ATI TV Wonder USB

[DallasTejas]

I've just replaced my Voodoo3 3500 with a Radeon 64 DDR VIVO. I wanted the extra 32 Meg so I didn't get the All-In-Wonder. I really like having a tuner on my PC. I do a lot of dial up support late at night and like being able to have TV up in the corner of my screen. Anyway, I started to go ahead and get the PCI TV-Wonder but saw that ATI was now offering a USB version.

I've heard that the picture quality on the USB tuners was not as good as the PCI. However, ATI hasn't put a USB out before. I think ATI makes a great tuner compared to the competition (WinTV) and wondered if anyone has tried out their USB model. If the picture quality is on par with the PCI version, the portability would be real handy. I read that the ATI version is the first to not require an external patch cord hooked into your sound card line-in.

 

[Mday]

ati knows what they are doing with tuners. i got the aiw radeon.

but with the limited bandwidth of usb (12 mbps total, less per actual device, so less than 12mbps per device), the quality is not as great. i have a pinnacle usb tuner from before i got the aiw, the picture was good, well what i considered great, but the aiw beats it. it's the bandwidth i tell ya... and usb itself requires CPU cycles, so...

the thing is, if you keep the window of the tuner small, it's better than nothing. but at fullscreen, the difference is obvious. of course a good reception beats anything ;-)

well, and it is usb, so it's VERY convenient ;-)

i'm actually gonna install the usb tuner on my other system ;-)