ATI TV Wonder Elite

• Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 28 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 9 stars

  Works better than expected!

  by omegafiler on September 30, 2005

  Pros: Good video quality, compatible with MCE, newly redesigned remote control.

  Cons: Slightly expensive for a basic TV tuner - but it does come with an RF remote

  Summary: I'm not quite sure why so many people have posted negative reviews for this product. It's a TV Tuner. That's it. And just to make it even ...

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  Summary: I'm not quite sure why so many people have posted negative reviews for this product. It's a TV Tuner. That's it. And just to make it even cooler, they threw in a BOB for s-video/RCA inputs and a nifty slim RF remote.
  
  If you are really concerned about quality, why in the world are you buying a non-hd TV tuner? Do you realize how low the quality is? The better your monitor/LCD is, the more you are going to notice flaws in the out-of-date low resolution TV signal. Sure, some analog TV tuners have better chips to clean up the picture... but only to a certain extent. And the ATI card does a very good job at making the picture look descent.
  
  If you want good quality, go buy the ATI HDTV Tuner. I mainly just bought this TV tuner so I could use the ATI HDTV Tuner in MCE '05, and it works great. But even watching normal TV signals... I had no issues with drivers, software, etc.
  
  This product is highly recommended to do what it is designed to do, nothing more.

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  24 out of 26 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Tested with Media Center Edition 2005

  by bflores on June 28, 2005

  Pros: Compatible with MCE 2005.

  Cons: Remote not compatible. Included software not as mature as MCE 2005.

  Summary: Installation to Windows XP Media Center 2005 was a breeze. Installed drivers for card and was up and running in minutes. Just loaded MCE and started auto programming channels. Was ...

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  Summary: Installation to Windows XP Media Center 2005 was a breeze. Installed drivers for card and was up and running in minutes. Just loaded MCE and started auto programming channels. Was able to record, pause, play, etc.. FM worked fabulous as well! The inluded PVR bundled software was very similar to the look and feel, as MCE 2005, however did not have all the functionaity as MCE 2005. The ATI PVR software does not allow you to play live tv, and browse menus at the same time, as MCE 2005 does. The included software is a very workable solution, for those who do not have MCE.
  
  The included remote control only works with the ATI PVR software. It does not work with MCE 2005. You can however, use the remote to simulate a mouse. You can move the mouse cursor and select MCE 2005 options, however this is not pratical, and very painful to operate.
  
  Neither MCE 2005 or ATI PVR software had the ability to view my digital cable channels. Both also lacked the option to manage my digital cable box. A feature that I feel is absolutly essential. My Tivo 2 has this ability.
  
  My biggest problem was getting multiple monitor support to work effectivly. I have dual 19" LCD flat panels, and a 42" DVI/HDMI plasma in the living room. I wanted to use the pc as a home/work computer using the dual LCDs, and the media center/PVR with the 42" plasma. I was not succesful in getting the Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005 to use an alternative display, other then the primary display. Perhaps this is a video card problem. I tested with an ATI x600 128mb PCIe 16x Dual display video card. I was however, succesful in displaying the ATI PVR software on additional monitor displays. I just had problems with MCE 2005. From my testings. It seems as if MCE is designed to work with the primary display only. If you are in my shoes, you may end up having to use the ATI included software, or getting a dedicated MCE 2005 for your plasma, and a dedicated work machine, in your study.
  
  I ended up not installing the ATI or any other TV Tuner card, to the PC. I will continue to stick with the horrible resolution, of the Tivo 2, for my 42" plasma. Perhaps someday I will purchase a dedicated MCE 2005 PC, with ATI technologies.
  
  In Summary: ATI TV Wonder Elite with remote worked very well. It's getting all the technologies to work together that, I feel, needs additional improvement. It would be a great Tivo replacement, however I did not see support for digital cable channel support.

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  15 out of 17 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  Not up to the hype.

  by on February 23, 2005

  Pros: Hardware encoding, quiet, easy to install, and good remote.

  Cons: (USED W/ XP PRO...not MCE) I was trying to remain a loyal ATI user but think I have to end the relationship now. Here are the nuts and bolts of what a mid-level user thought about the "future of TV on your computer." Horrible interface (w/out MCE), awf

  12 out of 17 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  would not install

  by Seahawk92 on October 14, 2005

  Pros: TV on computer was a nice idea

  Cons: Cyber link Power Cinema Softwarre refuses to install

  Summary: bought a new P4 3.2 GHZ Gateway computer and Ati Wonder Elite to watch TV on it.
  The Software necessary to use this produst is Cyberlink Power Cinema and
  ...

