ATI HDTV Wonder TV and HDTV Tuner PCI Card

• Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 44 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Great Hardware, Bad Software

  by 20021985 on April 15, 2005

  Pros: Exceptional HD quality TV, decently fast, almost like a free TiVO, great reception, easy to use (sort of... read my opinion to understand)

  Cons: Lousy software, eats up Diskspac unless you set it up right, cheap looking interface, remote looks super cheap and works as well as it looks

  Summary: When I first got this, I was a bit hesitant because of the low scores this reciever was getting. Though I must agree about the pains of installing this software, ...

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  Summary: When I first got this, I was a bit hesitant because of the low scores this reciever was getting. Though I must agree about the pains of installing this software, it was actually really easy once I figured it out. Before I get into detail, my system is a 3Ghz P4 w/ a Pentium board w/ integrated soundcard, 64mb Nvidia MX440 (pretty damn old but still useful card), 256 DDR ram, and Win XP SP2.
  If you're going to install the software, don't follow the websites (ATI's) instructions because they are really really vague. Instead, just install the software on the CD first and then install the downloaded drivers and etc. in the order that the ATI.com site tells you to do. If all goes well, then good job, you saved yourself 2 hours of trial and error.
  Now for the software, let me say that it looks cheap and works cheap. It's easy to use, but the multimedia center stuff looks really cheap, worst than if a 3rd party software company were to make one. But besides aesthetics, the other thing I have beef with is the fact that changing setting after the initial setup is a real pain.
  If you aren't careful, you could take away all your HD's memory unless you change the settings. I had to make sure that there was a limit of how much memory i set aside for recording (which it does automatically without telling you because it wants, the TiVO like controlling of TV programs) and make sure it recoreded in mpeg format. Also, the ATI package did not come with a media file converter. Personally, I think this is a huge mistake because sometimes people need to burn the recordings in MPEG format, but that format takes up a lot of memory the best thing to do after burning is either converting or let it waster space on the HD. Also, the recordings will record the letterboxes and the side bars on all TV programs that aren't in widescreen. If anything, they should have included a light converter and editor in the package; this would have definitly made this a 9, or even a ten package, but it doesn't, so i have crap with that.
  but overall, this is great because the schedule recording of shows is real straitfoward. just enter the date and time, and leave the comp. on at the specific time; it'll record automatically. also, the picture quality is a lot better than I thought and it's pretty easy to use. If I could ask them to change something, it would be the instruction manual, the crappy remote (it's easier to use the damn mouse), and include a converter to save HD space and an editor to eliminate those pesky black bars and commercials. Oh, and make changing the setup easier, it takes me 5 min. just to change one small setting. not impossible to do, but more inconvenient than it really needs to be.

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  25 out of 25 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  bad mce 5 support does not work as advertised!

  by rjet50 on March 18, 2005

  Pros: great for local hdtv and local dv tv

  Cons: bad for cable, bad support for XP Media Center Edition 2005, bad ATI support

  Summary: On xp home and pro, this is supposed to support both hdtv and cable but what they don't tell you is it does not work on windows media center ...

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  Summary: On xp home and pro, this is supposed to support both hdtv and cable but what they don't tell you is it does not work on windows media center edition 2005, you get hdtv and no cable and no way to control the product from inside of media center. ATI's support recommends buying another tv tuner for cable support, an unacceptable solution! Don't bother with this if you have XP media center.

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  20 out of 23 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Broadcast HDTV & Cable TV Capture Card

  by dscheall on March 17, 2005

  Pros: Turn your PC into Tivo, Capture your home movies

  Cons: Only over air broadcast of HDTV

  Summary: I like the card. I got it for 2 reasons. 1 to capture all my home 8mm movies to MPG. The card does very well at capturing video to the ...

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  Summary: I like the card. I got it for 2 reasons. 1 to capture all my home 8mm movies to MPG. The card does very well at capturing video to the hard drive from almost any source. The second reason I got the card was to watch TV on my PC. I split the cable from the wall to the cable modem and this card and now watch all low band cable channels, 1 through 125. If you put a cable decoder box in front of the card and leave the card tv tuner on channel 3, you have cable TV complete with anything you pay for. The online guide is excellent and now your PC can be a Video disc recorder too ala TIVO. If your cable box decodes HDTV signals, then you also have HDTV on your PC, else you will have to be satisfied with the free broadcast over the air HDTV. In Kent WA depending on how I point the included antena, I can get all the majors, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS and UPN plus all the PBS stuff. I have Nvidia 6800 Ultra and it works great with that card.

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  14 out of 14 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Can't get it to work then try this proceedure

  by Joem4810 on October 9, 2005

  Pros: Crystal clear picture would be a 10 except for the installation

  Cons: Very difficult to install as all advanced TV cards.

  Summary: If it doesn't install, try this Proceedure. It's not as complicated as it appears.
  
