/mel/ said:
If I had some confidence that the USB2 TV peripherals were any good...
The External TV Wonders have not traditionally been available outside of the
US and Canada (certainly not here in the UK anyway). Even if it was
available to buy from the USA on the web, I'd be wary of doing so as its
likely only for NTSC broadcast format (what they use in USA/Canada) and not
PAL (I) as used in the UK - so it wouldn't work here as a tuner.
The old argument that if an AIW cards tuner breaks the whole card needs to
be repaired/replaced, while being correct is extremely unlikely. If you live
in a part of the UK where TV Aerials are often struck by lightning (don't
know where that would be...) then consider a seperate card otherwise don't
worry about it. I've owned 3 ATI cards all of which have been AIW versions
(including an AIW 8500DV the same as yours) and have had no such problems
(even in spite of a dodgy loft aerial amplifier which overamplified the
signal). The convenience of AIWs including the fact that you don't need to
use a PCI slot is well worth the extra cost - a cost which would be recouped
in the second hand value of the card should you decide to sell it in order
to upgrade. Be aware that in terms of features, the card you currently have,
while not the fastest out there is actually the most well equipped in terms
of connection features because it also has a firewire connection. Even the
latest and greatest don't do that anymore. What is it that you need to do
which makes you want to upgrade your existing card? If its run games faster,
your money may be better spent on a general PC upgrade (depending on your
existing system specs).
Paul
