Help getting KWorld ATSC 115 card (with Arcsoft TotalMedia) to work with QAM

[ezatnova]

 Hello,

I hooked up a Kworld ATSC 115 (PCI) card to my XP Home (SP2) machine. I got this card because it has QAM (HD) capability, and I wanted to simply plug in my Comcast digital cable coax into the thing and watch the clear QAM channels that they provide, and record shows. I know from others' experiences that Comcast does have a decent handful of unencypted QAM channels.

The problem is, I'll have the Arcsoft software scan for channels. It picks up a TON (300 or so). 90%+ are encrypted and locked though, which is what I expected. The problem is, of those that aren't locked, only SEVEN show video when I tune to the channel. The other 20 or so just have the SOUND of the tv show, and no video! It shows a little "radio" icon or symbol, telling me it things it's an radio station, so it doesn't even show a black screen or pixelation. The signal strength bar is FULL!

Of course, when I contact Kworld, they blame Arcsoft, and Arcsoft blames Kworld!  Any help would be greatly appreciated. I wish this where simple...just plug in the cable and work!

[barret]

I cannot give you much info on Comcast QAM except to tell you that they are starting to utilize the MPEG4 h.264 video compression format in certain areas. It allows them squeeze  HD channels  utilizing  limited bandwidth. Most video cards that are not capable of decoding the MPEG4 format will show these as radio stations. Higher end processors and different decoding software is usually required to view these. The digital QAM HD channels that you are viewing are more than likely in the MPEG2 format

[ezatnova]

Wow, that is really interesting info. Sounds like it could be true.  Just to clarify on your post, so is it my graphics video card, or the tv tuner card that could be at fault? And are you saying that it might be corrected with different 3rd party software, other than the Arcsoft TotalMedia?  I really hate that program anyway, but I CAN NOT FIND another third party software that will work with digitcal cable/HD/QAM with the KWorld tuner card!!!

[barret]

I am not familiar with terrestrial and cable tuner cards. I use satellite tuner cards. To process  h.264 MPEG4 video with my sat card I just had to locate the proper codec.

[ezatnova]

I am not familiar with terrestrial and cable tuner cards. I use satellite tuner cards. To process  h.264 MPEG4 video with my sat card I just had to locate the proper codec.

Sorry for the noob question, but, how can I "locate a proper codec"?  Is a codec jsut a thing I add to my computer or rather the whole third party software I'm using to view channels through my card?

[barret]

Some third party software programs allow you to choose different codecs through the setup menu. Other times the codec will attach itself during the installation. I use this one with DVBViewer for Satellite viewing HD h.264.
http://www.elecard.com/products/products-pc/consumer/avc-plugin/

[ezatnova]

Thanks. I'll give that program a try since my current situation just = RMA 
Although, I don't have one of those "elecard" things that the link you posted talks about being compatible with. We shall see.