Radeon 7500 All In Wonder vs. Visiontek XTASY Everything

[lowlevel]

I did a search to find a thread that already covered this, so I apologize in advance if this is a played out topic...

I'm considering putting together a box to handle TIVO functions for my entertainment center, and I was curious which card had the most robust feature-set when taking into account both hardware, peripherals, AND packed-in software.

DVD playback, PVR software/functionality, and remote control flexibility are all high on the list of priorities, as well as EXCELLENT compatibility with either Windows 2000 or WinXP.

Any opinions, links, reviews, or personal accounts are greatly appreciated!!!

 

[AA0]

nvidia personal cinema is nothing compared to ATI's All in Wonder card. There is no comparision, everything nvidia has ATI has and it actually works.
The Radeon 7500 is much much better than a GF2MX that works with the personal cinema also. ATI drivers are better, they aren't perfect, but its a hard card to write drivers for.

 

[Rand]

VisionTek's Xtasy Everything product is based off of nVidia's Personal Cinema.
Stay away... stay far far away from the Personal Cinema. Please forget you ever heard of the Personal Cinema product and the Xtasy Everything varient of it.

I've had the distinct displeasure of setting up an nVidia Personal Cinema twice and I pray I never need to do so again. Drivers are terrible, features extremely poorly implemented and many don't work very well at all. Is difficult to set up and get running "properly". Product documentation is virtually non-existent.
IMHO it is a very poorly implemented product. Much potential, but the execution was was lacking.

A few other members here have used it and usualy expressed much the same opinion, as have the majority of the reviews on it.

Everything the Personl Cinema has the AIW offers and much more besides, not to mention the AIW's features actually work which is more then can be said for the Personal Cinema in most cases.
Not to mention the R7500 is a far faster card, better 2D, and much DVD, and is better in virtually every other respect.

 

[lowlevel]

Yowza!!!

OK, that's 2 votes STRONGLY against the Personal Cinema.

I appreciate it... any additional comments are welcome!

 

[nRollo]

The 7500 AIW is so much better than the Xtasy Whatchamacallit that it's a shame to have to call them both video cards.

1. Gaming- 7500 would SMOKE any MX, especially 10X7X32>
2. IQ- 7500 by far
3. DVD etc. never saw the point on my 19" monitor, but ATIs is supposedly the best.

 

[PCHPlayer]

I've got the AIW 7500 and love it. Great 2D, good gaming performance. I have not played with the S Video out or the video capture, but the TIVO function is great.

 

[Rand]

I wonder how many of the 3 that voted for the Xtasy have actually used it....

Too bad the person that voted "Other" didnt mention his/her opinion of an alternative. Perhaps the G450 e-TV?

 

[jfyeh]

Is the all in wonder 7500 out yet. I can't seem to find it selling anywhere. Also, has anyone had any driver problems in windows xp with it? How much is this card retail price anyway?

 

[PCHPlayer]

I bought my AIW 7500 at Best Buy for $199. I had problems with the Win98 drivers (TV tuner driver failed to load) so I bit the bullet and upgraded to XP. So far under XP I have very few problems. I get occasional reboots when trying to launch the TV display. The video display driver has been flawless, but I don't play modern games cause I refuse to pay $40 for a game. My threshold is about $25.

 

[FAS284]

gonna buy a radeon 7500.. read some reviews and it seems it kills the crap out of the xtasy...

of course, the 8500 AIW is much better with firewire but can't afford it.. also, if you're doing mostly 2D, consider the g450 eTV (no remote but everything else with a bit slwoer 3D engine..)

 

[Edgy]

Simple term for Personal Cinema - IT DOES NOT WORK!

I've had original AIW radeon since it came out & absolutely no problems at all in win 98se. Tried personalcinema briefly - biggest mistake at computer hardware purchase.

Kinda makes you wonder since AIW-esque attempt with nvidia card resulted in such horrible drivers, it must be quite complex thing to write drivers for ATI cards laden with so much mm hardware. My experience with personalcinema actually made me look upon ATI driver development team with modicum of respect.