Questions for Owners of ATI HDTV Wonder Cards..

[TheGizmo]

Well I guess first I should mention my setup: Asus K8N-E Deluxe nForce3 motherboard w/ AMD Athlon 64 3000, Media Center 2005 Edition + and still have to purchase a new video card..

So I guess these are the questions

1) Is the antenna included with the card for use outdoor?
2) I understand that the HDTV Signal is over the air and the antenna picks it up.. which channels am I missing? How can it be free... do you have the pay the cable company for anything?
3) What video card would you reccomend given my setup.. looking for something on the cheaper end with good 2D.. not much of a gamer, but watch lots of TV and DVDs with the computer.
4) I heard something about needing another CATV TV Tuner for MCE 2K5 to recognize the HD card is this still true?
5) What is the best driver/software to use with this.. Do I need MMC if I have WinXP MCE 2K5? What are the best drivers to use.

Any other tips/suggestions would also be greatly appreciated.. thanks in advance!

 

[keeleysam]

1. No, but you probobly don't need it to be.
2. You plug the cabel comapny's coaxial into input #2
3. Stay with ATI to avoid driver conflicts like I had, and get a X300
4. No
5. Install teh drivers on CD then update from ATI.com

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: keeleysam
1. No, but you probobly don't need it to be.
2. You plug the cabel comapny's coaxial into input #2
3. Stay with ATI to avoid driver conflicts like I had, and get a X300
4. No
5. Install teh drivers on CD then update from ATI.com

All of the above is true, however, I would go directly to ATI's website and install the latest drivers without the clutter left from the older ones on the CD.

The HDTV Wonder doesn't play nicely with Nvidia video cards either, so if you want good gaming performance, you're going to be looking at the X800 lineup for a main video card. Any Xx00 line card sounds like it will work for your needs though.

 

[rbV5]

The HDTV Wonder doesn't play nicely with Nvidia video cards either,

Played just fine with my 6800, should be OK with any of the 6xxx cards. There have been lots of reports of installation issues with Nvidia cards however, so YMMV, but my Nvidia card worked fine.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: rbV5

The HDTV Wonder doesn't play nicely with Nvidia video cards either,

Played just fine with my 6800, should be OK with any of the 6xxx cards. There have been lots of reports of installation issues with Nvidia cards however, so YMMV, but my Nvidia card worked fine.

Getting my 6800GT to play nice with it was a royal pain. I had it working, but had to reformat. Went to reinstall the stuff again, and the whole cycle started again.

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: keeleysam
1. No, but you probobly don't need it to be.
2. You plug the cabel comapny's coaxial into input #2
3. Stay with ATI to avoid driver conflicts like I had, and get a X300
4. No
5. Install teh drivers on CD then update from ATI.com

All of the above is true, however, I would go directly to ATI's website and install the latest drivers without the clutter left from the older ones on the CD.

The HDTV Wonder doesn't play nicely with Nvidia video cards either, so if you want good gaming performance, you're going to be looking at the X800 lineup for a main video card. Any Xx00 line card sounds like it will work for your needs though.

You have to have the CD, as it needs some codec or somthign that ATI can't distribute over the internet.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: rbV5

The HDTV Wonder doesn't play nicely with Nvidia video cards either,

Played just fine with my 6800, should be OK with any of the 6xxx cards. There have been lots of reports of installation issues with Nvidia cards however, so YMMV, but my Nvidia card worked fine.

Getting my 6800GT to play nice with it was a royal pain. I had it working, but had to reformat. Went to reinstall the stuff again, and the whole cycle started again.

As always YMMV. I used it with my 6800 and AIW 9700 for months swapping them back and forth, and now with my X800XL. I don't even use my hardware HD card anymore since the HDTV Wonder works great in MCE 2005.

 

[xtknight]

I had issues with my regular TV tuner and overlay in a custom nVidia driver. The official nVidia driver was a little better. Then the latest release of the ForceWare driver fixed the problem completely.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: keeleysam
1. No, but you probobly don't need it to be.
2. You plug the cabel comapny's coaxial into input #2
3. Stay with ATI to avoid driver conflicts like I had, and get a X300
4. No
5. Install teh drivers on CD then update from ATI.com

All of the above is true, however, I would go directly to ATI's website and install the latest drivers without the clutter left from the older ones on the CD.

