ATI HDTV Wonder Video Card

To enable full functionality this requires some research and tweaking esp for MCE 2005 (analog tuner use)

Strengths: HDTV wonder OTA - Hybrid tuner - decent package for the ~$50 price range

Weakness: $130+ for an Alpha-Beta status product, software encoding that MCE2005 didn't at 1st support (ati added drivers later), Hacked KRAM drivers needed to enable analog tuner of HDTV wonder in MCE 2005

LOL to the last comment. See that's what's so great. Is as time goes on, things like drivers improve on both ends (ATI & Microsoft). So a person buying this card HOT off the presses in 2004 and comparing that to a user who buys it in mid 2005, or later 2006, 2007 ...well they have a VASTLY different experience. THE TREND: With computer hardware is RUSH the hardware...work out the bugs later in...
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LOL to the last comment. See that's what's so great. Is as time goes on, things like drivers improve on both ends (ATI & Microsoft). So a person buying this card HOT off the presses in 2004 and comparing that to a user who buys it in mid 2005, or later 2006, 2007 ...well they have a VASTLY different experience.

THE TREND: With computer hardware is RUSH the hardware...work out the bugs later in software updates. It's true for TV Tuner cards, Graphics cards and ESPECIALLY motherboards.

But if you are an AVERAGE consumer you look at products, and say I WANT HDTV, you read the magazine reviews and you get sold so you buy one. Then you find out that installing the software from the CD included gets you about 50-75% percent functionality. and introduces new things like TV-ON-Deman ALWAYS ON in DTV (HD OTA tuning with this card). There are problems with the encoding causing stuttering (100% unrelated to system hardware) there are issues with recording blah blah blah.

Did those people that bought these cards in 2004-2005 have every right to think and believe that spending $130-$150 on an HDTV Wonder that CLAIMED to do all the things on the box SHOULD in fact be able to do them? YOUR DARN TOOTING THEY DID!

At that time the HDTV Wonder and All of ATI's software encoded (vs hardware encoded) TV tuning or All-In-Wonder cards were not compatible with Windows MCE 2005... In early 2005 ATI w/ Microsoft developed software drivers that would allow these products to work....A SELLING POINT THAT ATI NOW CLAIMED. ****HOWEVER, ATI FAILED TO MENTION that the HDTV wonder in MCE 2005 ONLY WORKED AS A DTV (HDTV OTA Antenna ...and the Analog tuner was NOT-FUNCTIONAL AT ALL!!!!) Further it required at first a compatible hardware encoded card....later this worked with the All-IN-Wonder cards as the analog tuner (even though they were still software encoded the driver improvements ATI & MS made made this possible).

NOW around that time the KRAM drivers and a hacked setup became available (0% support from ATI or MS) but these hacked KRAM drivers did in 2005 and still today allow the HDTV wonder to be used either as an analog tuner or an HDTV tuner (either one or the other not both at the same time) in MCE 2005. So finally enabling it to be used as a dual tuner analog set up.

So, don't be hating on people that bought these cards and gave up on them in 2004-2005. Many kept the cards and kept HOUNDING ATI TO FIX IT!!!! in forums like 3drage, hexus, the green button, avs forums, etc. are why your later 2005 to present installations were SO MUCH EASIER!

ATI made a lot of dramatic changes to its software and drivers and didn't explain or share or bother to get input from the people that buy there products and were there PAYING ALPHA & BETA testers. They changed the drivers from WDM-SP to WDM-NSP without explaining to the people the effects / issues.
And when in the Catalyst 6.3 Driver they went to a T200 Unified digital driver they presented it like it was an ORDINARY UPDATE...not telling people that it would stop the functioning of there MMC 9.08 and before systems.

ATI, ATI, ATI, ATI, ATI, ATI, ATI, ATI, USER ERROR, BAD HARDWARE
8/10 times it was ATI's BAD DRIVERS software, and it's bad software installation in that it doesn't fully delete the files and more importantly the registry entries...so if you end up getting into a problem with digital vs analog drivers and NSP vs SP etc. you can't even count on ATI's add or remove programs to un-install itself to properly start over.

COME ON!

