HDTV cards

I have a KWorld HDTV card but I can't get anything OTA. I have an outside
antenna but we were never able to get analog TV very well OTA. I think it
has more to do with the geography/topography in our location more than
distance and that's why we've used cable for the past 30 years.

At any rate, I'm looking for a QAM HDTV card. I'm leaning towards the Fusion
cards but there are two versions, a Lite and a Gold. I understand that the
Lite version doesn't include the ULead software or a remote, but I was
wondering if they have the same chip.

The Fusion site seems to imply that the chips are the same but I saw
somewhere (and I can't find the link) that they have different chips.

I'm also considering BTV and possibly their remote. I should probably check
the snapstream site, but I was wondering if their FireFly remote will work
with the Fusion card.

Wayne

"GuessWho" wrote in message
news
I have a KWorld HDTV card but I can't get anything OTA. I have an outside
antenna but we were never able to get analog TV very well OTA. I think it
has more to do with the geography/topography in our location more than
distance and that's why we've used cable for the past 30 years.

At any rate, I'm looking for a QAM HDTV card. I'm leaning towards the
Fusion cards but there are two versions, a Lite and a Gold. I understand
that the Lite version doesn't include the ULead software or a remote, but
I was wondering if they have the same chip.

The Fusion site seems to imply that the chips are the same but I saw
somewhere (and I can't find the link) that they have different chips.

I'm also considering BTV and possibly their remote. I should probably
check the snapstream site, but I was wondering if their FireFly remote
will work with the Fusion card.

Wayne


First off I'd go to Antenna .org and see what they have to say about your
chances to receive OTA.
The antenna you have now may not be the right one for UHF or may not be a
good choice for your location.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

There has to be a pretty poor chance of receiving OTA to consider QAM. If
your only resource for the digital signal is QAM go to AVS forum and check
what channel are unencrypted QAM before you buy any HDTV tuner. Each cable
company is different when it comes to which channels you will be able to
tune, and are subject to change at anytime. The best situation would be to
at least have the OTA to fall back on if the line up changes.

The Fusion lite does have a different chip on the analog side the ATSC
tuners are the same.

If you are interested in selling the card please reply as I am in the
market for a ATSC-110.

Pete

"jolt" wrote in
:


"GuessWho" wrote in message
news
I have a KWorld HDTV card but I can't get anything OTA. I have an
outside antenna but we were never able to get analog TV very well OTA.
I think it has more to do with the geography/topography in our
location more than distance and that's why we've used cable for the
past 30 years.

At any rate, I'm looking for a QAM HDTV card. I'm leaning towards the
Fusion cards but there are two versions, a Lite and a Gold. I
understand that the Lite version doesn't include the ULead software
or a remote, but I was wondering if they have the same chip.

Peter Bassett wrote:
If you are interested in selling the card please reply as I am in
the
market for a ATSC-110.

Pete
snip

Purely out of curiosity, why do you prefer the KWorld card over the
HDTV Wonder? They seem to be pretty similar on the surface. Is it
because of BeyondTV? It's available for $70 here.

http://www.nextag.com/kworld-atsc-11...53B2B7EB481E3F

Next question. Does anybody here use BeyondTV? My latest attempt under
WinXP Pro with a clean install on a new 300 gig drive was a big
stuttering mess. They claim to run 2 HD tuners but with 2 HDTV Wonders,
it would not run either of them. Removing 1 of the 2 tuners got to the
stuttering mess. I tried to follow their load instructions but it's
entirely possible (likely) I messed something up. No luck with Sage TV
either.

GG

"jolt" wrote in message
...

"GuessWho" wrote in message
news
I have a KWorld HDTV card but I can't get anything OTA. I have an outside
antenna but we were never able to get analog TV very well OTA. I think it
has more to do with the geography/topography in our location more than
distance and that's why we've used cable for the past 30 years.

At any rate, I'm looking for a QAM HDTV card. I'm leaning towards the
Fusion cards but there are two versions, a Lite and a Gold. I understand
that the Lite version doesn't include the ULead software or a remote, but
I was wondering if they have the same chip.

The Fusion site seems to imply that the chips are the same but I saw
somewhere (and I can't find the link) that they have different chips.

I'm also considering BTV and possibly their remote. I should probably
check the snapstream site, but I was wondering if their FireFly remote
will work with the Fusion card.