The HDTV Wonder doesn't play nicely with Nvidia video cards either, so if you want good gaming performance, you're going to be looking at the X800 lineup for a main video card. Any Xx00 line card sounds like it will work for your needs though.

You have to have the CD, as it needs some codec or somthign that ATI can't distribute over the internet.

Just for the DTV Decoder, everything else you can DL fine. Still, its better to get the latest. The HDTV Wonder has a lot of issues. Its kickass when it works, but its the whole getting it to work part thats hard.

 

[TheGizmo]

thanks for all the replies everyone.. that answers a lot of my questions, i ended up buying the ati 9600 pro.. hopefully that will do the trick, i'm not much of a gamer so i just need the video card for the hdtv lol... right now its some 8mb rage pro card haha... with a k8ne-deluxe and a64 3000+...

i guess what i'm still wondering is what kind of channels do you get with the hdtv antenna? do i need to get cable still?... i should get good signal considering I live in the attic.. thanks again everyone.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: TheGizmo
thanks for all the replies everyone.. that answers a lot of my questions, i ended up buying the ati 9600 pro.. hopefully that will do the trick, i'm not much of a gamer so i just need the video card for the hdtv lol... right now its some 8mb rage pro card haha... with a k8ne-deluxe and a64 3000+...

i guess what i'm still wondering is what kind of channels do you get with the hdtv antenna? do i need to get cable still?... i should get good signal considering I live in the attic.. thanks again everyone.

Check out AntennaWeb to see which channels you'll be able to get where you live.

 

[amol]

Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

haha

Some people don't want to spend that much money though

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

I :heart: my MDP-130.

Has no problems "playing nice" with my 6800GT either.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

I :heart: my MDP-130.

Has no problems "playing nice" with my 6800GT either.

With the MDP-130, you can watch analog, DTV, and OTA HDTV, and record from all, correct?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

I :heart: my MDP-130.

Has no problems "playing nice" with my 6800GT either.

With the MDP-130, you can watch analog, DTV, and OTA HDTV, and record from all, correct?

Yes.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

I :heart: my MDP-130.

Has no problems "playing nice" with my 6800GT either.

With the MDP-130, you can watch analog, DTV, and OTA HDTV, and record from all, correct?

Yes.

It also has QAM

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

I :heart: my MDP-130.

Has no problems "playing nice" with my 6800GT either.

With the MDP-130, you can watch analog, DTV, and OTA HDTV, and record from all, correct?

Yes.

It also has QAM

But a 300+ price tag.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Amol
Just get an MDP-130

1. Put it in the computer
2. Connect the antenna/cable
3. Install the software
4. SUCCESS!!

I'm thinking about it.

I :heart: my MDP-130.

Has no problems "playing nice" with my 6800GT either.

With the MDP-130, you can watch analog, DTV, and OTA HDTV, and record from all, correct?

Yes.

It also has QAM

But a 300+ price tag.

I got mine for $200

 

[imported_jalex]

I have the Geforce FX 5200 128mb ultra and the HDTV Wonder does not work with 1080i channels. ATI says my card isn't powerful enough.

Funny how it exceeds the hardware requirements on the box/manual though.

Those of you who have it working with the Nvidia 68XX cards,

are they AGP?
what's your CPU?
and can you see 1080i channels in DTV?

These forums are better than the ATI knowledgebase. After dealing with them on this HDTV Wonder, I think I will stick with Nvidia for all other video needs.

 

[TungFree]

I poster another thread but this poster has the same motherboard as mine only he has 3000+ AMd 64 bit processor and I have the 3200+
Now I have an issue with my present AIW 9700Pro that I cannot fix nor want to get into here. I want it gone. I have ordered and will be receiving in a day or so the TV wonder Elite but meanwhile I found out about HDTV. So did I make a mistake?
I have presently 3 video cards 2 uninstalled are:

some 32mb video card with non DDR memory worked great but did not have TV
ATI AIW radion 32 DDR
I have the FP2001 Monitor
so the Radion 32 gave me a bit grainy TV display but allother display was fine.

what would you do in my horible predicament LOl ***Hiding my face from being pelted with ripe tomatoes***

 

[HDTVMan]

Originally posted by: TheGizmo
Well I guess first I should mention my setup: Asus K8N-E Deluxe nForce3 motherboard w/ AMD Athlon 64 3000, Media Center 2005 Edition + and still have to purchase a new video card..