  ATI HDTV W/Remote Installation Procedure (10/09/2005)
  
  Skill Level – Novice if no
  
  
  
  ...

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  Summary: If it doesn't install, try this Proceedure. It's not as complicated as it appears.
  
  ATI HDTV W/Remote Installation Procedure (10/09/2005)
  
  Skill Level – Novice if no problems are encountered. Fixing problems require a reasonable knowledge of drivers, graphic cards and uninstall and reinstall drivers and software. Provided you set the system restore points as noted below you can always go back and restore your computer with no damage.
  
  Preparing for the installation:
  
  Check system requirements to make sure your PC will support ATI’s HDTV. You will need XP, SP2, DirectX 9.0 or better. A graphic card that supports hardware overlay surface under DirectDraw. You will test your graphics card later.
  Create a restore point naming it HDTV pre installation system checks and repairs. To create a restore point, go to system Help from the Start Button. It’s located under the Pick a Task Menu. Test the restore point by running restore my computer to an earlier restore point.
  Check device manager for all sound, video and game controller devices, repair, remove or replace as required.
  Check the system graphics and sound card. Point to start, run, enter dxdiag and enter OK. DirectX version must be 9.0 or higher. Upgrade from Microsoft site as required. Run all test on the display and sound tab. It’s a good idea to run all test on the other tabs. Repair as necessary.
  If you are recovering from a failed attempt, go to ATI’s site ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Utilities > Various > download and run the cat-uninstaller.exe utility to completely remove all ATI prior installations. You can use add and remove programs in Control Panel. Follow prompts as necessary.
  While not necessary, it’s a good idea to defragment the drive (usually C drive) where the HDTV software and drivers will be installed.
  
  Create a restore point naming it Ready to Install HDTV. To create a restore point, go to system Help from the Start Button. It’s located under the Pick a Task Menu.
  
  Installing the HDTV card
  
  Power down, unplug the PC, open case, and install the card in a PCI slot. Connect the cable inputs for UHV and Cable / Antennae inputs. Locate the provided UHV antennae as close to a window as possible. Power up and start Windows XP.
  When the system finds new hardware installed cancel all installations / add hardware request.
  Go to ATI’s site to run the latest software and drivers at ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Windows XP > TV Tuners > HDTV WONDER >. Read all information on this page. If your HDTV came with a remote control you should install it after your HDTV is running properly. You must install the software in the order shown and restart your computer when prompted.
  
  
  Testing your HDTV
  
  Keep it simple. Don’t start pushing buttons. Read the HDTV manual and start with just getting it to play.
  Start the TV first, this is regular TV and set it up according to the instructions in the manual.
  Then start the DTV, this is the HDTV program, following the instructions in the manual.
  If the TV and the DTV are running properly, create a new restore point calling it HDTV installed and working properly.
  
  
  Installing the Remote Control
  
  Go to ATI’s site to install the software and drivers for the remote at ATI Customer Care > Drivers and Software > Windows XP > TV Tuners > HDTV WONDER >. Make sure you install the correct software. Your remote type and model is on the back of the remote control. Run the software from the site and follow the prompts.
  If the remote runs properly create another restore point calling it HDTV and remote installed successfully.

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  9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Beautiful Quality... but HD Tuner only Works with ATI

  by on October 19, 2004

  Pros: This card is the greatest thing that ever happened to my computer the quality is unreal its just as good as that $6000.00 LCD. Great sound also just make sure you have a nice reciever to hook up dolby Digital sound to. Cant complain about this product sim

  Cons: Although the regular tuner works with any graphics card running 64 mbs or higher you must have an ATI Raedon graphics card at least the 9500 and above or the Xt's. I had to buy this after spending two whole days tryin to fiugre out the problem. Just make

  5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Excellent and cheap way to get HDTV

  by omegafiler on October 11, 2005

  Pros: MCE compatible, easy install, and great reception

  Cons: Software/Drivers released before they were ready

  Summary: This ATI HDTV Wonder is an excellent piece of hardware. I bought 2 of them when they first came out. I initially had some issues with the drivers in XP ...

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  Summary: This ATI HDTV Wonder is an excellent piece of hardware. I bought 2 of them when they first came out. I initially had some issues with the drivers in XP Pro, but after their first driver/software update, everything worked perfect.
  
  I then installed the 2nd card in my MCE'05 box, followed instructions to update MCE w/ the HDTV updates, and it worked great! After getting the antenna is just the right place, I can pickup about 10-12 channels in my area.
  
  However, I can easily see why so many people have given this card such low reviews. Even I will admit it does require some technical know-how in the event you run into some issues, especially when it was first launched. This is mostly due to ATI releasing this card before it was ready, which obviously wouldn't be the first time.
  
  BUT, if you actually follow the instructions, and use the latest ATI drivers, you shouldn't have any problems. I think following instructions in the main issue. I've looked around on forums for other folks having issues, and quite a few are just throwing these things in there and expecting them to work.
  
