Sr. Editor Review: KWorld PlusTV HD PCI 115
Sr. Editor Lonny Paul brings you the lowdown on these fine KWorld Products. The KWorld PlusTV HD PCI 115 works with Microsoft Windows Media Center and many other 3rd party media center software, such as ArcSoft TotalMedia (Included in the package)! Take advantage of the user-friendly Media Center for watching digital TV while browsing through other multimedia files on your PC. PlusTV HD PCI 115 allows you the option of watching and recording high definition TV within the Media Center environment or using its own TotalMedia software! Join Lonny as he illustrates precisely why these great gadgets are the wave of the future!
Related Links: KWorld PlusTV HD PCI-115 Digital Cable PCI Card, Kworld ATSC 315U HDTV TV Box
The analog portion satisfactorily detects and records analog (NTSC) TV channels on cable. But is unable to properly detect QAM signals on cable. Only audio is detected. Two cards were tested, and exhibited the same error.
- Only Analog tuner is MCE compatible, QAM digital tuner is not
- Misleading minimum system requirements (should have DX9 or better graphics acceleration)(no hardware MPEG2 acceleration on card, must use software kludge)
- The scheduled record function must run in foreground and muting the audio mutes the system’s sound, holding the computer hostage.
- Program initialization is too slow. So is the transition to “TV” viewing.
- Tuning to a new channel causes an audio pop. Must set audio to mute (or low volume) for transitions.
- Channel name change (edit) resets user to beginning of channel list. User must single step through all previous channels to reach new channel to edit.
- Selection and deselection of favorites is in a separate submenu and is a pain to use.
- No option for TV window to stay on top, allowing user to work on another window partly “underneath”. (What were these programmers smoking?)
- Resizing window size and position is cleared every time one changes from full screen to resized screen.
- The multilayered menu tree is awkward. User should have option to jump to basic functional services (TV viewing) from any data entry screen. The clumsy traversal of subsections is not user friendly.
- Keypad selection of channels is not always active in any submenu data entry screen. Restricting the data entry to limitations of a remote control makes no sense, since many computer owners would be using mouse and keyboard, not a remote.
- It appears that the software philosophy was targeted at home theater / media center implementation, without any consideration for multiuse systems. In a word, the ArcSoft Total Media 3 Software is OEM, buggy, and has zero support. Must pay for a 3 month service contract before assistance is rendered.
Have had no success with other PVR programs, such as GB-PVR.
If you need QAM capable HDTV tuner, this is NOT.
Hi,
I just instaled the Kworld ATSC 115, presented by you. I would say that most of it is acceptable with one exception: THE COLOURS ON TV AND RECORD ARE “BAD” (RED IS GREEN ETC…)
(Gateway 5432, Vista Premium, 2 gigs and videocard on board) PLEASE help, I would like to keep the card !
Thanks, Nick
I purchased the KWorld 115 and am very disappointed with this junk.
Vista Ultimate MCE does not work most of the time. When it does, it only pulls in analog cable, no qam or OTA digital signals. I did find that if MCE does not work, usually you can start total media, change the tuner to analog cable, then restart MCE.
The total media software is terrible. I get loud continuous popping noises every now and then after watching a show for a few minutes. Sometimes moving the window around the screen makes that stop, but very annoying. The guide does not work (Maybe i need to shell out 80.00 to get that to work). You have to choose between QAM (pulled in 6 stations, 3 of which are home shopping) or OTA
NTSC
Not much success with other programs. ChrisTV does work for analog cable only.
Vista Ultimate 64, 4 gig ddr2-800, 500mb*4 western digital HD, Asus p5k-e, Core2 duo E6750, ATI 2600XT/HDMI, 32″ magnvox LCD
For everyone who has commented - first of all thank you. It’s this type of feedback that allows to to monitor product quality.
This is an old video - and should be taken with a grain of salt when considering use with Windows Vista. Vista was in beta when this video was shot.
I can strongly recommend the PINNACLE PCTV stick devices - they are truly great working products.
Check it out at: http://news.tigerdirect.com/2006/11/28/holiday-gift-for-the-excessive-traveler-%E2%80%93-pinnacle-pctv-hd-pro-stick/