Terratec HT Express review

Terratec's new TV tuner is designed for laptops.

But although there are plenty of USB2 Tuners about, the HT Express is a little different - it fits into an Expresscard/34 slot. ExpressCard supersedes the older PC card standard and you'll find compatible slots on most newer laptops.

The principal benefit of Expresscard over USB2 is a practical one. Whereas a USB2 tuner hangs precariously from a USB port and is easily knocked out of place, the main body of an Expresscard tuner like the Terratec slots neatly inside the laptop.

The HT Express' slimline form contains a single hybrid tuner that's capable of picking up both analogue and digital terrestrial TV broadcasts. As the first Expresscard product that we've seen, it's a bit disappointing that it doesn't even have twin tuners. With Terratec's USB XS Diversity stick possessing twin tuners and some ingenious ways in which to make the most of them, the much-touted speed benefits of Expresscard aren't in evidence here.

Although the HT Express doesn't break any technological barriers it is easy to set up. On our test laptop with a copy of Vista Home Premium installed, we simply had to slot it in, insert the driver CD and follow Vista's on screen prompts. Installing Terratec's Home Cinema software is similarly straightforward and within a few minutes we had scanned for all the available channels and were happily watching digital TV.

Using the Terratec with Vista's Media Centre wasn't quite so trouble-free. Setting up the electronic program guide and TV signal was easy and the HT Express detected all the available channels, but Media Centre gave us the silent, blank screen treatment. We suspect Terratec's Vista drivers may need a little tweaking.

The Terratec HT Express may be more compact than its USB counterparts, but it's of little use as you'll still need to connect it to a rooftop aerial to get the best results. £65 will buy you a USB dual-tuner that will not only allow you to record two channels at once, but will also manage TV reception with portable aerials.

Author: Sasha Muller