Radeon All-In-Wonder vs. Matrox Marvel G450 eTV

[ryoken]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about purchasing a video card that can capture video (s-video and composite) and double as my video card. The two main cards I have ended up with considering to purchase are:

a) ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder, or
b) Matrox Marvel G450 eTV

I know that the 3d of the radeon kicks the matrox anyday. But I hear that the 2D visual quality is much better on the matrox, especially at ultra-high resolution (ie. 1600x1200@85Hz or higher). I don't play that many 3d games, but it would be nice to have a fast 3d card as well

What I'm trying to figure out is which of these 2 cards have better video capture quality AND video output quality. I haven't seen many reviews, if at all, on this, comparing these head-to-head.

What are the driver's stablities compare on the radeon aiw and the g450 eTV?

Which one do you reckon is better?

Thank you,
ryoken

 

[Hender]

ATI's has driver problems with their Radeon cards, particularly under Windows 2000. Matrox has one of the best driver teams in the graphics industry.

You're right about the Radeon having better 3D and the Matrox having better 2D. Matrox has always had some of the best 2D in the industry.

I'd say if you're going to do any gaming, get the Radeon All-In-Wonder. If you can wait, ATI is releasing the Radeon2 in September, and the Radeon2 All-In-Wonder should be out shortly after that, and the rumor is they've been focusing on drivers a lot to get a solid driver set out. Of course, if you wait, there's always something better out there.

You also might want to poke around at reviews of the cards at places like PC Magazine, or do a search to find other places to find more reviews to see what people have to say about the quality of captured video. I don't know of any reviews off-hand, but a little research into that area would probably prove benficial.

 

[ryoken]

Thanx for that info. It has proved to be very helpful in deciding which card to choose. As I do more 2D, I think the balance will lean towards the Matrox. I will do more research on this topic to see what I can find.

Thanx,
ryoken

 

[rbV5]

I've only run my Radeon in Win2k since late last year(over 6 months), and anyone who says the drivers are poor obviously isn't actually using the card, but for some reason still feel compelled to comment negatively.

My real world observations:

Radeon AIW, Excellent win2k stability (using 3224's right now) my computer is on 24-7 with several family members using a variety of different games/applications for well over 6 months now.

With my Duron 650 non-overclocked I can capture with NO dropped frames: 720x480 Raw AVI, Mpeg-1 to 720x480 and Mpeg-2 480x480 IPB frames with all setting maxed and mpeg-2 720x480 I frames only.

Video capture quality is very good, and I use the Video-out to watch DVD's and other video files and to play some games, and find it quite good as well, actually. I have not output to tape(VHS) but have burned several VCD's with good results.

I use Photoshop and Illustrator some as well, and I find the 2D quality as excellent, much better than any of my previous video cards(no Matrox however)

3D gaming is very good, also MUCH better than any of my previous cards. Between my 2 teenage boys, my daughter and myself, we play many of the newest games/demos and of course, long hours of UT, Quake3A and the like with no complaints.

I can't compare to the Matrox card (never had one) but, I give 2 thumbs up to the AIW Radeon!

 

[CandyKid]

Man i've been really curious about this also like the host said there isn't any good head to head comparisons.

I'm really curious about the quality of the video capturing they each have a half hardware half software encoding and the resolutions are the same on the websites.

From the reviews i've read they've said they've been entry level capturing solutions...

I'm really curious in how the TV Tuners timeshifting compares on each and how well the video is imported. Ryoken if you find a good review please PM me.

oh and there is a head to head comparison in PC Comp* (can't remember the name) magazine. But it's not posted on the internet.
If i can find the name of the magazine i'll post it.

And the win2k driver issue on the radeon is a thing of the past for most people. Drivers released about 2 months ago fixed the problems for most people.

 

[ryoken]

Thanx guys for all your replies Its been really helpful!!!!

Sounds like the Radeon AIW has resolved all its driver issues in win2k. I just had a quick peek at the ATI support site, and the latest Win2K drivers appear to be 5.13.01.3102. How did u happen to get hold of 3224? Even the beta on the ATI site was only 5.13.01.3211. I'm just slightly confused here...

