AIW8500 vs. Tv Tuner card & Geforce4 4200; opinions?

[beaglew]

How does a dual card setup stack up to the AIW 8500?

For example:

Visiontek Winfast TV2000XP or ATi TV tuner card or Hauppauge TV card
&
Geforce4 4200

Wouldn't this be cheaper, better gameplay and more easily upgradable?
Are there any drawbacks to this type of setup versus the AIW? I'm running
Windows XP on a P4 1.6. Are there any comparisons of stand alone TV tuner cards?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Reliant]

Well, I have had some problems with my Ati Tv-Tuner and XP.
I am not sure if the AIW uses the same chip and the Tv-Wonder PCI, but
I get garbeled images sometimes. I know how to coax it to work, but I should not have to do that.
Also, I am running a dual boot and the tv quality on the tv-wonder is sup par in XP compared to 98.
Just letting you know about that.
If you decide to upgrade your video card in the future and you have in AIW, you are out tv capability, so
that is not as friendly to upgrading.

 

[Tung]

gf4 + tv tuner is the better option.

 

[Blurry]

I though ATI's drivers for the TV-Wonder for WinXP were terrible. Has it been resolved or what?

 

[rudder]

AIW 8500
Pros - uses only AGP slot
Cons - if you want faster games you have to upgrade everything. And does the AIW come with DV? You may want to add that at a future date.

Personally I prefer the two seperate cards. New mobos have more than enough PCI slots. I like to keep my upgrade options simple.

 

[jcmkk]

I would go with the G4+TV tuner. Superior 3D and probably superior TV too. The only dissadvandtage is the fact that it would take up an extra slot, but I don't think that's much of an issue with most systems.

 

[QwErTyBk]

I agree with jcmkk

As for problems with ATI TV Wonder in XP

Use DScaler to watch (great picture and stability)
Use Virtuadub to record (or PowerVCR II but it is expensive)

Both are free. You only lose out on the remote that comes with the TV Wonder, although I hear it doesnt work all that well.

 

[powerMarkymark]

<< gf4 + tv tuner is the better option. >>



Another vote for this combo.

 

[S13SilviaK]

You guys say the dual card setup is better, but what capture card is reccomended? I heard the AIW is an excellent easy to use card, but all the capture cards I've seen reviews on say that they have problems with XP and normally have some sort of software bug.

 

[ScottMac]

I have two systems that I use for video editing. One has an AIW 8500DV, the other has a GF3Ti500. The AIW is WAY better video quality on everything I've tried (MPEG1, MPEG2, DiVx 4.x & 5.1, DVD, TV tuner, VHS...).

The GF3 is probably a better board for FPS speeds in games (I'm not much of a game player, I have the GF for compaitbility with a Pinnacle Pro One capture/rendering board). The AIW is pretty good speedwise for 3D games, and is much better (IMHO) than the GF3Ti500 for video quality.

Pick your priority and run with it. If you elect to get a tuner board, get a Happauge DTV board. It's more expensive, but the digital video is worth it. No ghosts, no snow, just clean TV images (good for recording).

If you're gonna feed it from Cable TV, then forget the DTV board, cable TV images are pretty noisy (even "digital" cable), and don't offer much (usually) in the way of digital television.

JM.02

Scott

 

[Woz]

Well, it is seeming to me that the ATI trade-up deal is pretty hot right now on the new Radeon 8500 128 MB. I have been a big fan of nVidia and loved my GeForce 2 until I upgraded to Win XP. Now, I can only get one set of 18 months old drivers to work, period. I've been planning on an upgrade to a GeForce 3 Ti or the new Ti 4200. And, yes, there is more flexability in have a dual board setup. However, ATI is clearly doing everything better than any of the others making a VIVO type card and offering excellent performance in 3D gaming. By the time games are actually taking advantage of the features that the GeForce 4 family offers, it will be time to upgrade. There is a slight performance advantage, but not that much.

So, right now for $250 you can get a 8500 through the trade-up program and have everything you want in one card. You would have to spend more to match the performance in a dual card setup.

I'm thinking it's what i'm going to do...

 

[GetInMyFatBelly]

I am a big fan of the ATI AIW cards, but it you go with the GF4 route, I would recommend Hauppauge for TV tuner cards, check out the WinTV Theater, that should work with Snapstream and DScaler. If you're budget minded, check out the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP at www.newegg.com.

 

[Woz]

If you haven't read the AIW 8500 review over at Hard OCP, go read it now. Can you say "glowing"?

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/vidcards/ati/aiw_8500_128mb/index.html