Reviews for ATI TV Wonder Elite TV Tuner

Great hardware, but you pay a lot for crummy software

Strengths: - Theater 550 chipset - good hardware - USB connection for remote control receiver

Weakness: - poor software bundle - no linux support at this time

The ATI Theater Pro 550, of which the TV Wonder Elite is the ATI-branded example, is currently absolutely the best off the air (including cable) analog TV card. It also does an excellent job recording from an external input like an analog movie camera or VHS player (it also does FM, but I haven't played with that). The thing is, you're paying a premium for the software that comes ATI brand over the MSI, visiontek, etc. cards that are otherwise identical. Unfortunately, the powercinema 3 that you get is really, really bad in SO many ways (including a terrible leak of win32 handles that will bring your system to its knees). Just get a cheaper clone card and download the ATI Multimedia Center or one of the various free TV apps, instead.
NOTE: Not all of the less expensive theater pro 550 cards come with a remote, so, if you care about that, be careful.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite RCE PCI

Strengths: Picture quality.

Weakness: Remote not compatible with MCE

This tuner uses ATI theater 550 chipset which is the best analog chipset available now.(Theater 650 came out but I cannot find the product).
You can buy other brand tuner which uses the same chipset.
FYI, powercolor makes PCI-E version of this tuner and the remote included is MCE compatible.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite RCE PCI

Strengths: Works great with Window media center edition!!

Weakness: No Hd

Ive been using this TV tuner card for over a Month now with no problems. It was easy to set up with Windows Xp Media center edition and all features work great. full function from remote with media center. If your looking for a tuner card to use with media center this is it!

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite RCE PCI

Strengths: High quality analog tuner, good picture, slim form factor

Weakness: Needs additional software to run in WinXP Media Center. Remote doesn't work with WinXP Media Center

Wish it came with an IR remote that would work with Media Center. It does also come with an analog capture cable as well as an S-video and composite video cable. The software included is a little lacking. I was hoping it would be more plug and play with WinXP Media Center edition. However, this is a high quality card that works great once configured.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite RCE PCI

Strengths: Clear picture and sound, nice remote.

Weakness: The bundle software is not good enough and not support international TV system.

This is a wonderful TV tuner card. I use a freeware, GBPVR instead of the bundle software that they give in the box. There is some issue with remote installation. After everything is working, this card and remote give the excellent result. If this card can support international TV system in one card, it will make this card perfect.

80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite TV Tuner

Strengths: Picture quality, remote, affordability.

Weakness: The program that comes does not do the terrific card justice. Get Beyond TV to enjoy it in full!

If the FCC's broadcast flag mandate had taken effect, all makers of HDTV receivers would have been required build their devices to watch for a broadcast "flag" embedded in programs by copyright holders. That means no more home-built PVR. Thankfully, the July 1st 2005 deadline has been thrown out. Danger is still lurking, though. I feel I did rush a bit with the purchasing decision, but have no regrets.

68% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite

Strengths: Great quality picture, I owned another tuner but with less features, was not nearly as easy to use as the ATI Elite.

Weakness: None that I have discovered!

After a year of owning another TV tuner I found that a friend recommended that I purchase the ATI TV Wonder Elite, and it was just smiles after that, plus there was a rebate as well!

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

No Sound

Strengths: hardware MPEG-2 encoding

Weakness: No sound. The software that comes with it is weak.

The TV Wonder Elite is the highest quality TV Tuner Cards I have experienced. It bundled with high-quality TV and FM tuners, S-Video and component cables, an FM antenna, and an ATI Remote Wonder Plus remote control and USB IR receiver.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Impressive Performer

Strengths: Hardware encoder

Weakness: A bit costlier than 3rd party cards

First of all, I recommend that anyone considering a tuner card also consider Beyond TV as a front end. The software the comes with this card is very lacking, and the remote leads much to be desired.

BUT this unit performs quickly and efficiently and its small size is wonderful in a cramped computer case.

There's not much else to say about this card - it's easy to install and is a wonderful performer.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

TV Wonder Elite

Strengths: great video quality, many cables included, rf remote, medaia center compatible, fm tuner

Weakness: only one tuner, remote doesn't work with media center

This is definitely one of the best tuners out there. i only wish there was a dual tuner version. i'm using it in media center and picture quality is about as good as you can expect (not perfect, but better than most). The included remote is well designed and is rf instead of infrared, so you don't have to worry about pointing it at a receiver. But unfortunately the remote doesn't work with media center.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great for a windows media center

Strengths: Recording are awesome.

Weakness: N/A

Some reviewers have commented that the recordings look better than watching the live signal, and I agree with them. But burned to DVD they truly look like a manufactured DVD. They're as as good as Standard Definition NTSC 4:3 TV gets. I don't know yet if a direct S-Video feed from my Nvidia card looks as good, but I assume it does.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite PCI TV FM Tuner PVR with Remote

Strengths: one of the best. The tuner and the recording are excellent.

Weakness: Imcompatible with Satilite TV.

Bought this card with ATI HDTV tuner while they were on sale. I decided to keep ATI TV wonder Elite after reading the feedbacks here and in some other websites. This card has far more better feedbacks. The tuner and the recording are excellent.The pictures are crystal clear. Somebody says this one is compatibale with satilite. But I don't know how to figure it out.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ATI TV Wonder Elite

TestSeek.com has collected 8 expert reviews for ATI TV Wonder Elite and the average expert rating is 79 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use TestSeek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

Read Full Review