If ATI has in fact fixed up all of its driver glitches, then I can safely buy the Radeon then I have been informed by another user that the video in on the Radeon AIW has a higher quality than the Matrox G450 eTV, though I haven't seen any basis for that assumption (ie. I want to see a head-on review of these two cards!!!). That would be a big plus to Radeon AIW! I wonder how the Win98 drivers are fairly in terms of stablity. I know it's dodgy to use Win9x to capture video and that NT-based OSes are much more stable, but I'm just wondering out of curiousity.

From your computer specs rbV5, I think its safe for me to purchase a Duron 750 It gonna be on a ASUS A7V133 or maybe Iwill KK266-R with 512MB PC133 RAM, a 30GB IBM 60GXP drive (I might consider a bigger drive later), and a SB Live! card. Does anyone know whether the VIA and SB Live! issue has been resolved? Is it already fixed in the VIA 4-in-1 v.4.32 drivers?

Has anyone tried capturing in PAL 704x576 or 720x576 in RAW AVI, MPEG1, or MPEG2 IBP, or MPEG2 I only? I'd like to see how the PAL side of the card works for both video in and video tuner as I'm in Australia

The timeshifting feature on the Marvel G450 eTV seems to work OK... I haven't heard much about it tho while going through the Matrox Support Forums. I think the ATI TV-on-Demand feature works along the same lines, by buffering bits of the footage onto your hard disk so that you can continue after. I'm not sure whether the Radeon AIW supports Picture-in-Picture though. If I find anything on that, I'll send them to ya CandyKid! If you find me the article in the PC mag on comparisions on these two cards, by all means, post them me! I'll be more than over the moon then

In the mean time, I wonder how Matrox is doing with their video drivers... apparently there are quite some issues, tho not too major I don't think, but I'd hate to be up all night(s) trying to fix it up. I just want things to work. The Matrox's image quality will prolly still make drool, but I think give and take, with the Radeon's better 3D, I'll need to rethink my decision. Basically, it will all come down to video capturing and output. Why? Because both ATI and Matrox get equals points from me: the Matrox for 2D image quality get top marks, and the ATI Radeon for their 3D speed. So the balance of power is left at the video capturing/output quality/functionality/stablity.

I'll do a bit more research, but I'll have to make up my mind, and decsion, soon!

Thanx for everything ppl,
ryoken

 

[CandyKid]

Okay man i was checking the messages right before i went to bed and you did some work so i started looking through my history here are the stuff i found.

This review is of video capturing and has ati vs the rainbow runner line of matrox stuff which i think is the same crap on the 450 etv. I dunno where this one came from i never read it before and it's late.
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/vidcap/vidtest.htm

Gah i'm soo frustrated i can't find the other review i looked through my history for 20 min man... I'll look around again tommrow if i get a chance.


I'm basically down to this... Radeon is the better card graphically because of the 3d speeds and the TV guide + features i think are better then the matrox... But the matrox has dual head... I want to keep my v5 and get another basic 2d card and find some awesome software which allows good dual monitor support.

 

[linster]

For the latest beta Radeon drivers, go here.

 

[ryoken]

CandyKid, thanks heaps for the link to the PC Magazine review of Video Capture boards. From that review, it seems as though the Matrox Rainbow Runner has a clear advantage. However, times have changed and both ATI and Matrox have migrated to software MPEG2 compression. The AIW Radeon features a new ATI Rage Theater chip which controls the function of VIVO, unlike the one in that review (or at least I think so anyway...). The G450 eTV also features software MPEG2 compression and has lost its hardware MJPEG compression, for the worse! I guess that's because of some driver issue they are expericing with Win2K.

I still think the Matrox will have better 2D image quality... but the 3D speed on the Radeon will be much better, as u mentioned. You might be interested in this article:

http://www4.tomshardware.com/video/99q4/991118/index.html

It does similar testing as to the one by PC Magazine, but has stuff on the Marvel G400-TV. So, I'd say it might be best if u keep your V5, and perhaps add a simple 2D card like the standard Millennium G450 on PCI. btw, do they do SLI on V5 - that would be so cool - 8 processors crunching

linster, thanx for the link to the latest drivers on rage3d! Next time I'll remember where to go!