So I guess these are the questions

1) Is the antenna included with the card for use outdoor?
2) I understand that the HDTV Signal is over the air and the antenna picks it up.. which channels am I missing? How can it be free... do you have the pay the cable company for anything?
3) What video card would you reccomend given my setup.. looking for something on the cheaper end with good 2D.. not much of a gamer, but watch lots of TV and DVDs with the computer.
4) I heard something about needing another CATV TV Tuner for MCE 2K5 to recognize the HD card is this still true?
5) What is the best driver/software to use with this.. Do I need MMC if I have WinXP MCE 2K5? What are the best drivers to use.

Any other tips/suggestions would also be greatly appreciated.. thanks in advance!

1- Yes I got an indoor antenna with the card. Earlier card did not come with an antenna. Somday i will run a line into the attic so I can get even more channels. I currently get about 16 digital channels. 8 with the indoor antenna with great signal. The rest with full signal once I put the antenna in the attic.
2- Go here and determine how far you are from digital signals. www.antennaweb.org
2a. No its just like getting channels with rabbit ears. They are 100% free. Its not illegal. The digital channels are perfect quality.
3- I use the onboard video of a Nforce 2 at 1280x960 works great. Previously I had a Radeon 9500 in there. Stay away from the XGI cards.
4- No if you plan on installing Windows MCE then follow the directions on ATI's website exactly as shown.
5- I use windows XP and use the ATI software. Its not very user friendly but once you learn your way around its fine. Whatever the latest drivers are use them.

As a side not I was planning on putting this in the living room but instead bought an IODATA link player 2 HD dvd player I can put the HD mpeg 2 streams in a directory shared to the HD-DVD player in the living room.

 

[HDTVMan]

Originally posted by: jalex
I have the Geforce FX 5200 128mb ultra and the HDTV Wonder does not work with 1080i channels. ATI says my card isn't powerful enough.

Funny how it exceeds the hardware requirements on the box/manual though.

Those of you who have it working with the Nvidia 68XX cards,

are they AGP?
what's your CPU?
and can you see 1080i channels in DTV?

These forums are better than the ATI knowledgebase. After dealing with them on this HDTV Wonder, I think I will stick with Nvidia for all other video needs.

Set your resolution to 1280x960 and it will play the 1080i streams. As stated I am using onboard nforce2 video and while the highest res I can do is 1600x1280 it wont output 1080i but running 1280x960 it downsamples the video and outputs it. Granted its not the 1920x1080i but its darn nice on the monitor. It still recpords at the full 1920x1080i.

 

[cocokiwi]

Hi,

I have one too,If I ever get it to work!

To ANSWER your questions:

ALL HDTV's Made in 2004 MUST have an HDTV tuner,reason was price,back when,they cost $500 for the tuner which most older HDTV,s don't have.

HDTV uses a lot more SPACE for it,s signal than did a standard tuner,so using the ones we have now was out of the question,and was the reason TV stations had to coff up $$$ for newer HDTV transmitters and equipment By 2006 and have it running!

Cable TV have now got HDTV channels which are decoded with the NEWER cable boxes
They don,t need a HDTV cable tuner as the signal is direcly sent to the HDTV via The newer DVI connector on your box,or using the component connectors instead,depends on the HDTV one has,in our case you use the DVI from the Video card to the HDTV.

If you have an older TV connected to cable,no problem,But if you only have a roof top ant
then you will have a problem cause sometime within the next year or so the old transmitters will be taken off the air leaving the HDTV ones as your only connection,then you MUST get a converter or buy a NEW HDTV or DTV set,or get cable!


The HDTV tuner is NOT used with Cable as they
DO NOT have the wideband they need to work!

The Standard cable TV connector will work fine if you have cable,if you do not have cable
you can use a dual splitter running cable to BOTH connectors,this will give you the LOCAL
HDTV and NTSC channels on the same ANT..

The Ant supplied is a HDTV version of the old Rabbit ears! not too usefull unless you are within spitting distance of the station(grin)

Cheers Dennis