KWorld ATSC-110 Digital / Analog HDTV Tuner

Pros: This card is a dream come true for Linux/MythTV people! First off, they don't advertise it, but this card also supports QAM256. The driver for this card is in recent versions of the kernel and is extremely easy to set up. Simply download the appropriate firmware (nxt2004) with the get_dvb_firmware perl script that comes with the kernel and load the saa7134-dvb module (I also blacklisted saa7134, but that might not be necessary). I had it working in MythTV within minutes using ATSC. QAM took a while, but only because my cable company doesn't appear to broadcast PSIP info. I had to spend a couple hours digging through the output of dvbscan to find all the unencrypted channels, create a channels.conf file, and import it into MythTV. So far I've recorded about 15 hours of flawless HD.

Cons: None for me.

Overall Review: You gotta love Windows MCE. It's amazing how crippled it is. Now that MythTV 0.20 is out all I can say is Kworld ATSC-110 + QAM256 + MythTV = WOW!!

Pros: Although it took me a few tries before I got it configured with the correct firmware, the Kworld ATSC-110 has functioned just fine as a HDTV tuner card in my MythTV Linux box. I'm using the lower coax input (closest to the MB) for QAM-256 input to receive Comcast's unencrypted local HDTV signals. Myth is recording 1920x1080i MPG files with 5.1 digital sound.

Cons: HDTV recording with MythTV is not as prevalent as SDTV, so support and assistance with this card is relatively hard to find. But, once you know that it is based on the Philips SAA7134 chipset you can find helpful info for other cards that use this same chipset. Doesn't appear to be any Linux support for the remote that comes with it.

Overall Review: Uses the dvb-fe-nxt2004.fw firmware file. Instead of the Kworld remote use a USB-based Windows MCE remote with IR receiver, model 1039 version 2. There's a lot of good info about using this remote in the MythTV wiki.

Pros: There's nothing wrong with this card! If you use this for OTA HDTV, the lack of MPEG 2 ENCODER is not going to hurt you.

Cons: My BeyondTV license is bogus. I didn't even bother with trying to haggle with Kworld. Also rebate reliability apparently is an issue.

Overall Review: A little help for people who records OTA HDTV. OTA HDTV is recorded into DVR-ms format by many software. If you have an ATI X1k video card, you're in luck becuase converting from HD DVR-ms to MPEG 2 is easy! Goto ATI's website download the AVIVO codec! It includes an ATI MPEG Multiplexer. Then download the small program dvr2mpg from watchhdtv.net. Now you're ready to quickly convert DVR-ms into regular mpeg 2 (only few minutes for multi-giga files)!

Pros: works well enough with the nagware version of BeyondTV included with the card. it would be worth the price paid if not for problems with the rebate (see cons)

Cons: the included BTV 3.8SE is little more than a teaser app to get you to upgrade to the current retail version. note the "'no subscription fees, ever" line probably refers to OTA HDTV broadcasts, not the BTV program guides for which only the first moth is free. also, Kworld is stiffing me on the rebate because they insist the UPC code sticker required for the rebate submission is the one with the product's serial number, which they do NOT unambiguously identify in their rebate terms. If you're feeling brave, send 'em every darn barcode from the box and see what excuse they give you to not honor the request.

Overall Review: GBpvr and GotAllMedia provide varying degress of support for this board; so far I'm favoring GBpvr. when I have more time I want to try it with MythTV

Pros: HD Recording Quality. Signal Strenght/tuning. Options. Build quality

Cons: Packaging. Documentation. K-Base at the web site.

Overall Review: Great card that includes the best PVR software to date...BeyondTV. I upgraded to BTV4 after purchasing this card and all works great. Since my install I have 5 coworkers/friends who have purchased this card, and all have had success. Keep in mind if you are using WinXP Media Center 2005 you must still have a card such as the Hauppauge PVR150 to go with an HDTV tuner card. This is not Kworlds fault, but Microsofts. Maybe they will fix this in the future since this card will do HD and SD TV. WinXP with Included software should not have this issue from what I understand. I have my pc connected to my Vizio L32 LCD TV throug my DVI/HDMI. Audio (since records in Dolby Dig 5.1) is Audigy 2 connected to 5.1 Surround sound system. Piture is amazing.

Pros: Installed the driver and now it works. I'm using this for watching OTA HDTV primarily and record a favorite show once a while.

Cons: Beyond TV software key that came with this doesn't work. Don't know if rebate is going to come.

Overall Review: Okay let me tell how this works: 1. forget about beyond TV (too much hassle with license) 2. Get WatchHDTV (also get try GBPVR - still playing with that). 3. Install the DBA driver from CD or downloaded online 4. For WatchHDTV, download GPL-MPEG 2 Decoder (free). MAKE SURE You write a decoder.txt in your directory that gives the name of Mpeg decoder and audio decoder. 4. Use watchHDTV for simple PVR is now ready to go! 5. GB-PVR seems to be a very good software (FREE). But I'm still messing with it to get it working well.

Pros: Great card. I own two of these and 3 other tuner cards it works as well if not better than the other ones in Mythtv for QAM tuning. Worked great in XP to for ATSC and NTSC at the same time

Cons: You need to get a version of Myth from SVN to get QAM and NTSC to work at the same time in Myth.

Overall Review: Great card, hard to beat for the price. perfect for myth

Pros: Works well with BTV4. Great picture quality.

Cons: Purchased in 1/06 from Newegg with a $xx rebate. Sent in the rebate form with the bar code cut from the box. I was told the bar code was wrong.