THC lets you experience television in a new level of quality.
THC makes TV independent of time and place.
THC combines traditional TV with today's state-of-the-art technology and the future of the Internet.
THC makes watching TV fun again.
All from a single source: TERRATEC Home Cinema is a powerful and efficient solution from TERRATEC for television on the computer. Turn your computer into a powerful video recorder with manual or controlled recordings (even via the Internet).
One of the basic functions of the Cinergy THC system is recording and playing back TV programmes. In principle, this function is most like those of a classic video recorder, but with a few important differences or expanded features:
The recording capacity is practically unlimited
There is no loss of quality whatsoever from the original
"Programming" is as easy as child's play (really!)
The most important tool for recording programmes is the EPG (E.lectronic P.rogram G.uide), which provides an overview of current TV programming on all stations. Cinergy THC presents it in an easy-to-use manner, sorted by stations or times ("What's on tonight, no matter where?"). If you are interested in a programme, simply click it - THC will record it for you.
An EPG system continuously obtains up-to-date data free of charge from the current (DVB) TV programme. Like teletext information, this information is transmitted in the background, separately from the TV picture. Just to be clear: you don't need an Internet connection to receive EPG data.
The recording capacity is limited only by the space on your hard drive or connected external hard drives. Of course, video data - compared to music in MP3 format, for example - is relatively memory-hungry. However, prices for hard drive storage have reached such a low level that even the most diehard hunter-gatherers among TV junkies can find enough storage space at a bargain price.
A practical example, which is even calculated in favour of quality (= higher data volume):
1 hour of high-quality digital TV takes up approximately 2GB of space
1 VHS tape (4-hour) thus saved the equivalent of 8GB (in much lower quality)
This means that a USB hard drive with 500GB of storage, available from the discount store, holds about 60 VHS cassettes - or about 10 days of non-stop television
In terms of programmes, this means 160 episodes of "Prime Suspect"... or 250 of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" ... or almost 3 years' worth of the evening news - the choice is yours.
Your favourite programme is recorded, and now you want to watch it. Doing so is just as easy as selecting an MP3 track or playing a DVD. Our THC software manages your recordings by date—just one click or press of a button is all that is needed.
As you would expect, you can also interrupt a movie at any time by pausing it and continue it later. This is a very useful convenience, as it allows you to fetch more snacks or drinks in the middle of your mystery, for example.
A less well-known fact is that you can do the same with a TV programme, even during the broadcast. "What!?", you ask? Yes, it's true! While watching a chat show such as Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, you can "freeze-frame" the couch—and a couple of minutes later, let the stars pick up where they left off.
An important distinction is that you are pausing, not stopping.
It gets even better: while you catch up, recording of the live programme carries on quietly in the background, allowing you to accumulate a "buffer" of several minutes' worth of programming that you can then fast-forward through if desired. In our example, this means that if you find the next chat show guest boring, you can just skip that part. You'll never want to do without the Pause button!
"What was that he said again?" ... "How cute! Did you see that?" ... Or, much worse: "What? 2-1 already?!“. Scenes like these will always be played out in front of the telly. With THC, however, each of these questions can be answered calmly—nothing could be easier that repeating the last few seconds (or minutes, or even hours if need be) of the current programme.
The technical term for this function is "timeshifting", rewinding the TV programme to any desired point in the programme and then fast-forwarding it to the current live picture. All of this without having to go though any extra steps to start a recording.
We guarantee that you will soon wish you had this handy feature on many other devices, particularly your car radio.
For DVB viewers who travel often, our THC software lets you save station lists, so that you do not have to repeat the channel scan each time you move between regions. Today, London and tomorrow, West Midlands—with just one click, the stations follow you from city to city and region to region.
Depending on the broadcast station, the digital TV signal contains multiple programmes (known as "streams") from the same family. The technical term for this family is a "multiplex". For instance, BBC One, Two and Three are in the same multiplex. Another multiplex includes ITV and Teletext. You can watch and/or record two channels from one family using just one Cinergy receiver (picture-in-picture).
However, you can also connect multiple receivers to one computer—our THC software can use them all simultaneously and independently. In this way, you can watch and/or record even channels from different families at the same time. The number of receivers is theoretically unlimited.
The programme stream also contains data for subtitles, audio channels either in different formats (stereo, DolbyDigital) or languages, and good old teletext. The last is buffered in the background immediately after a channel change, eliminating load times when navigating between pages of text. In addition, web links in the teletext can be called up directly and, of course, pages can be superimposed transparently over the current programme.
Each TerraTec TV solution comes with its own software that enables you to conveniently edit your movies without any loss of quality. Cut! is extremely straightforward and easy to use. Call up the recorded file, mark the areas to be removed, and you're done.
