Topic: Kworld ATSC 120 PCI? (Read 13128 times)

benn600 · « **on:** August 26, 2007, 12:05:33 pm »

This is an inexpensive, $55, ATSC digital capture card. Has anyone tried it with Media Center? Please tell me your experiences. I have two Haupaugge input devices but only one works with MC and it still has certain issues.

benn600 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 28, 2007, 12:11:05 am »

Should I order one? I guess I would just return it if it doesn't work with MC, then. I already have a Kworld PCI card that doesn't seem to work. At this point, however, I'm essentially requiring ATSC support. The Kworld card I already have does not appear to support ATSC.

It looks like I'll be returning two TV capture devices already (the USB NTSC only and non-supported internal solution) so I guess I could try a third one? They would all three be from different resellers so I won't be making a huge return to just one. I despise returning things but sometimes it's the only way.

Yaobing · « **Reply #2 on:** August 28, 2007, 08:02:56 am »

We have not tested this particular one yet. Jim tried a KWorld USB stick. There are some problems which I have not sorted out yet. I would say, the PCI version should be similar. if you do not mind some waiting, you can buy it now. We will sort out any problems there may be.

benn600 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 28, 2007, 09:11:14 am »

From your perspective, which card would be more important for support?
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600
Kworld ATSC 120 PCI

As you might recall, I already have the Hauppauge card but it is about double the price of the Kworld card. To add support, do you need to actually buy one of them? I will buy a Kworld card to help figure out if it works with MC especially because if it does, then I will end up saving about $45.

I'm just looking for the best ATSC/NTSC TV capture card I can get for a low price. The strange thing is that I already have a Kworld capture card but it doesn't work with MC at all--just the can't play video error. It is an older NTSC only model.

Yaobing · « **Reply #4 on:** August 28, 2007, 01:26:12 pm »

I do not have a priority in terms which card to support first. I do have a Kworld USB stick which I will try first. If we are lucky, the support for the PCI model will be the same or similar to that for the USB. Having a device to test directly can simplify things a lot, but I do not always need to buy one to add support for it.

benn600 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2007, 05:20:38 pm »

I have the Kworld Xpert 833--very inexpensive and purchased about a year ago. It doesn't work with MC, though. I get an unknown error message.

Would it be helpful if I ordered one and tested it? I'm trying to find the least expensive TV card that works well and supports ATSC high definition OTA. I've already tried two other cards so why not a third? If I do get it and it doesn't work, is there anything I can offer up to help add support or would you just buy one, too?

Thank you for your replies!

benn600 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 07, 2007, 11:16:20 pm »

I mistakenly ordered the non ATSC version (oops) and it doesn't work. Is there a chance that these tuner incompatibilities are due to some other hardware issue with my HTPC system? I need to try these cards in another PC because it seems strange that I haven't been able to get any of 4 PCI internal TV tuners that I already have or purchased working! I have a USB solution that works but haven't got a single PCI solution working.

Yaobing · « **Reply #7 on:** September 08, 2007, 08:42:42 am »

It is a good idea trying it on another machine. If it still does not work, and you have installed the latest driver from the manufacturer, email me a log file. I am talking about ATSC/NTSC versions. You have to return the non-ATSC version.

benn600 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 08, 2007, 08:53:22 am »

I'm confused. It does say NTSC but not ATSC. Isn't ATSC just digital/HD television? Also, it shows BTSC ... hmm. British? American?

Yaobing · « **Reply #9 on:** September 08, 2007, 09:09:10 am »

NTSC is the analog TV standard for North America. ATSC is the digital TV standard for North America. If it does not say ATSC, nor "digital", then maybe it is an analog only device.

Analog:

NTSC - North America and a few other countries
PAL - various versions for parts of the world
SECAM - various versions for parts of the world

Digital:

ATSC - North America and a few other countries
DVB-T - for most of the world.

Griff · « **Reply #10 on:** September 29, 2007, 04:45:42 pm »

Hi Yaobing

Just wondering if you had any time to work on the KWorld stuff ?

No big deal.

Thanks

benn600 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 30, 2007, 10:41:02 am »

Can anyone else confirm my findings? I'm wondering if my computer might have some issues. Maybe these cards actually work. I'm going to test it in another system when I get a chance but haven't yet.

