Terratec Cinergy XS: Desktop TV

If, like us, you find work an annoying distraction from doing much cooler stuff, then you should probably steer well clear of the Terratec Cinergy XS. Thanks to this little USB Freeview receiver, we've now got Trisha, Neighbours and This Morning on our desktop when it should be Word, PhotoShop and Outlook. Oh well, at least we can also use it to record all our favourite daytime shows and then watch them when we get home (at least, that's what we're telling our editor).

The Cinergy XS isn't quite as small as the Miglia TVMini -- its fat body obscures the adjacent USB port on our computer. Its orange/white combo shouts "garish PC peripheral" next to the elegant white of Miglia's effort. But the USB dongle is fat for a reason -- there's a cable included that outputs S-video to a TV, plus an infrared receiver so you can use a remote control. The mini aerial included in the box isn't brilliant, but it's magnetic so you can place it atop your monitor with ease or simply use your roof aerial. We found that it wasn't particularly good at picking up channels, and in our office we were denied most of the BBC's offerings.

The Cinergy XS makes amends though, thanks to CyberLink's excellent PowerCinema software. The frontend looks suspiciously like (read: completely rips off) Windows XP Media Center Edition, so if you've used Microsoft's seamless interface before, you'll be right at home. You can record TV, set schedules from the 7-day electronic programme guide, and the same interface lets you play your music, video and photo collections. It's just about the nicest software we've used since, well, Windows Media Center.

Terratec's receiver also supports analogue TV and radio. It's on sale now for around £90. -GC