Product Reviews

Just after last month's TV tuner Labs, we received two new devices. Both are tiny - just larger than a USB memory drive - and plug neatly into any USB2 port. These devices are ideal for use with notebooks, either at home or on the road. The Freecom DVB-T USB stick is small and black. Terratec's Cinergy hybrid T USB XS is bigger, with an orange and white colour scheme. Both devices receive digital TV signals. The Terratec also receives analogue TV and has S-video and composite inputs for capturing video from older sources, such as video recorders.

Both devices installed without hassle. Once the drivers and software were installed, the Freecom's channel scan software popped up automatically. The scan was quick and found all the Freeview channels. The Terratec device uses CyberLink's excellent PowerCinema 4 software, with a simple setup wizard. Analogue and digital setups went smoothly

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and all the usual channels were found.

The Freecom's interface is fiddly, with tiny buttons that are a pain to click. A mini remote control is supplied, which provides basic channel and volume commands. By comparison, the Terratec is a joy to use. Full-screen and windowed interfaces are well laid out and intuitive. The remote control is a full-size device with various short cut buttons that control PowerCinema's media playback capabilities. For EPG and recording functions, the Terratec comes out on top. The PowerCinema EPG looks similar to the excellent Sky+ system, while Freecom's looks cobbled together. It appears in a pop-up screen you can't resize, and you can't view multiple channel listings at once. Both devices feature easy recording options from the EPG, but finding the programme you want is easier on the Terratec model.

For picture and recording quality, there's little to choose between them. Testing on a widescreen media notebook, both gave excellent playback quality free from artefacts and noise. Recordings from both were excellent, and the digital TV MPEG2 streams showed no signs of degradation. The Terratec's analogue performance was solid, with little ghosting and noise from our weak aerial.

Terratec's device has better software and hybrid capabilities, but Freecom's USB stick costs £80 less, and for basic TV viewing and recording it's more than capable. It's better for those who want to watch the odd programme on their notebooks.