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Adding television capabilities to your computer system is a relatively straightforward process. You simple install the appropriate driver and the application software before attaching a television receiver device to a spare USB port. That’s the theory but sometimes the practice throws up an occasional spanner as I discovered with the Cinergy T² product from Terratec.

The Cinergy T² provides access to all free terrestrial TV channels from your computer using either Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Opening the box reveals a receiver unit; USB cable; portable antenna; remote control; and two CDs. Unfortunately Terratec has declined to include any printed set-up documentation in the package. There is a User Guide but this is in PDF format on one of the CDs which is hardly re-assuring for the novice user.

One word that could be applied to most of the components of Cinergy T² is “small”. While this is great for the receiver unit and antenna, it can cause problems when using the USB cable as I shall explain a little later. The box-shaped receiver unit measures a very compact 74.5 x 50 x 23mm (D x W x H). One end holds sockets for the USB and aerial connections while the other has an infrared window and power light. The power is supplied via the USB lead. The 12cm antenna, with magnetic foot, has a 113cm lead. This should be adequate for most eventualities.

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Problems, however, could arise with the supplied USB 2.0 compatible lead. This measures just 54cm which does make positioning of the receiver rather tricky especially when you are advised to place the unit away from electronic equipment such as the computer. When I attached a USB extension lead to give greater flexibility, the receiver was unable to pick up any signals. I was reduced to placing the receiver next to my tower system – hardly an ideal solution but there was little alternative.

Scanning the airwaves was fairly simple but not altogether successful. Numerous television and radio channels were identified but these did not include any of the ITV offerings or Channel 4. Switching to a roof mounted aerial made no difference. Those channels detected were automatically divided into television and radio categories. In each case the channels had to be transferred to a Favourites list before they could be accessed. You also need to restart the software in order for the channels to be recognised.

The Cinergy software provides a control panel and viewing window with four different methods for selecting options. You can use the various buttons on the control panel; right click on the viewing window; use the infrared facility on the remote control; or via predefined keyboard shortcuts. Fortunately there is a full list of the available options listed in the PDF User Guide because the software does not have a Help feature.

You can view images within a resizable window or in full screen mode and adjust the volume level. Channels can be selected direct from your favourites list or cycled through in either direction. Timed recording features using the supplied EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and an ability to time shift programs, when nature or the telephone makes its presence felt, add to the functionality of the Cinergy product. You also get a copy of PowerDVD for playing back any recordings you make.

While the Cinergy list of features is impressive, its performance did not always prove satisfactory. Add to the various ITV channels it failed to recognise, Cinergy’s handling of Channel 5 was especially poor. Often the screen image and sound became jerky completely ruining any watching pleasure. Other channels were not affected with this complaint but did suffer with an unwanted switch to CBeebies when changing from window to full screen mode. Even though this switch did not happen every time, it was extremely annoying.

For those who want to keep up-to-date with the latest news, there is a teletext option. Unfortunately I was unable to get it to work. The picture would disappear but there was no text to replace it. This was yet another disappointment.

Cinergy T² does have some promise but unfortunately its faults count against it. The quality of reception was generally good when it worked but erratic in stability. This is not a product I can recommend although I can see it does have possibilities if the problems I encountered can be ironed out.  The product is priced at £89.99.

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