ATI TV Wonder Pro

[notation]

Anyone have any experience with this card? I don't have a tv right now, and I really don't feel like spending 150+ dollars for a tv to take up a lot of space in my small room. How's the picture quality on the TV Wonder? I'm happy as long as it doesn't look too grainy on my screen. Having the ability to capture video and watch tv doesn't seem bad for 60 some bucks.

 

[PCHPlayer]

Go over to rage3d.com and check out the forums over there. Seems there are a few folks having problem with these boards.

 

[chsh1ca]

Originally posted by: notation
Anyone have any experience with this card? I don't have a tv right now, and I really don't feel like spending 150+ dollars for a tv to take up a lot of space in my small room. How's the picture quality on the TV Wonder? I'm happy as long as it doesn't look too grainy on my screen. Having the ability to capture video and watch tv doesn't seem bad for 60 some bucks.

I have an original ATI TV Wonder, and I have to say, it's possibly the best $70 I've ever spent when it comes to computers. I bought it for the same reasons you are looking at. The TV Wonder can do capture without issue on a reasonably fast system (1.2GHz AMD T-Bird did perfect quality at full NTSC to MPEG2). It's served me very well in the years I've had it, and I can't say anything bad about it. I do know there were issues in windows with the multimedia centre not jiving with the original radeon drivers, but this never affected me since I really mostly use the card in linux.

That all being said, I'm unsure of the TV Wonder Pro, since I don't own one. I can't imagine it is any worse than my card, since ATI is pretty good when it comes to their multimedia cards.

 

[ZoNtO]

I have owned a TV Wonder VE and just upgraded to a TV Wonder Pro. Aside from the fact that I need to format , the card is good. You can capture at up to 720x480 and the picture quality is good too. It really all depends on what you want to do, and your signal quality. I have regular antenna right now, and am getting cable next Tuesday, so I haven't noticed a HUGE difference between image quality yet. I can capture at a higher resolution and it has more options with regards to connectors, etc. as well. I got the remote control edition, but haven't set up the remote yet because I don't have an open USB port. The remote is sound though as well, at least according to the reviews I've read. All in all, I would say (if you're on a budget) if you want to record, get the Pro or other comparable TV card, and if you just want to watch and NOT record (or you don't care about not getting more than 240 pixel height lines) get the VE. Hope this helps, PM me if you have any more questions!