Yaobing · « **Reply #12 on:** September 30, 2007, 04:31:52 pm »

My KWorld PlusTV USB stick works fine as far as ATSC is concerned. Its mini antenna does not pull in many channels (I got only two subchannels of one station). By using another antenna, it got more channels. Did not find any obvious problems.

The analog portion does not work well, gives bad audio. I know how to fix that, just have not gotten around to it yet.

Griff · « **Reply #13 on:** October 05, 2007, 04:51:13 pm »

Hi Yaobing

I just received the 120 card late yesterday.

I thought it would be junk, but turns out to be pretty good.

atsc does works in MC.

Dig. HD looks great.

Dig. SD is so, so (dark colors seem wash out).

Scan for chs. took 30 min. the first time (connected to rabbit ears)

Scan for chs. the sec. time took 45 min. (connected to OTA antenna on roof)

My HD sets receive 28 dig chs. with the roof mount OTA.

This card via MC recevied 8.

With brand x (that came with card) recevied 11.

Advance prop.--- Sometimes I can access them, most of the time no (they are greyed out)?

Also How do you add dig. stations?

I tried your setup with name, sub and real ch. name, but cant get it to work.

also how can you enter them with your built in num. keypad?

One last thing:

Do you have an ATI 650?

If so, how does dig. sd compare between the Kworld stick and the 650?

Thanks for all your help

Griff

Benn:

Did you try the 615 drivers?

ftp://ftp.kworld.com.tw/kworld/driver/atsc_120/

Yaobing · « **Reply #14 on:** October 05, 2007, 06:01:14 pm »

Quote from: Griff on October 05, 2007, 04:51:13 pm

Scan for chs. took 30 min. the first time (connected to rabbit ears)

Scan for chs. the sec. time took 45 min. (connected to OTA antenna on roof)

It probably waits for 20-30 sec for each potential channel (67 in all, 2 - 68, for USA)

Quote

My HD sets receive 28 dig chs. with the roof mount OTA.

This card via MC recevied 8.

With brand x (that came with card) recevied 11.

Not sure how significant is this comparison. Have you tried the program that comes with the card?

Quote

Advance prop.--- Sometimes I can access them, most of the time no (they are greyed out)?

Advanced Properties, and many other properties are grayed out during time-shifting. If you play a digital channel, by default it starts in time-shifting mode. However, most of the Advanced Properties are for analog devices, so they would be grayed out if you are playing digital channels, regardless of time-shifting.

Quote

Also How do you add dig. stations?

On the Scan Channels dialog window, click Add button. You can enter "Major Channel", "Minor Channel", "Physical Channel", and "Name". This is the only way to enter a channel manually.

Quote

I tried your setup with name, sub and real ch. name, but cant get it to work.

Do you mean the dialog window where you enter the info does not work, or the channels entered would not tune?

Quote

also how can you enter them with your built in num. keypad?

You can not enter a digital channel by the num keypad.

Quote

One last thing:

Do you have an ATI 650?

If so, how does dig. sd compare between the Kworld stick and the 650?

No, I do not have ATI 650.

Griff · « **Reply #15 on:** October 06, 2007, 09:14:10 pm »

Hi Yaobing

Quote

Quote
My HD sets receive 28 dig chs. with the roof mount OTA.

This card via MC recevied 8.

With brand x (that came with card) recevied 11.

Not sure how significant is this comparison. Have you tried the program that comes with the card?

Brand x is the software that came with the card, prob. the same as you got with your KWorld stick.

What I was trying to say was, that with the 120 card connected to the roof antenna, scan for chs. gave me:

MC=8

Software that came with card=11

while my HD sets pick up on scan 28

But, this is no big deal, since I was able to finally manually add them.

Quote

Quote
Also How do you add dig. stations?

On the Scan Channels dialog window, click Add button. You can enter "Major Channel", "Minor Channel", "Physical Channel", and "Name". This is the only way to enter a channel manually.

Quote
I tried your setup with name, sub and real ch. name, but cant get it to work.

Do you mean the dialog window where you enter the info does not work, or the channels entered would not tune?

Phy.ch., Maj. ch. and min. ch. does work.

My prob. was that the first ch. that I tried to enter was 9.1 abc Freq. assign. 34 and I got nothing.

So today I tried other software and the same thing with 9.1 ABC, nothing.

So I dont know if the tuner has a dead spot or the drivers for the card.

