Any info on ATI AIW 9000?

[sparkle]

I am planning on getting an aiw9000 for a HTPC I am putting together. Just wanted to see what type of expiences anyone has had. Particularly, I am looking to use it as a PVR, the sole video output will be S-video to my TV. Also, I am interested in it's "DVD quality" video capture. Lastly, I am debating on using it with an Audigy soundcard. If anyone has used this bad boy, especially in a similar situation, please give me your feedback.

Thanks!

 

[DurocShark]

I'm using an 8500DV in my HTPC and it is amazing. I can't imagine the 9000 being any worse...

 

[Mingon]

I have a 9800se aiw in my htpc, it is undoubtable a good card but the drivers are awful and bug ridden imoh. It took alot of mucking about to get it to boot to just the TV, the card has issue with directx9.0b, the remote software is a bit of a pain and so far I cant get it to record sound.

 

[sparkle]

Well, I got it, and it works great, even with DX9. As for the sound issue, I had the same problem at first until I hooked it up to my soundcard internally. The only thing I can't figure out is, is there a way to reord shows w/o the TV window poping up?

 

[PerfMan]

Originally posted by: sparkle
I am planning on getting an aiw9000 for a HTPC I am putting together. Just wanted to see what type of expiences anyone has had. Particularly, I am looking to use it as a PVR, the sole video output will be S-video to my TV. Also, I am interested in it's "DVD quality" video capture. Lastly, I am debating on using it with an Audigy soundcard. If anyone has used this bad boy, especially in a similar situation, please give me your feedback.

Thanks!

Save your $$$.. Buy an ATI card... without AIW capabilities... and then pick up a LeadTek WinFast TV2000 Deluxe.. You will be much happier.. spend less $$$ and get a FM Tuner included for free. I was in the same boat... which AIW to buy. All I really wanted to do was to increase my gaming capabilities... but got tired of buying a whole new card when I wanted faster FPS... I took a chance with the LeadTek.. and am way happier than with my AIW... I didn't realize that software could actually be stable... My AIW PVR capabilities were terrible... and the LeadTek seems solid. For $48 you can't go wrong...

 

[rbV5]

Save your $$$.. Buy an ATI card... without AIW capabilities... and then pick up a LeadTek WinFast TV2000 Deluxe.. You will be much happier.. spend less $$$ and get a FM Tuner included for free. I was in the same boat... which AIW to buy. All I really wanted to do was to increase my gaming capabilities... but got tired of buying a whole new card when I wanted faster FPS... I took a chance with the LeadTek.. and am way happier than with my AIW... I didn't realize that software could actually be stable... My AIW PVR capabilities were terrible... and the LeadTek seems solid. For $48 you can't go wrong...

Note: Well, I got it, and it works great

 

[dguy6789]

The 9000 Pro, although not the fastest card on the block, will still play any game to date well. And the AIW features are only a bonus, get the aiw 9000 pro if you do med - heavy gaming and want tv features, get a aiw VE if you do no gaming and want tv features, get an aiw 9700 or 9800 if you do extreme gaming and want tv features.

 

[Genx87]

How do the 9000 AIW and 9600 Pro AIW compare for encoding capabiltiies and or speed?

I couldnt find any comparisons except gaming. Well I am not buying this card to game but to take my old VHS tapes and convert them to a digital format with the hope of maybe eventually putting them on a DVD so they will last forever.

So is the 9600 pro AIW worth the extra money over the 9000 AIW when it comes to encoding?

 

[dguy6789]

I dont know if any of the AIW cards have diff speeds of encoding, i believe they all use the same tv chip. the only diff between the 9000 pro aiw and 9600 pro aiw is the gaming performance im pretty sure, someone correct me if im wrong.

 

[sparkle]

Genx87,

I don't game on the system I am using this in, but I am using it to make mpeg2 of tv shows and VHS stuff, and let me say, it does a very good job! Actually, I was really impressed, and I haven't noticed any dropped frames yet.

 

[rbV5]

How do the 9000 AIW and 9600 Pro AIW compare for encoding capabiltiies and or speed?

The 9600 does use the cobra engine for a hardware assist on MPEG-2 streams like all the r3xx core AIW cards. Its ~10% to 20% and is handy for using video soap during capture. It reduces the load on the CPU rather than increases encoding speed. The 9600 also uses the video shader to accelerate video processing like the AIW 9700/9800 pro cards. The ATI compare will give you a brief run down of the feature differences between the different cards.

 

[Atlantean]

How much is the 9000 all in wonder, wouldn't you be better off getting a 9600 aiw, in Canada its only like $30 more. No idea about the states.

 

[Genx87]

9000 AIW goes for like 150 bucks from companies I have never heard of on pricewatch.com while the 9600 pro AIE goes for 220 at newegg.com


Compared to these Winfast tuners is the 9600 Pro worth it? My primary concern is encoding quality and speed over game functionality.

 

[Genx87]

Well after running through it I decided on the 9600 Pro AIW.

 

[hans007]

the 9000 aiw uses the same rage theatre chip as all the one out there now, including the 9800 aiw.


outside of the 3d, its a good card , i had previously sold many on ebay, and well if you look on pricewatch sometimes you can get the whole set for $120.

 

[matrixwalker]

i have an 8500 AIW 128MB which is what the AIW 9000 is based off of. I had it paired with an Audigy Gamer, and it worked just fine, as long as you have the most updated drivers from creative labs. I now have it paired with an Audigy 2 Platinum, and again, it works great! I'd suggest u get a platinum version of ur audigy card, the extra front bay ports are really useful, and since the audigy 2 ZS is out now, u can find a platinum audigy for $99 and for $129 the one with the external box. The basic audigy is $79, so just a $20 increase is worth it for that bay.

 

[tmc]

can someone tell me the tv tuner capabilities of ati aiw 9600 pro. can it capture at dvd quality (video-in thru s-video)? thanks.

 

[matrixwalker]

yeah, the AIW 9600 can do that, and so can any of the other AIW's