Wayne


First off I'd go to Antenna .org and see what they have to say about your
chances to receive OTA.
The antenna you have now may not be the right one for UHF or may not be a
good choice for your location.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

There has to be a pretty poor chance of receiving OTA to consider QAM. If
your only resource for the digital signal is QAM go to AVS forum and check
what channel are unencrypted QAM before you buy any HDTV tuner. Each cable
company is different when it comes to which channels you will be able to
tune, and are subject to change at anytime. The best situation would be to
at least have the OTA to fall back on if the line up changes.

The Fusion lite does have a different chip on the analog side the ATSC
tuners are the same.

Jolt,

Thanx for the reply.

I have checked the antennaweb link in the past; so I was aware of what OTA
HDTV was available in our area. I know I don't have the proper antenna for
much of the OTA here (it's an old VHF antenna used just for FM these days).
A couple of the local stations are broadcasting over VHF and I could get a
30% signal on one of the channels and I'm not interested in putting up a
bigger/better antenna.

We still have basic analog TWC and it is my understanding that they are
required to transmit unencrypted local HDTV which a QAM enabled TV or tuner
card should pick up. I understand that we won't be able to pick up any
encrypted transmission, but I don't care. We watch broadcast TV or DVDs.

Wayne

Thanx for the reply.

I have checked the antennaweb link in the past; so I was aware of what OTA
HDTV was available in our area. I know I don't have the proper antenna for
much of the OTA here (it's an old VHF antenna used just for FM these
days). A couple of the local stations are broadcasting over VHF and I
could get a 30% signal on one of the channels and I'm not interested in
putting up a bigger/better antenna.

We still have basic analog TWC and it is my understanding that they are
required to transmit unencrypted local HDTV which a QAM enabled TV or
tuner card should pick up. I understand that we won't be able to pick up
any encrypted transmission, but I don't care. We watch broadcast TV or
DVDs.

Wayne

(QUOTE) it is my understanding that they are
required to transmit unencrypted local HDTV (QUOTE)


That's the rub not all cable provider live up to the requirement so it's
best to check what channels are unencrypted QAM in your area before you buy.
Also setting up the tuner should be easier when you know what channels to
expect.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

"jolt" wrote in message
. ..


Thanx for the reply.

I have checked the antennaweb link in the past; so I was aware of what
OTA HDTV was available in our area. I know I don't have the proper
antenna for much of the OTA here (it's an old VHF antenna used just for
FM these days). A couple of the local stations are broadcasting over VHF
and I could get a 30% signal on one of the channels and I'm not
interested in putting up a bigger/better antenna.

We still have basic analog TWC and it is my understanding that they are
required to transmit unencrypted local HDTV which a QAM enabled TV or
tuner card should pick up. I understand that we won't be able to pick up
any encrypted transmission, but I don't care. We watch broadcast TV or
DVDs.

Wayne

(QUOTE) it is my understanding that they are
required to transmit unencrypted local HDTV (QUOTE)


That's the rub not all cable provider live up to the requirement so it's
best to check what channels are unencrypted QAM in your area before you
buy. Also setting up the tuner should be easier when you know what
channels to expect.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241


jolt,

Again thanx for the link. I've looked at this in the past and there is a
substantial thread for our local market but no one seems to know about QAM
capability over TWC Basic (channels 1-20) service.

There is even a strictly local HDTV web site but everyone, including the
moderator, seems to be using an antenna of some kind for OTA transmission.

I'm getting fed up with TWC and the only reason we still have it is because
our RR service would cost the equivalent of having their Basic service if we
just wanted RR.

I've also searched the local TWC site and can't find anything about QAM
capability. They don't even list Basic service as an option. The only place
I found any reference to Basic service was in their FAQ section in regards
to their Family package service and then they only mention that it costs an
average of $12 system wide. No mention of how one subscribes to Basic
service these days.

I just found out that my neighbor across the street gets excellent OTA HDTV
with an outside antenna that doesn't appear to be much larger than mine. He
did tell me that he does have difficulty with OTA VHF HDTV signals. My
current antenna doesn't have UHF capability. So maybe I'll look into a
'better' antenna before investing in a second HDTV tuner card just for the
QAM capability.

Wayne