All In Wonder vs. Graphics Card + TV Tuner

[Spiderman]

Are there any pros'cons to the All In Wonder vs separate ATI graphics and
tuner cards. I'm currently running 9600 with a TV Tuner Pro card. Would the
All In Wonder 9600 provide any advantage? I would think 2 separate cards can
handle the "load" better...is that right?

 

[Rick]

The best part about having a separate TV tuner, is you can keep it in your
system when you upgrade the video card. There's no real sense in paying the
extra $50.00 for the TV tuner portion every time you upgrade your video
card. I have a Rage II ATI All-in-wonder and a Rage 128 ATI All-in-Wonder
gathering dust on a shelf that proves my point.

bye, Rick

 

[J. Clarke]

Are there any pros'cons to the All In Wonder vs separate ATI graphics and
tuner cards. I'm currently running 9600 with a TV Tuner Pro card. Would
the All In Wonder 9600 provide any advantage? I would think 2 separate
cards can handle the "load" better...is that right?

The AIWs use the Rage Theater chip, the TV Wonders use a BT8x8, which is
pretty long in the tooth. You should get better TV quality out of the AIW
because of the better chip. Downside is that just about any random piece
of TV software you find will support the BT8x8 in some fashion, but finding
third party stuff that supports the Rage Theater is a bit more difficult.

Another downside with the AIW is that except for the 9600 the AIWs have only
a single VGA or DVI connector while the non-AIW ATI boards have two
connectors--the current ones have one VGA and one DVI-I. The 9600 AIW has
two VGA connectors but no DVI.

As for "handling the load better" it makes no real difference.

 

[Mike Stobbe]

I was messing with the s-video out on my 9600 AIW last night. I use an
Analog LCD along with it. (as stated the AIW 9600 has no DVI). Pretty
goofy. Could not get the image to fit the screen or run at different
resolutions. Maybe I need to mess with it some more, but seems pretty
useless. I was thinking I could output to tv and watch DVDs while
keeping 1280x1024 on the LCD monitor.

 

[Chuck U. Farley]

The best part about having a separate TV tuner, is you can keep it in
your

system when you upgrade the video card. There's no real sense in paying the
extra $50.00 for the TV tuner portion every time you upgrade your video
card. I have a Rage II ATI All-in-wonder and a Rage 128 ATI All-in-Wonder
gathering dust on a shelf that proves my point.

I've got a AIW 128 Pro currently installed in my 875P mobo, 2.8 and it
functions just as well as it did in my 400, so I guess it depends on
your perspective. I have no need for 3D graphics as the only game I play
is Hearts and the 128 still captures flawlessly. I keep hoping for a
reason to upgrade but until there's another Theater chip that actually
provides something the current one doesn't, I see no need to upgrade.
And I saved the cost of a new graphics card with the new system.

Like everything in life, it depends on your perspective.

 

[Rick]

I've got a AIW 128 Pro currently installed in my 875P mobo, 2.8 and it
functions just as well as it did in my 400, so I guess it depends on
your perspective. I have no need for 3D graphics as the only game I play
is Hearts and the 128 still captures flawlessly. I keep hoping for a
reason to upgrade but until there's another Theater chip that actually
provides something the current one doesn't, I see no need to upgrade.
And I saved the cost of a new graphics card with the new system.

Like everything in life, it depends on your perspective.

Right, and the 128 I do have is a Rage 128 Pro AIW... it's just that I do
play games and the AIW is now useless to me. If you don't play games, an AIW
can last a long time in a computer.

bye, Rick

 

[New Question]

Right, and the 128 I do have is a Rage 128 Pro AIW... it's just that I do
play games and the AIW is now useless to me. If you don't play games, an AIW
can last a long time in a computer.

Will the old AiWs work just as well as the new AiWs for playing DVD movies?

 

[RandyNews]

I read an article recently that said that tuner cards coming out after this
summer will include a new anti piracy key which prevents sharing of recorded
files. Aparently the all in wonder 9800 is one of the few that will record
hdtv and still be able to share the files.

RandyL

 

[J. Clarke]

I read an article recently that said that tuner cards coming out after
this summer will include a new anti piracy key which prevents sharing of
recorded files. Aparently the all in wonder 9800 is one of the few that
will record hdtv and still be able to share the files.

The 9800 All In Wonder doesn't have any kind of input that supports HDTV
signals so this is moot.

 

[GMAN]

The 9800 All In Wonder doesn't have any kind of input that supports HDTV
signals so this is moot.

That is wrong, a HDTV TV tuner card and a ATI 9800 card would communicate at
the bus level. HDTV support has been in the Theater chip for years now.

 

[RandyNews]

It says on the box that it will OUTPUT to HDTV. I'm not sure about the hdtv
reception though. You could be right....on the other hand, the hdtv signals
aren't that common yet. Can it record hdtv?

RandyL

 

[Haggard the Horrendous]

Query. I was originally planning on getting the AIW 9600XT since it
seems to have the most bang for the buck for what I need. I'm not a
gamer so the ultimate in speed isn't an issue. Graphics wise I use the
computer mainly for watching DVD's, TV, occasionally recording TV
shows. I also occasionally have need to copy video off a VCR into an
MPG or AVI file where I can capture individual frames. For the
preverts, sorry. This is footage off Security cameras.

Right now I'm using an HIS Excalibur Radeon 9000 and ATI TV Wonder VE
and it does what I want. Now I'm going to assemble a new system and
these will stay with the old one.

I've always liked the idea of separate components. Now I'm looking at
combining the HIS Radeon 9600XT 128MB with the AsusTV/FM card
w/remote.

The Asus says it includes an Electronic Program Guide. How does this
compare with ATI's Guide Plus (which I find very useful)?

How well would these two components work together? I'll be using them
under W98SE. For those that suggest I 'upgrade' to XP sorry, not a
chance. I don't support Activationware. As well, there's just far too
many bugs in XP and I don't want to spend my time patching it. And I
don't like the way it looks and works. And... Anyways, my next OS
upgrade will be to Linux.

Oh, and I'm using a Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 sound card which will
be going into the new system

Any suggestions would be appreciated.