KWorld PlusTV HD PCI 120

My KWorld PlusTV HD PCI 120 page: http://xenomorph.net/?p=563


The KWorld PlusTV HD PCI 120 is an HDTV tuner card. It allows you to watch television on your computer. It supports analog tuning, digital tuning, FM radio, and comes with a remote control.

Price: $55 (Newegg)

Pros:
* Cheap.
* Great picture.
* FM radio
* Remote control.
* Bundled "media center" software takes advantage of all functions of the card and is pretty simple to use.

Cons:
* Sound goes over the PCI BUS (no way to turn it up and other stuff down), and the sound isn't that loud to begin with.
* Bundled "media center" program isn't that good at just simple TV viewing in a window (it works best full screen only).
* Support in other TV tuner / media center packages is limited (the card is probably too new to be supported).
* TV remote seems to be designed only for bundled media center program. No way to customize how it works. It also has a button that either turns off your computer or puts it to sleep without warning or prompting for confirmation (and it seems like there is no way to disable that button or change what it does).
* Changing channels is slow. About a 3-4 second pause between switching.

See below for list of compatible TV viewing programs.

Rating: 6 / 10

Summary: The card is relatively cheap, works well, and has great image quality. Slow channel changing, non external audio output, and very low software compatibility hurt it though. I don't know if slow channel changing is an issue with the drivers, hardware, or HDTV in general. Over time, the software compatibility should increase. I've been using FFDShow to try and work around the sound issue.

It's hard to recommend this. It works, but has quirks. You may love it or hate it.