DON'T BE BLAMING USERS FOR ATI'S AND MICROSOFT'S DESIGNS!
Some experienced plug and play setups depending on the drivers they got on the CD or downloaded from ATI. But realize that not every one knows what they should be getting or experiencing from the card as well and not everyone that writes a review (read above) uses every single function of a card. Just as a TV viewer is vastly different that a fully functioning PVR which is what it's capable of and what ATI sold it as, and blue scrrens, crashes, failed recordings, out of sync audio/video, stuttering is Not RIGHT!


This improved right up until Catalyst 6.3 and MMC9.08...after that w/ the T200 drivers TV on Demand was part of MMC 9.13-9.16 for all analog tuner HDTV wonder or All-In-wonder... it COULD/CAN be disabled temporarily via a registry hack...but simply changing the input from Tuner to composite or S-Video to inport video (Home movies) or video games etc. and then switching back to Tuner enables it again & you have to go back in and change it each & every time or run a script to do it.... They were BAD Designs trying to marry the analog HDTV wonder, All-in-Wonder, TV Wonder lines (Software) with the Hardware encoded TV wonder elite (550) and the Tv Wonder 650 both hardware encoded.

There might have been SOME light at the end of the tunel with 9.17 etc but AMD bought out ATI and KILLED THE ALL-IN-WONDER PROGRAM, leaving us all high and dry.

By bdubslawman - Feb 1, 2009

Works well - IF you have the time

Strengths: Hardware is fine with Windows Media Center - otherwise don't waste your time

Weakness: Need to spend hours to get it to work well

I have an Athlon 64 2500 (Barton processor) with this card and another analog card, Windows Media Center and a great fat TV antenna (RCA 100+element VHF/UHF) on the roof. This setup is then my DVR and surf box. I don't use the computer for anything else. This is a lot cheaper than HDTV from the cable company but of course I miss all those other channels. The picture is displayed on my Sanyo PLVZ4...
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I have an Athlon 64 2500 (Barton processor) with this card and another analog card, Windows Media Center and a great fat TV antenna (RCA 100+element VHF/UHF) on the roof. This setup is then my DVR and surf box. I don't use the computer for anything else. This is a lot cheaper than HDTV from the cable company but of course I miss all those other channels. The picture is displayed on my Sanyo PLVZ4 at 7 feet wide and I have a fairly cheap sound card with optical out for the 5.1 sound. Overall this is a fantastic setup for the price but...

Cons:
It took me days and days of reading on AVSForum and the like to get it all configured.

When the weather is bad the reception goes to digital blocks and then completely out.

After many attempts with other software I think Windows Media Center is the only way to go.

By qqc - Jun 23, 2007

won't work

Strengths: ?

Weakness: support

I could not get it to work and there is NO support,no help in anyway.I bought it through Dell and they can't help and the help phone number from genco is always busy.

By gmh717 - Jan 3, 2007

Awesome Card I should have bought two and used new ati drivers from website like a charm

Strengths: HD Attenna and remote Included awesome HDTV experience and quality. SDTV and HDTV capture ability

Weakness: Poor Windows Driver support. TV software is obsolete dont bother with it use windows media center. Single tuner not a dual tuner.

I bought it to add to my Home theater PC as the third TV card. After plugging it in to the computer I had a difficult time installing driver and getting window media center to recognize the device. However when I researched this card at the time it was suppose to get the best HD reception since more power being outputted to the antenna connectors plus its the only one with an antenna included....
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I bought it to add to my Home theater PC as the third TV card. After plugging it in to the computer I had a difficult time installing driver and getting window media center to recognize the device. However when I researched this card at the time it was suppose to get the best HD reception since more power being outputted to the antenna connectors plus its the only one with an antenna included. There is suppose to even be a way to use both tuners with win xp mce. Eventhough i had an extremely difficult time installing it once i got it running I was able to full take advantage of my media center with SD-TV and HDTV.

By Do it for the Kids - Mar 3, 2006

Overall it is an excellent HDTV...

Strengths: Excellent HDTV quality.

Weakness: You need to download the newest driver from the web. Check the compatibility of your computer before you buy it. I installed windows xp sp2 before i install the driver for this card.

Overall it is an excellent HDTV card. It would be great if it can record TV like Tivo(I have not checked it out yet). The quality of cable TV and HDTV is great. I feel the sound in HDTV mode is a little bit weak compared to the cable TV. Be patient with the installation. It is better you have high speed conection to install the driver file 3 for now.

By hongthan - Dec 13, 2004