All-In-There:The Good, the bad and the Ugly
Written: Dec 11 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Complete TV-3D-A/V solution
Cons: Overheats easily, slow 3D
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| sharky's Full Review: ATI All-in-Wonder® 128, (32 MB) PCI Video Car... |
The original reason I bought this card was for the TV Tuner. Just the thought of watching TV on my computer made me giddy. And this card does not disappoint. I'm watching TV right now. The TV software , on the other hand, is a different story. It lacks some useful features but definitely lets you personalize channel features. There exists some 3rd party software for European users who might have problems with the cable tv (AtiMsch).
The card has some amazing A/V features. It allows for VCD quality Video capture for those with pentium 233+ or greater and DVD (MPEG2) quality video capture with Pentium III 500 or greater machines (though ATI might tell you of lower standards). One of the bigger problems with the video capture is that the ATI Codecs aren't standard on all Windows machines and so all files recorded with this Codec will not work with other machines. The TV OUT feature outs to VCR or TV at 640x768 or 800x600 and uses virtual desktop scheme if the monitor is set to a higher resolution.
The card is simple to use and install and the many cables it comes with might be the only problem. ATI is notorious for Driver problems concentrating more on their newest products. With the ATI RAGE 128 PRO, this means this card's drivers won't be updated often.
Unfortunately, this card comes with ATI Multimedia Center 6.0 and not the newest version (6.2). This means there still is a problem with VCD CREATION using v6.0. These problems can be annoying so if you intend to purchase this card for VCD production, think twice or make sure you get the MMC6.2. Mind you, VCD's made with MMC6.2 look very nice indeed.
If your a gamer looking for a fast 3D card to get knee deep into fragging, then please don't consider this card unless you want it for the complete package. Choose rather a GeFORCE Shark 256 or a TNT2 Ultra. This card stacks up just a bit higher than the Nvidia TNT with the original drivers and gets to possibly 80% the speed of a VooDoo 3 with new drivers (esp. Lightspeed) and other registry changes. But what it lacks in speed, it makes up with stunning graphics and rich colour.
The card comes with MPEG2 decoding built in but only for DVD's. The DVD support means that your machine doesn't have to be fast to watch DVD's.
This is a MUST HAVE for those who like: watching TV, capturing TV stills or shows, making VCDs, playing games on their Television, or editing video and making custom effects for their home videos.
There are some issues with ALI chipset and VIA motherboards. Issues are resolved on the original CD.
Some sites to visit include www.rageunderground.com and www.lightspeed.com if you own this card as well as the newsgroup alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati .
Well, TV calls.
--Pirana.S
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sharky
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Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 6 members
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