IceTV electronic programme guide now on Macs

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 17 October 2006 06:04

Your IT - Home IT

What is claimed to be Australia's only commercial electronic program guide (EPG) service, IceTV is now available for Mac users as part of EyeTV.

Elgato Systems and IceTV have announced that part of the next release of EyeTV (version 2.3.2 Update) - which together with compatible hardware enables a Mac to operate both as a TV and as a digital video recorder (DVR) - will include complete integration of the IceTV EPG service for EyeTV users in Australia.

"An integrated EPG solution has been the one element holding back the EyeTV and Mac solution in Australia from rivalling PC's running Microsoft's XP Media Centre Edition 2005 as it does in other countries around the world" said IceTV's business development & marketing manager, Matt Kossatz.

Previously, EyeTV users in Australia have not had access to complete EPG listings for free-to-air television as they do in other countries such as in Europe through www.tvtv.com and in the US with www.titantv.co.

IceTV claims to provide a work around in the form of the IceTV widget, which allowed EyeTV users to schedule their TV recordings easily by selecting their favourite show and clicking 'add to EyeTV' to schedule a TV recording.

Now, according to IceTV "You can browse the IceTV EPG while watching live TV on your Mac, or view the synopsis details of your favourite shows up to one week in advance and schedule them to record automatically. With IceTV, you can schedule recordings directly through the EyeTV interface with 'one click'… no need to set the time, date, channel or duration."

IceTV also offers the unfortunately named PIMP (Personal Interactive Media Planner).   PIMP allows you to easily schedule TV recordings using any internet-enabled mobile phone or web browser but is only available for Media Centre customers in beta testing. IceTV says this service is "intended to be part of the EyeTV integration."