Best Buy B&M deal: $30 for ATI TV Wonder VE -- tv input/capture card, PC VCR card

[jhassi]

I went to Best Buy to buy a WinTV, but the ATI TV Wonder VE was all they had for the same price, sells for $49.99 but came with two separate $10 mail in rebates, so $30 + tax.

Good video quality, having a hard time getting the audio to work though. I'll post if I get it to work, but overall I'm pretty happy with it for the price.

P.S. for those of you that have a video camera and can't see yourself spending hundreds on these digital camera deals this is the next best thing, you can capture digital stills straight from your video camera. Sure it's not 1600x1200 and it's not as great as a digital camera but hey, what do you want for $30?

 

[jhassi]

nobody likes my hot deal??

 

[unclebud]

gotta wait for the store to open to check it out...gotta leave anyway

 

[dc]

just remember, no win2k drivers yet.

 

[jblondi]

I have this card, its ok, when you get it working. If you have an s3 or Tnt product make sure you scour the ati support page for the graphics overlay problem. This card is not for the everyday user like the box looks.

 

[tomcat]

Does anyone know if the ATI TV Wonder (not the TV wonder VE) works in windows 2000 using virtualdub? Virtualdub is a free and excellent video capture/editing program. It doesnt require any ATI drivers when used with the All in Wonder Pro on Win2k. I am wondering if the same is true for the tv wonder.

Download virtualdub at http://www.geocities.com/virtualdub/

 

[DoubleN]

If you get this one...be sure you get it working before you go after the rebate. The reason I say this is because I purchased this card about a month ago, and couldn't get it to work on 2 different computers. It conflicted majorly with my SB Live in my main computer, and on my other computer it wouldn't even turn on if the card was in the computer. It could be that I just got a defective card...I mean, the card specs look really good, especially for this price, but I'd suggest everyone at least backup their registry before trying to install it. My 2 cents...

 

[tomcat]

As a general rule ATI TV tuning/video capture hardware is really good, above the rest. However ATI always has really really bad software to go along with it. The drivers are generally unstable and limited. This is why its so advantageous to use a good third party program to go along with your ATI hardware. Can someone please try out virtualdub with the TV Wonder or TV Wonder VE?

 

[Kaiser__Sose]

i never knew these were $49.99 US...

Above All had them for $9CDN each.. i bought one and it works fine (now that i ordered the cd from ATI).. but they sold out... darn it... darn it..
i thought these were old cards.. whoops.. my bad.

 

[AirJames]

You scare me Tomcat. You are like one of those scientists that refuses to do an experiment on himself but will gladly do it on another person (for the benefit of mankind I suppose). Any reason in particular why you want someone else to try the program and why you wouldn't do it for yourself? I'm on the brink of trying but don't want to mess up my system. BTW, I have an ATI Wonder and it will not work in Win 2000 and I hate ATI for it. If the card doesn't work in Windows 2000 why would anyone want to get the video capture software to work in it? Unless they don't care for the TV at all.

 

[CyBrShRk]

Word of caution on TV Wonder cards. Typically, you will have a hard time getting them to work with any ATI video card that is onboard (ex. Dell PC's). I have been down this road a few times so maybe I can save someone some aggravation. Don't think the TV Wonder works in W2K but I may be wrong, it didn't about two months ago when I last bought one. ATI equipment is awesome for video capping and such, but they couldn't make a stable set of drivers on their best day. Quite simply, their software is crap.

 

[foot]

I dont know but Id go with the WinTV - I just bought one and it works REALLY well. Im doing a project for my university streaming our television channels over our network. Worked without a hitch via the composite and tuner inputs. I bought the cheap one so no stereo though.

 

[FiDo14DiDo]

Nice comp CyBrShRk!

 

[jhassi]

sorry folks i'm returning mine tonight, i couldn't get the sound to work when I recorded a video clip yet it would come through the computer just fine when i was watching TV.

I also have a SB Live so maybe that's the problem.

their website didn't have any info on how to fix it so I give up, besides what I really wanted was the $49.99 WinTV Go

 

[FuzzyBee]

jhassi - I have the same problem with my tv-wonder and live!, and have not been able to find a fix. anyone have suggestions?

 

[Dhendra]

Does anyone know if these rebates are from ati, or just from best buy? I just bought this a few weeks ago...

 

[Hawk]

You guys did tell it to record from the line in and not let's say the mic right? Sometimes everything else is muted but one source, maybe you guys should check on that.

 

[sandsacks]

OK try this ...copied off Ars Forum

"The Hauppauge card doesn't know it is supposed to output audio to the sound card when
you use VD. Switching between apps to try and trick it into outputting sound isn't
necessary. All you need is "Audio Select". This app lets you pick the source, change TV
channels, all without having to quit VD or having to hassle with WinTV"



http://www.webtroniks.com/files/audiosel.zip

"The program is from Hauppauge. It may have been in your Program Files/WinTV folder
already. I don't know if they still provide it with the latest drivers, because it seemed to me
that one time they didn't.

I should probably have noted if anyone tried to run AudioSel.exe and saw nothing happen,
notice the app dock next to the clock (lower right). Double-click it's icon to access the other
features, such as channel options. "

 

[buffboy]

so is this card 32mb or 16mb? How do these cards work with games? thanx

 

[FuzzyBee]

The amount of RAM is inconsequential - this is just a tv-tuner card that works with your existing video card.

 

[FuzzyBee]

Argh double post.

 

[buffboy]

ok so my video card stays in my agp slot right? then where does this card go, pci?

 

[Banshee Mullet]

buffboy,

Based on your questions, this one's not for you. Trust me.

 

[NiNe]

One major diff b/t the VE and the regular TV Wonder is that the VE has only mono sound. You have to get the regular to get stereo.

Most of the base models from different mfg's have the same mono limitation.

I'm waiting to see some reviews of the 3dfx Voodoo TV card (or whatever it's called). Actually, I wish ATI would make a TV card with the Rage Theater chip. The possibility of real-time MPEG-2 captures is very intriguing (but not enough to get me to buy an AIW Radeon).

 

[buffboy]

hey Banshee Mullet
i know i dont know that much about these cards, but i just want a good tv tuner card that's fast for gameplay and pretty cheap. my dad's had good experience with ati also so that's y i'm lookin at it.