The TerraTec team has proven its exceptional creativity and love of useful details by bringing back the good old "boss key". This feature, which those of a certain age will surely remember from the C64 and Amiga, is quite invaluable—yet it had nearly been lost forever in data oblivion.
This is how it works: if an unannounced visitor enters the TV arena, just press the boss key (actually a combination) [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[B], and THC disappears along with the TV picture and sound. At the same time, however, timeshifting is activated and the current programme simply carries on being recorded. You don't miss a second, and nobody notices your little break. Shh! Don't tell the TerraTec boss!
Digital TV via DVB offers you a variety of stations that can be difficult to navigate, particularly when receiving it by cable (DVB-C) or satellite (DVB-S). Even with DVB-T, you can choose between more than 30 programmes sent to your home—for the two other alternatives, you easily have ten times as many choices. In addition, all reception types offer countless radio stations in the absolute highest quality. Depending on the region, your station list can be in the thousands!
Right from the start, TerraTec makes the first-time setup—the channel scan—extremely easy. If you want, you can then follow this largely automatic process by individually sorting your favourite stations. You may want to assign the 1 button on your remote to BBC 1, 2 to BBC 2, 4 to Channel 4 and so on.
Once you have chosen your favourite stations or categories such as music, children's programmes or news, you can group them into one or more favourites lists, to which you can assign their own button on the Cinergy remote control.
A remote control full of favourites: your 20 favourite channels on the green button, all pay TV channels on the red button. And 10 channels that play only music videos on the blue button. All children's programmes to the yellow key. Organisation is a beautiful thing.
Our Cinergy products can also receive, play back and record pay TV programmes— even in HDTV quality. To do so, however, you will have to obtain two additional components:
1. A smart card from the programming provider, which is usually available by subscription. It looks like a credit card and contains an individual code with which the encrypted programmes can be decoded.
2. A Cinergy CI module, a reader that accepts the smart card and passes on the code to the Cinergy THC. Once the card is in the system, the respective pay TV programme is available to you just like a regular TV station.
Cinergy CI modules are available with a USB connection or as an expansion card for installation in a PC.
As described above, the electronic programme guide (EPG) makes recording shows as easy as child's play. Just see what's on, click, and you're done.
However, our THC software can do even more. For each recording, you can define whether it is to be a one-off (default) or at the same time every day (such as the evening news), weekly (like Prime Suspect) or in a rhythm of your choice. Then, all you need to do is wait. You'll never miss your favourite show again!
You can also search conveniently using the criteria With or Without EPG data. For example, if you are browsing for Prime Suspect, you are shown all the hits that match the search word you entered. Combinations and logical operators are possible, such as [ Prime Suspect Jane Tennison ] or even very explicit [ Prime Suspect -Jane Tennison ], if you want to exclude certain episodes.
Have you been to tvtv.de? For many years now, this site—our partner for interactive TV services—has offered an Internet-based programme overview whose benefits far exceed those of conventional EPGs. As in classic programme guides, shows and categories are presented with images, editorial recommendations and much more.
Using tvtv.co.uk, you can have programmes recorded at the click of a mouse, just as conveniently as with the software. The big difference is that you don't have to be sitting at your own computer. Our THC can connect to tvtv.de over the Internet and synchronise recording schedules.
An example: you're stuck at the office while the starting whistle of an important football match approaches. Time is not on your side—but with tvtv.de, one click is all you need for your home computer to record the big match.
All users have access to tvtv.de for a 60-day trial period. If you like the service, you can then continue the subscription. Those who have purchased a Cinergy Premium product (see product pages) obtain access for a whole year. By the way, tvtv.de is also available on WAP-enabled mobile phones.
Do you have a habit of falling asleep on the couch and want to enjoy a good night's rest without worrying about your computer overheating? With the convenient SleepTimer function, our THC software can send your computer off into dreamland. Just enter you desired sleep time, and your computer follows you softly. A pity, really, that you'll never be able to watch this happen!
If you are already familiar with TerraTec, you may already know about the measures for protecting our environment that have been associated with our company since its founding. From our name to our self-supply of power from a wind power plant, our commitment to the environment was made long before today's headlines.
When you schedule recordings, it makes no sense to keep the computer running until recording starts, especially if you will be away from home. Therefore, our THC software controls the power save modes of current computers. Your computer can be in Standby or Hibernate and THC will wake it up promptly, shortly before the start of the show (or a scheduled update of the EPG and programme data). Once the work is done, the machine goes back to sleep. This is our quiet and simple way of making a difference in an issue that is important to us.
