I have the 1600 and its says the same thing in the write up about recording ATSC in high quality MPEG2 but from what I can tell it does no re-encoding. It just records the stream as mpeg2 ts file.

Thanks for clarifying that. As my old Socket 939 mobos die off and I go with the latest mobos it'll be necessary for me to replace my PCI cards with ones like these, so its nice to see options now available.

I am waiting for reviews of card performance. I am especially interested in the quality of the single coax connection which has an internal splitter for dual ATSC.

I read the info there, and did not get the impression of digital being encoded - analog, yes, though.
Not sure what you saw, but this shows that it is in fact not encoded, but a direct transfer (its a huge waste to encode it anyway, unless it were mpeg4 encoding...)

Record analog cable TV shows to your PC's hard disk with our built-in high quality MPEG-2 hardware encoder. You can also record high definition digital ATSC and clear QAM digital cable TV to disk in the original digital quality.

I just bought one -

Initial impression : this is a great deal for $70 all in - remote/software/S-video to RCA adapter/PCI-E interface and even included a half-height bracket! There is no IR blaster...probably expected as it is 'Soft PVR' for SD content.

The reception is about the same as my Sapphire Theatrix ATI650. The WinTV6 works well but the video quality is borderline ok with minor occasional stuttering. Recorded files are in MPEG2 format...playable by PowerDVD6 and WMP11, but strangely only skippable by WinTV6. There doesn't appear to be an EPG guide. I can see myself use the WinTV/Scheduler for ATSC recording but not viewing.

WatchHDTV works as good as my ATI650, same video quality and no stuttering. The tuner was recognized as a 885 or something.

I am quite happy with the purchase. Be able to finally use a PCI-E x1 slot is just for kicks. I will most likely use GBPVR or some free front end because there is a remote included.

The system it is in :
WinXP Pro SP2
Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H with Intel E1240@2.4GHz
OCZ 2GB 800MHz SLI RAM
Galaxy 8400GS 256MB video card.
Slim SFF half height case with PSU.

Good to know - if I need a replacement card or a second card (cause they always like to show my fave shows at the same time as another one plays.. :P)
I'll be looking at a pci-e one. (Either this or the 650, good to know they're comparable.

Also, I have the hvr-950.
Wintv sucks completely, uninstall it and never look back :P
I just use watchhdtv.
I don't miss the psip data either, since its a computer, I can look up listings easily ;)

P.S. Did you pay $70? Cause my friendly neighbourhood computer store has it for $63 ;)

IMHO if you are looking for a PCIe X1 TV tuner then get a Hauppauge 1800. It is a hybrid tuner that has two tuners - ATSC and NTSC. You can use it for cable, or hook it up to an STB for digital cable or satellite and use it for OTA channels. About $130 including remote and IR blaster.

IMHO if you are looking for a PCIe X1 TV tuner then get a Hauppauge 1800. It is a hybrid tuner that has two tuners - ATSC and NTSC. You can use it for cable, or hook it up to an STB for digital cable or satellite and use it for OTA channels. About $130 including remote and IR blaster.
I have 4 analog cards in various HTPCs already (3 hardware encoding) and I am only using one. The Hauppauge 150 has been great but the IR BLaster just conked out so it is essentially useless.

One of them I installed so I can use the Harmony remote to wake the computer from S3 LOL!

So, this 1250 suits me well as the current lowest cost alternative, it is half the price of the 1800 which I don't need the analog part.

In short, I don't need anything hardware encoding :~)

Got it - what are you using as your PVR software? From post #285 it sounds like you are just playing around with some of the free software and just considering trying out GBPVR? With that many HTPCs then surely you have some software for recording TV?

P.S. Did you pay $70? Cause my friendly neighbourhood computer store has it for $63 ;)LOL

It is ~$70 tax included at my local friendly store...ordered on Fri and got a call on Sat to pick it up.

The other note on WinTV is there are lots of tearing in the video. WatchHDTV works well and don't have tearing. Their Hauppauge codec plain sucks, I don't think they take advantage of the video card at all. The WinTV would try to play a channel with really poor signal while WatchHDTV doesn't, so it might show a non-watchable WGRZ-DT feed but the ATI650/WatchHDTV doesn't. I take that into account and tried playing both with WatchHDTV and the Hauppauge actually picked up WGRZ occasionally but the ATI650 doesn't. Same goes for my LG tuner, it'd pick up NBC more often than the ATI650.

Lastly, I haven't bought anything Hauppauge in a while and the software this time around is pretty easy to install. It includes a nice little signal meter that works standalone (say with WatchHDTV).

I highly recommend the 1250 if you're only after ATSC.

Wayne,

I was all done with GBPVR when free zap2it support was killed, it was a little quirky back then as well. Since picked up PowerDVD7, the codec seems to play nice in GB (probably MediaPortal as well) so I migh give it a shot again even it it means blank programme guide :~)

I've been using only WatchHDTV for ATSC - which works well but the computer has to be on all the time for the scheduler to work. This is truely a great little program.

