Mon, 08 Jun 2009
KWORLD ATSC 340U Dongle HDTV USB Stick ATSC/ClearQAM AC3 Output - Retail
I bought this tuner from newegg when it was on sale for $35.
I have basic cable from comcast and I was able to pickup local channels in HD(clearQAM).
The video quality is good and overall im pretty happy with this tuner.See updates below.
Buying a USB extension cable for this tuner is an absolute must as otherwise it keeps on disconnecting at the slightest move and sometimes it feels like it will break also.
One thing to remmeber though this tuner will not work with encrypted channels like ESPN etc .FCC mandates that cable comapnies to carry unencrypted channels which are transmitted over the air , and with this tuner you can only see those channels.
N.B. I have read on many forums that KWorld is very bad as far as rebates and most of the people have not got their rebates.I don't have any first hand experience on this .
After having this tuner for a couple of months now and trying it with various software and various hardware I have come to the conclusion that it does not work with HD content even at 720p so overall I would not recommend this tuner anymore. You can try using the following software with this tuner as the bundled software Arcsoft TotalMedia is very limited in functionality.
TV Listing sites
Other Tools which might help for HTPC/PVR setup
I have basic cable from comcast and I was able to pickup local channels in HD(clearQAM).
The video quality is good and overall im pretty happy with this tuner.See updates below.
Buying a USB extension cable for this tuner is an absolute must as otherwise it keeps on disconnecting at the slightest move and sometimes it feels like it will break also.
One thing to remmeber though this tuner will not work with encrypted channels like ESPN etc .FCC mandates that cable comapnies to carry unencrypted channels which are transmitted over the air , and with this tuner you can only see those channels.
N.B. I have read on many forums that KWorld is very bad as far as rebates and most of the people have not got their rebates.I don't have any first hand experience on this .
After having this tuner for a couple of months now and trying it with various software and various hardware I have come to the conclusion that it does not work with HD content even at 720p so overall I would not recommend this tuner anymore. You can try using the following software with this tuner as the bundled software Arcsoft TotalMedia is very limited in functionality.
- TSReader - Crashes for me on startup on 2 Windows XP boxes.People have got it by selecting the Hauppage generic QAM driver.
- Got All Media - Managed to get it running for ATSC(OTA) signals.Still could not get it running on Comcast cable(ClearQAM or QAM)
- Media Portal - Tried it a year ago could not get it to work at all.Though there is a link to an article for a similar tuner which I feel might work .
- WatchHDTV - Could not get it to work and software seems to be abandoned by the developer.
- GB-PVR - Could not get it to work.
TV Listing sites
Other Tools which might help for HTPC/PVR setup
posted at: 03:41 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
