ATI All-In-Wonder Pro UPDATED: or Matrox Marvel G450?

[PCAddict]

Hi guys. I am considering buying this card for my secondary PC that's in my bedroom. I have a nice Viewsonic PF790, and it's quite suitable for TV viewing in my bedroom. My bedroom TV took a dump a while back, and I really don't feel like springing for another one. I have a crappy nVidia Vanta 8MB card in that PC now. Since I want to upgrade my video card anyhow, I am looking at the ATI card as a solution.

I have a GeForce in my other system that'll handle all of my gaming requirements, so that kind of performance really isn't a high priority. I do have a DVD drive in the PC that I want to put the ATI card in, and I know that the ATI should handle that very well.

Anyone own this card? Is this the way to go, or am I overlooking a better choice?

 

[(Chanse)]

Depending on price, the AIW Pro should fit in nicely. I just bought the AIW Radeon yesterday, since I wanted not only the tv and vivo features, but I replaced my TNT2Ultra, Tv wonder, and Realmagic dvd card. the AIW Pro will be better than the Vanta in 3D, especially since its not really an issue.

 

[Sid]

I also just upgraded to the AIW 128 Pro (32mg). I have a DVD and the movies are great. I also replaced a HW Plus decoder card. I ran my TV (antenna here, no cable) into the card so I can watch TV if I want. I think I paid $175 for retail version, which includes some good software including ATI DVD Player. No complaints, really like the card. You can also use it to record TV programs or anything from an outside video source.

 

[PCAddict]

I saw another thread on this forum about the Radeon AIW. I might have to look into that. I do want a good card, but gaming capability is not a big concern. Thanks for the replies. I welcome them all.

 

[KidViciou$]

can the ati all in wonder do tv out while still displaying the same on the monitor?

 

[Hawk]

If gaming is not a concern, the AIW 128 Pro or even the AIW 128 would be good, run at around 150-180 now (AIW Rage 128 Pro). But be careful, there are like 6 different AIWs, some very good, so don't think all of them are the same.

KidViciou$: Yes, but your monitor runs at the same refresh rate though.

 

[Davegod75]

hmm how much are aiw raedeon's and do they have good w2k drivers?

 

[PCAddict]

A buddy at work got me looking at the Matrox Marvel G450 which is supposed to be released any day now. Is this a viable option?

 

[(Chanse)]

The AIW 128 has the older Brooktree tv chip and whatnot, the AIW 128PRO and RadeonAIW use the ATI Rage THeatre chip? (if i'm wrong about anything don't get mad at me!)And the quality diff is noticeable. and the Radeon AIW drivers seem to be decent, and for the first time, it looks like ATI will NOT drop the ball on driver development

 

[PCAddict]

Cool. I'll have to see what the deal is once the Marvel G450 is out. Thanks for the reply.

 

[fodd3r]

if you're going for an ati, which i recomment you do, i suggest you make sure it has the rage theater chip on it.

 

[LightningJay]

I wouldn't wait for the marvel G450.
It lacks many of the features one with an interest in video options might want and it is in all aspects inferior to ATi's new AIW (and even the 128Pro). Their previous chip, the marvel G400 had two good things though. That is, it had twinview and supported hardware MJPEG recording. But the present and future shows that the hugh data streams created by that format are not the way to go (MPEG4, MPEG2 and the possibility of encoding it realtime thanks to faster procesors). Converting those streams in MPEG2 would as much(or even more) time asencoding it in realtime. I dont know if they have still included this feature in the new product but in their data sheets I didn't read a word about that.
And to at to that I followed the price-evolution of their marvel G400 for some time and instead of a lowering price because it was getiing outdated it even raised a little, I find Matrox is using unfair pricing. I think their marvel G450 would have been a good marvel G400 plus (or even a worse because of the lower clock setting and removed features).

 

[randomlinh]

it's funny how you refer to the G400's two monitor support "twinview" when it's called Dual Head... while nvidia's verision is called twinview

 

[PCAddict]

Thanks for the info. I am going to probably go with an AIW Pro.

 

[hans007]

buy my tv card off me , http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=45&threadid=265593