I don't do a lot of analog...I used TitanTV/Hauppauge Scheduler on the PVR150; Winfast standard software for the Leadtek Winfast card...nothing too exciting.

Lastly, I haven't bought anything Hauppauge in a while and the software this time around is pretty easy to install. It includes a nice little signal meter that works standalone (say with WatchHDTV).
The signal meter sounds nice - they didn't have that when I got the 950.
I might check out the new software/driver pack, just for that :p

I recently purchased a new laptop computer and ordered with it the AverTV Hybrid NanoExpress ATSC Card.

It came with no basic instructions on usage other than a "Quick Installation Guide", which only instructed the user on how to fully connect all cards/cables included in the product. Upon inserting the card, it installed all drivers on its own. No further installation software was included in the package.

Currently I have all proper connections made and I'm running an imput through the composite video and audio imput cables. However, I do not know how to actually view/access/use the the video and audio that I am imputing through the ATSC Card. I have used searched through Windows Media Center and found no method of accessing my imput.

Do I need further software, or is there some way to access my video/audio through Windows Media Center or the drivers that were automatically installed?

I believe the software you need is here:
http://www.avermedia.com/avertv/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=447&tab=APDriver
along with any drivers you need, if they didn't install properly.

Bought an ATI HDTV Wonder fron TigerDirect.ca refurbished for $100.
Included Silver Sensor antenna and various software.


It works extremely well in my Mythbuntu (MythTV + Ubuntu Linux) DVR.
While the reception of the card is not as good as my HDTV's (two Olevia's), it is very good, picking up remote stations from >100km with my attic mount CM 4221 antenna and CM 7777 pre-amp.


My setup is a bit complex, I have a few MythTV front-end client computers (one per TV):
IBM ThinkCenter S50 8183 PIV 3Ghz
Gateway AMD 3800+

My MythTV back-end recording computer (in basement) is a PIII 733Mhz using existing inventory of IDE disks 9GB (Ubuntu OS), 40GB (swap and transcodes) and 160GB (OTA MPEG2 recordings)

I just bought the KWorld PCI ATSC-120 - nice package, half-height card (no supplied half-height bracket though), also included are remote, FM antenna, AV module and software - all for $40.

Installation was a snap from the CD, I downloaded 2 updates and applied without any incidence.

The included software is the ArcSoft TotalMedia3, pretty good front end software, the included remote is very functional for the TM3. The interface is a little clunky but things work. Closed Caption works on Live TV but I don't see them on recordings. There is EPG for ATSC channels. The data are drawn from the psip - so if you don't want to pay for anything 3rd party program guide, you don't have to! The picture quality is excellent (like WatchHDTV; I can't say the same for GBPVR or WinTV). So far, I am quite pleased as all the above involved very little time to figure out. I also 'tested' the software in my other machines and it installed and worked no problem. Of course without the remote (the mouse can control everything though).

The playback functions of various media on TM3 is not as impressive. It only likes MPEG2 and that's it. The recorded format is MPEG2 as well. It freezes on DivX. It doesn't even pick up on MS Recorded TV Show format.

The hardware acceleration works well on my systems with Nvidia 9600GT and 8400GS but my ATI690G is better off without HA. When HA is on for my Nvidia rigs, the CPU usage is very low.

The tuner is pretty good, it's recognized as a Connexant BDA tuner, on the card itself, the chip read Samsung. Anyways, some of you might remember I just got a Hauppauge HVR-1250 which I really like because of the relatively good ATSC tuner sensitivity. This KWorld is not as sensitive as the HVR1250, it drew the exact same channels as my older Sapphire ATI650 PCI card at the same time.

Just a little sidenote, the software on my HVR1250 remote is already broken. I gave up on it, I am using GBPVR also and it's shame the Hauppauge remotes are like this.

So between the HVR1250 and the KWorld HD PCI 120, which one would you recommend overall?

I am looking to add a more updated ATSC card to my MCE HTPC to record OTA HDTV programs.. The dual tuner that came with the computer doesn't pick up many of the channels my TV connected to the Silversensor antenna can pick up.

Btw, I have a 8600GS on my Vista Home Premium machine.. if that helps with your advise at all. :)

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

I had the HVR1250 and it did not pick up the stations as well as the Kworld PCI 120. The KWORLD is a great add to my HTPC.

Using in HTPC
TwinHan DVB 1020a Satellite card.
KWORLD PCI 120 HDTV Tuner
HD-DVD/Blu-ray and dvd burner with lightscribe.
Audio using the SPDIF out connector.
HD Space is 2TB. (Hello HD PVRs).

Thanks for sharing your experience, I will look for the KWorld 120 in local stores.

Different strokes for different folks...my HVR1250 definitely picks up channels better than the KWorld.

The HVR1250 is on par with my LG plasma tuner (which is a little worse than an AKAI plasma I previously had). My KWorld PCI120 is the exactly same as my Sapphire ATI650 (which may not pick up the Buffalo stations at the same time the HVR1250 can).

To be honest, I was more impressed with the bundles software of the KWorld, probably the most hassle free. The price is very very attractive also.