  Sorry, doesn't work that way. Especially in MCE, where there are certain key updates that MUST be installed. Either way, I still consider this product highly recommended. It's cheap, versatile, and works great.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Installation tips, if you want it still after reading many reviews and/or failure

  by Pete-cnet on January 25, 2006

  Pros: Good picture quality once you successfully installed.

  Cons: Very tricky installation process.

  Summary: I own this product and installed successfully. My PC is 1.8GHz P4, 768 MB memory, 40GB HD and originally 64 MB Nvidia video card. (I am XP SP2 user ...

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  Summary: I own this product and installed successfully. My PC is 1.8GHz P4, 768 MB memory, 40GB HD and originally 64 MB Nvidia video card. (I am XP SP2 user as well.)
  
  Installation: I recommend you make 1st installation through original CD they give you. You have to un-install Multimedia center before re-installing newest version, however you can get all of set in one time by this 1st installation.
  And then you need to make all latest driver/application down load from their site. You will be noticed one icon is different than others after down load done. It is DTV decoder which only wizard means you need to make another down load later.
  When you install latest DTV decoder, this wizard asks you to bring the CD. And this is tricky part. CD brings their installation menu as default. If you trust this screen and follow the steps, you never install latest DTV decoder. You need to cancel this menu. And then you should see another menu, now from the wizard which you made down load from their site (not from the CD).
  By new menu, you need to select 2nd option which makes newest DTV decoder down load. Once you go to this path, you can finally make newest DTV decoder down load and install.
  I guess many people are tricked by this un-friendly wizard. You might believe you installed newest DTV decoder, however it might not be true, if you did not see another menu and another down load.
  I was lucky and found this almost accidentally finally. They should give us note about this or improve wizard.
  
  Requirements: They said 64 MB video card is one of requirements. However I do not think you have smooth motion picture without any lack of frames on 720p or above. In my area, I could not find 480p station, so my experience were 480i, 720p and 1080i and only 480i was good enough with 64 MB video card. Now I have 256 MB Nvidia card and really no problem on 720p and 1080i finally. I never test 128 MB video card. Sorry. (But you may find very reasonable price of 256 MB card, so it might not be matter too much.) And somebody said ATI video card is required, but it is not really. I never have ATI video card on my PC.
  
  Latest version: It is version 9.13 posted on 1/18/2006. There is another trick. Older version had TV and DTV which HDTV separately. However this 9.13 has only one TV means TV and DTV combined. They do not explain this and I was confused for beginning. And unfortunately I do not think they fixed system unstable (freeze or re-boot) issue by this latest yet. But still best and you may like once you get great HDTV picture on your PC. Let's wait next version release.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Excellent Product!

  by diablo2003 on December 18, 2005

  Pros: HDTV picture is clear. Controls are easy to use.

  Cons: Extremely difficult to setup. Setup identifies the wrong analog tuner capture card.

  Summary: Once setup concluded, the HDTV picture was very clear. However, I could not use the TV tuner. It allowed me to select a TV tuner device, but stated that the ...

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  Summary: Once setup concluded, the HDTV picture was very clear. However, I could not use the TV tuner. It allowed me to select a TV tuner device, but stated that the device was not present. I had to go into the device manager of Windows XP and 'update' the capture devices. Once the 2 devices were updated all the functions worked correctly.
  
  You need to download the files from ATI's website, and follow the directions. Everything will work perfectly.
  
  During the setup of TV and DTV, I turned off the PRESERVE TV ON DEMAND selection, it really wastes HD space and places alot of demand on the processor. This must be done during this process, otherwise you will end up reinstalling from scratch.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Great Card everything I had expected

  by jchri09 on March 24, 2005

  Pros: Great picture quality, I am about 15 miles from any HDTV tours and I picked up 11 stations. I plugged in my Comcast DIgital cable directly into it and it found all of my channels.

  Cons: Had to set a environment path for the TV to work other than that it is awesome.

  Summary: Software easy to use. I don't know why so many people complained about the product. I found it easy to use and the quality is great. I am using ...

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  Summary: Software easy to use. I don't know why so many people complained about the product. I found it easy to use and the quality is great. I am using a p4 3.8ghz 2GB of ram 500GB hard drive with a ATI 850XT PE video card and Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. This capture card even gives me sound in Dolby digital.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  The absolute worst

  by csp on March 27, 2005

  Pros: being able to obtain hdtv broadcasts over the air. You better install the antenna on your roof otherwise it is useless.

  Cons: The worst software I have ever seen.

  Summary: Ati should be ashamed of releasing this product to market. The card is probably is ok, but the software and drivers are the worst I have ever seen. I have ...

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  Summary: Ati should be ashamed of releasing this product to market. The card is probably is ok, but the software and drivers are the worst I have ever seen. I have spent two days installing and reinstalling the software. needless to say, it is being deinstalled and returned.

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  3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

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