I'm new here, but saw your topic and thought I might tell you my experience.
I have used ATI Radeon All in Wonder. 8500 AIW, 8500DV AIW (my parents computer). And now an HDTV Wonder
I found all of them had really good TV images. They were fairly easy to use (after they were set up). I liked the recording software. I don?t know how I can ever use a computer now that doesn?t have a TV Tuner.
Bad things, ATI has the WORST drivers I have ever seen. Every time I try to upgrade the drivers I have Horrible problems, ranging from downloading 3rd party driver/registry cleaning programs, to having to install Windows XP all over again because of some nasty updates gone bad. Every time I run into an ATI driver problem I tell myself I will never buy an ATI product again, but then I do.
I really like the HDTV Wonder. A big downside to it is that I believe its Software based and not Hardware based (like the Hauppauge cards) It takes 40% - 60% (p4C 2.2Ghz) of my processor just to view an HDTV channel. I can't surf the internet while watching an HDTV without it skipping. But the picture quality is amazing!! I LOVE to watch Monday night football in HDTV!!! It is sooo nice...
I have a co-worker, who swears by Hauppauge, and they get good reviews, but if you want to watch HDTV then the HDTV All in Wonder
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2546404 ? You should really consider it. I know there are other HD tuner cards but after reading reviews of them, they all come to the conclusion that the HDTV Wonder has the best picture.
Also what monitor do you have, I have a Dell 2405 and it looks SOOOO nice in HDTV!!! it really is amazing. I would think it would look good on other monitors, but you might need a wide screen to really get good use out of an HDTV image.
My 2 cents?
If you like the idea of HDTV get the HDTV Wonder, if you don?t think you can get an HDTV signals or don?t want to bother with it, get a Hauppauge.