All other chs. I entered (added) works.

The card works great with MC (ATSC)

Thanks for your help.

statious · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2007, 02:36:15 pm »

I am using the ATSC 115 and while it works within MC12, there is a very noticeable graininess that does not appear when I use the packaged program.

MC12 Example

TotalMedia Example

Yaobing · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2007, 04:03:03 pm »

Quote from: statious on November 12, 2007, 02:36:15 pm

I am using the ATSC 115 and while it works within MC12, there is a very noticeable graininess that does not appear when I use the packaged program.

From the images it looks like you are trying to play an analog channel. For analog TV, deinterlace filter may help. See this thread: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32081.msg220248#msg220248

thurston · « **Reply #18 on:** November 19, 2007, 01:40:25 pm »

After doing some research on tuners and various tv formats, I'm going to pick up a Kworld tuner from newegg. Can anyone help me figure out what the differences are between the KWorld ATSC 115 and KWorld ATSC 120? The only differences I could see were a small price difference (the 115 is higher), FM radio & Vista support on the 120, and some difference in connectors (the 120 has a single connector with an included pigtail for audio in, svideo in, etc).

Although I've done some research on Digital TV signal, its still foggy in some areas. Ideally, I'd like to be able to watch (and record) analogue tv (over coax), over the air digital (antenna), digital cable (over coax), and all possible HDTV (over the air and coax). Will both cards do all this?

KWorld 115: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260005
KWorld 120: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260007

I've also looked at the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116009), but other than a second tuner it doesn't seem to have much for double the price.

Yaobing · « **Reply #19 on:** November 19, 2007, 05:17:51 pm »

Quote from: thurston on November 19, 2007, 01:40:25 pm

Although I've done some research on Digital TV signal, its still foggy in some areas. Ideally, I'd like to be able to watch (and record) analogue tv (over coax), over the air digital (antenna), digital cable (over coax), and all possible HDTV (over the air and coax). Will both cards do all this?

Sorry I am not able to answer your question on 115 and 120 comparison. I hope some users who used either device can tell you something.

Media Center supports only analog TV (either cable or antenna), and over the air digital TV (either SD or HD). I do not know if either device itself would work with digital cable, but you can not play digital cable in Media Center, not yet.

newsposter · « **Reply #20 on:** November 20, 2007, 02:06:21 am »

hmmmm, does mean that you intend to support CableCard devices??

JimH · « **Reply #21 on:** November 20, 2007, 06:18:39 am »

Maybe.

thurston · « **Reply #22 on:** November 20, 2007, 01:50:19 pm »

Quote from: newsposter on November 20, 2007, 02:06:21 am

hmmmm, does mean that you intend to support CableCard devices??

Besides going through a digital cable box, is it at all possible (w/ or without MC) to change digital cable channels (over coax) with a tuner alone?
Interesting question about supporting cablecard readers. How would this work? Would you use a PCI/PCMCIA adapter with the PCMCIA cablecard from the cable company?

Yaobing · « **Reply #23 on:** November 20, 2007, 08:43:46 pm »

Quote from: thurston on November 20, 2007, 01:50:19 pm

Besides going through a digital cable box, is it at all possible (w/ or without MC) to change digital cable channels (over coax) with a tuner alone?

Some digital TV tuner devices are capable of tuning to unscrambled digital cable channels. I was able to receive some channels using Dvico's FusionHDTV USB Gold (and the software that comes with it).

Quote

Interesting question about supporting cablecard readers. How would this work? Would you use a PCI/PCMCIA adapter with the PCMCIA cablecard from the cable company?

When I talked about possible digital cable support, I meant the TV tuner devices that are capable of receiving unscrambled digital channels (such as FusionHDTV USB gold mentioned above), not the devices from the cable company. Such support is only at the 'maybe' stage. I have not started working on it. I guess the cablecard could also be a 'maybe'.

statious · « **Reply #24 on:** January 04, 2008, 06:57:24 pm »

Still no luck with even dscaler working. It still has the same picture albeit a bit better but nothing like the totalmedia program. I quit worrying about this part of the program as there are plenty of other solutions but a problem that should be noted.

At this point, I assume it is a driver issue or something program related on my side rather than MC12.

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Author Topic: Kworld ATSC 120 PCI? (Read 13128 times)