In the past, Terratec has sent us some terrific TV tuner products. This has been largely due to the CyberLink PowerCinema software that was provided with them. The Cinergy T USB XE uses Terratec's Home Cinema, so we were interested to see how this would fare in comparison.
It's easy enough to install this small white USB tuner. Despite being slim, the stick is just about big enough to have a full-sized RF input on the end. This means there's no fiddly, easily lost adaptor needed to plug in your aerial lead. A mini aerial is provided, but there's no remote in the tiny box, so you'll have to use the keyboard or mouse to control the tuner.
Like all the USB stick tuners that we've seen recently, you'll need Windows XP. Setting it up was simple, with both the drivers and the application installing quickly and without hassle. The scanning utility automatically and conveniently popped up, but sadly this was when the problems began.
Scanning on the normal setting found only five of the 40-odd available Freeview channels. We tried the fine and finest scanning settings, but we could still get only 30 channels. Once up and running, we found that many channels suffered from stuttering frames and picture break-up.
We have never had these problems with our test aerial before, but we decided to try a different one just in case it was causing problems. Again, we had trouble finding stations and we also had problems with the reception. We can only presume that the tuner in the Cinergy isn't very sensitive.
The new software is functional and it does all the basics, but it cannot match CyberLink's PowerCinema. It consists of one small control window, which is covered in small buttons for many functions that you'll use only infrequently. TV appears in a second separate window, which has no built-in controls of its own. The timeshifting functions work smoothly, however.
The EPG simply displays a list of programs showing on the currently selected channel. It's useful and it does cache the information if you go and look at other channels, but it can't compare to a timeline layout, such as those in PowerCinema and Windows XP Media Center Edition, where you can look at all the channels on one screen and make viewing decisions.
Despite our best efforts, we simply couldn't make this product work satisfactorily, so it receives our lowest mark. If you want an inexpensive digital USB stick then buy Freecom's DVB-T USB Stick. It costs £8 less, has a better EPG and, more importantly, it doesn't suffer any of this product's reception problems.
System Specifications
USB TV TUNER USB interface, RF input, Freeview tuner
Author: Seth Barton
Computer Shopper Online