Terratec Cinergy S2 PCI HD review

If the Freeview TV signal is poor in your area, the satellite-based Freesat service could be the answer, and even if your reception is fine, the free-to-air HD programming from the BBC and ITV might prove irresistible.

The Cinergy S2 PCI HD can receive Freesat's DVB-S signal and supports the newer but currently unused DVB-S2 standard. It supports HD programming, so you can watch and record both H.264 and MPEG2 broadcasts, thanks to the software's built-in codecs. Reception from our satellite dish was perfect, and the picture quality of BBC HD was as impressive as ever.

Sadly, this PCI card has only a single tuner, which is disappointing as even cheap DVB-T devices often provide dual tuners. A connector on the card allows you to attach a Conditional Access Module (CAM) to decrypt pay-per-view channels. A package that includes both the card and the CAM is available for an extra £24 including VAT.

Our first scan found an incredible 879 satellite channels, many of which were pay-per-view. Even searching for just free-to-air channels generated a list of more than 300. The high number is partly due to the numerous local variations. You'll have to trawl through the lengthy list, pick out the channels you want and add them to a favourites list. The S2 PCI HD picked up both BBC HD and the occasionally utilised ITV HD but didn't recognise them as TV channels. We found them listed as unknown in the channel scan tool, but they worked fine once we added them to our favourites.

There are three ways of controlling the application: the provided remote, a small onscreen window of clearly labelled buttons and a comprehensive menu that appears when you right-click the TV window. The EPG is very disappointing, however. One screen shows what's on now and next for all the channels, while another lists programmes for a single selected channel. We'd prefer a timeline layout. This alone means we'd never switch from Sky+ or Media Center to using this card.

Media Center doesn't currently support HD channels or DVB-S broadcasts, although both will be part of the forthcoming update codenamed Fiji. However, some manufacturers, including Hauppauge, have released drivers that trick Media Center into thinking a DVB-S card is actually a compatible DVB-T card. No such driver comes with this card, though, and you wouldn't have HD support if you used this method anyway.

This card is worth buying only if you're very keen to watch and record free HD content on your PC. You'll also need a satellite dish, which costs around £80 including VAT to install, or you can use an existing Sky Minidish. Most people would be better off waiting for Media Center support before considering a switch to DVB-S, as Media Center's excellent interface isn't worth sacrificing for the current smattering of HD content.

Author: Seth Barton