BIOS: Technology Means Business

Digital TV is great - it’s also the future so you’d better prepared to make the jump if you haven’t already! Digital technology provides a more efficient way to deliver television than with analogue transmissions. It enables the same services to be delivered in less space with greater clarity, with sound and pictures converted into a digital format and compressed, using as few bits as possible to convey the information on a digital signal.

This technique enables several television channels to be carried in the space used by the current analogue signals to carry one channel. Digital signals can be received by standard aerials, satellite dishes or via cable but have to be decoded and turned back into sound and pictures by using a separate set-top box, or a decoder built into your television or PC (an integrated digital TV set/iDTV).

The downside is that the majority of PC-based PVR (personal video recorder) systems - even those running Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition - feature only a single tuner, so you can only watch the same channel as you’re recording. With Terratec’s Cinergy 2400i DT it is now possible to view one digital channel while recording another at the same time.

Thanks to a partnership with Micronas, the two companies have joined forces to launch the first PCI Express card for dual DVB-T reception - the Cinergy 2400i DT. Two DVB-T digital tuners on one single card is quite possibly the ultimate in TV Freeview viewing on your Windows XP computer.

PCI Express is an unusual choice for PC TV products, especially as most users only have only PCI Express slot (x1, x4 or x16) in their machine - and that’s normally occupied by a graphics card. If you do have a spare PCI Express slot, say you’ve not upgraded to SLI, for example, TerraTec’s Cinergy 2400i DT receives digital terrestrial television using a conventional aerial and because both tuners internally share the signal, only one single aerial is needed.

So combined with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, you can benefit from the many advantages of this exciting new TV technology - Terratec even supplies a USB infrared receiver and remote control.

There are actually two versions of the Cinergy 2400i DT. The Cinergy 2400i DT reviewed here (£89.99) is built around a stylish white PCB (great for those with translucent cases) and includes CyberLink’s excellent PowerCinema 4.5 (TV, Radio, Video and Movie) and allows you to watch a movie in full-screen mode while simultaneously having another program appear in a smaller window. This also allows access to Teletext.

The Cinergy 2400iDT MCE Edition (£74.99), however, ships with CyberLink’s Power DVD 6.0 but does not include Picture-in-Picture, Teletext or a remote control. This solution is pitched at those who want to upgrade their current MCE set up.
Whichever version you opt for, if you are interrupted for any reason during a program you can use the time-shifting function to restart it later exactly where you left off, without missing a single scene.

If you want a quick overview of all programs currently in progress, simply go to the multi-channel preview. But with the Cinergy 2400i DT, all of the functions of CyberLink’s PowerCinema 4.5 (which plays DVDs, pictures and music as well as TV) can be controlled remotely using the easy-to-understand selection menus.

You can also use the Cinergy 2400i DT as a video recorder for recording digital terrestrial TV programs with timer and full MPEG-2 support. You can then burn the finished recording to CD or DVD with just a few mouse clicks. The electronic program guide (EPG) helps you to confidently navigate the sea of channels and set the timer for recording, and the integrated videotext function makes sure you’re excellently informed even beyond the TV program.

The hardware and software solution was a snap to setup and performed as good as any single tuner card we’ve reviewed. Don’t let the dual TV tuners confuse you either - the Cinergy 2400i DT works just like a regular TV tuner until you press the Twin TV button, which opens a second TV window. You can then watch one channel while viewing another - useful for checking stock prices on Teletext while keeping an eye on the footy scores. You can also record one programme while watching another, but PowerCinema currently won’t let you record two programmes simultaneously. This is a disappointment, as both Windows Media Center and Sky+ are capable of doing this.

The UK Digital Terrestrial TV coverage is changing and improving all the time as new digital transmitters are erected. For more general information on the switchover from analogue to digital DVB-T (DTT) coverage in your region, check here. To check whether you can receive the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service in your region, go to www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html.

[9] - Editors’ Choice

[Best TV Tuner Pricing UK]
[Best TV Tuner Pricing US]

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