta test. You can download it and install it in the EvolutionTV application. This new beta plug-in is really beta and you may have problems with it. If you want to install the plug-in, use the 'Get Info' command on the EvolutionTV application and expand the Plug-ins section. Next, click on Add and select the downloaded Editing.plugin. Once you record a TV show you can select it in the "Scheduled Recordings" menu and push the "Post-process movie" button. Selecting "Edit movie" in the Action menu will display your recording. Using the "Editing Plug-in" you can select the portion of the video you want to cut with the selection tools in the timeline. Pressing the scissor icon cuts the selected yellow selection. You can view the new section using the play button. If it is not the way you want it you can choose "Undo Delete" under the edit menu. Once your cuts are completed you can save the changes which should remove the unwanted video. However, I was unable to get it to save an edit without crashing EvolutionTV and requiring a force quit. However, once this is out of beta it may be a nice editing option.



Discussion

EvolutionTV provides a built in DivX hardware encoder that is not available with the EyeTV 200. In addition, EvolutionTV provides cool operation, a nice design and produces high quality recordings in MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX. The EvolutionTV setup interface with TV guide provides automatic channel names which is a nice feature that the EyeTV software does not provide. The EyeTV 200 uses FireWire for its power which is nicer than an external DC power supply required by the EvolutionTV. The EyeTV 200 also provides excellent TV viewing and recording capability in MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, while utilizing a little less CPU time than the EvolutionTV. However, the main advantage of the EyeTV 200 is the ability to easily edit out commercials using the EyeTV software. As Elgato sells EyeTV software for the EvolutionTV the editing limitations can be corrected. In addition, once the Miglia editing plug-in is completed and part of the EvolutionTV application this will provide editing capabilities too.

The EyeTV 200 is the best digital video recorder I have tested for the Macintosh. The EvolutionTV with EyeTV software provides very close performance with the added benefit of hardware DivX compression. If a user is willing to sacrifice a little bit of quality for smaller file sizes, I would recommend using the EvolutionTV with DivX Home Theatre encoding set to medium or high while using EyeTV software. The EvolutionTV with EyeTV software is an awesome combination. Without EyeTV software EvolutionTV lacks internal editing features, but it is still very usable.

What About HDTV?
You can use EvolutionTV with digital TV broadcasts by connecting it to a digital receiver box with the composite or S-video connection. However, you will need to change the channel manually on the cable box for recordings. This makes automatic scheduled recording very difficult, especially if you are not the only one in the house. If there is a Mac digital video recorder in the future that offers both analog cable and HDTV connections without having to manually switch between sources in the software application, I would be interested. The other issue with computer recorded HDTV content is that file sizes can be as large as 8 GB per hour and require a PowerMac G5 Dual just for playback. In addition, EyeHome does not work with HDTV content. Currently, Macintosh HDTV recording has too many limitations for me to consider it as a viable alternative. However, some users will disagree and purchase either the EyeTV 500 or the Miglia TVMini HD for viewing and recording HDTV programming on a Macintosh computer.

No internal EvolutionTV software editing capability yet.
Higher CPU usage than EyeTV 200.
May be more expensive than EyeTV 200 when bundled with EyeTV software.

EvolutionTV gets 4 AMUGs out of 5!
The Miglia EvolutionTV is $240 at Amazon and the EyeTV software option for EvolutionTV is $79. I wish that the EyeTV software was bundled with EvolutionTV but it looks like EvolutionTV software may provide a built in function to cut commercials once the beta is finished. I find that the EvolutionTV is a very good hardware encoder and that the DivX capability can provide nice looking video with smaller file sizes. The EyeTV 200 is available on Amazon usually between $280 and $310. In addition, AMUG members can get the EyeTV 200 for as little as $229 after a $30 mail in rebate, by visiting the AMUG Members Only area. Based on my testing of the EvolutionTV, I would be happy with an EyeTV 200 or an EvolutionTV with EyeTV software. The price would be the determining factor in my purchase decision as the hardware provided by both of these units is excellent.

Contact Information:
Miglia Technology Ltd.
Unit 1, The Old Silk Mill,
Brook Street,
Tring, HFD HP23 5EF
United Kingdom
Phone: +44.870.747.2988
Fax: +44.870.747.2989
http://www.miglia.com/

Copyright 2005
Arizona Macintosh Users Group, Inc. (AMUG)
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