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  Summary: bought a new P4 3.2 GHZ Gateway computer and Ati Wonder Elite to watch TV on it.
  The Software necessary to use this produst is Cyberlink Power Cinema and it
  refuses to install gives a window to send error report to Microsoft and crashes to Desktop.
  install error appname pcm3.exe
  Called ATI for support and they said they could not help me, to Call the software Vendor Cyberlink . and guess what Cyberlink only provides Email Support (Voice Costs 29.95)
  I can't even install and they want me to pay for support!Tried calling them anyway and got answering machine.....
  still waiting for some reply from them . For something that costs 150.00 I think i will take my business elsewhere.

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  7 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Great Tuner

  by jwang1229 on October 1, 2005

  Pros: 3D comb filter, mpeg2 encode acceleration

  Cons: weak software

  Summary: The 3D comb filter visibly reduces noise and compared to other tuners, this one produces a better picture. The included software isn't exactly great, but when used with MCE ...

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  Summary: The 3D comb filter visibly reduces noise and compared to other tuners, this one produces a better picture. The included software isn't exactly great, but when used with MCE 2005, this tuner produces good results. Compared to other tuners on the market, it's a good pick.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Great Hardware Pretty Bad Software

  by kubasic on August 31, 2006

  Pros: Best image quality on the market

  Cons: Software just about unusable

  Summary: I have used several of these cards over the years and the quality of the video is the best I have ever seen. The installation went very smooth and I ...

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  Summary: I have used several of these cards over the years and the quality of the video is the best I have ever seen. The installation went very smooth and I have had no issues. The software that is provided with this card is very buggy. It is really a shame because with the right software this card would be a 10. ATI must not have very good software testing. Simple features crash with no work arround. The ATI website and support are awful. I would strongly suggest that anyone that purchasing this card download the latest drivers and the ATI Multi-Media Center software. ATI MMC is better than what came with the card but it still has some pretty major bugs. If you do not mind purchasing additional software there are much better software packages available but personally I am not willing to lay out another 100+ dollars when the card is supposed to come with DVR software. This card works great with Microsoft Media Center edition which is far more stable software. If you have Media Center edition I suggest that you look under Windows XP Pro for drivers and software updates. For some reason the ATI website does not have the same software for Media Center that they make available for Win XP.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  fantastic capture quality; abysmal bundled software

  by harrisonj on January 13, 2006

  Pros: great quality, low cpu usage because of on-board mpeg encoding, input break-out box

  Cons: terrible bundled software and no compatibility from other software vendors

  Summary: If I review just the hardware, this is a 9. If I review just the bundled software (May '05), that is a 2.
  
  Hardware:
  All good news here.
  Amazing video
  
  
  
  ...

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  Summary: If I review just the hardware, this is a 9. If I review just the bundled software (May '05), that is a 2.
  
  Hardware:
  All good news here.
  Amazing video quality. ATI got this right big time.
  Audio/video synchronization perfect because both captured and encoded through the card -- no sound card delay.
  Easy to install.
  Great break-out box for inputs so you don't have to get in behind the machine to plug and unplug input sources.
  Allows s-video in.
  Very low CPU usage.
  FM Radio.
  Surprised not to see it's own cooling fan.
  Good remote.
  
  Software:
  This ruins the deal. I really don't know what ATI was thinking and I hope they read this.
  Cyberlink Powercinema 3 came bundled. Unfortunately, I can't even find any vendor software that allows capturing with the hardware mpeg2 encoding already done by the chip, and believe me I was looking within a day of using Cyberlink. Even Cyberlink's own version 4 upgrade evaluation version didn't work.
  The only good thing about the bundled software is that amazingly it doesn't crash. Well, I shouldn't say that -- it does generate fine mpg2's less than 2gb.
  ATI put out months later an update which changed only that you could allow it to save tv/satellite to a different location/drive. But you still can't change it for video inputs.
  The most annoying thing is that it splits files at 2 gb no matter what. Doesn't matter if you have NTFS drives, it doesn't auto-detect that and there is no setting to say "keep writing till out of space" or "keep writing till 6 hours are up". Stupid. Even worse, when you join the split clips, the audio and video are out of sync., so you have to trim about 2 or 3 seconds off the end of the previous clip.
  Takes longer than expected to fire up the radio and switch stations.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  Useless software kills fine hardware product

  by howeird on May 19, 2005

  Pros: Looks super on paper

  Cons: Useless software, no channel guide, incomaptible

  Summary: On paper this looks like the best non-pro PVR hardware on the market, at a reasonable price. However it does not work with any of my Ulead capture software, and ...

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  Summary: On paper this looks like the best non-pro PVR hardware on the market, at a reasonable price. However it does not work with any of my Ulead capture software, and the completely lame Cyberlink PowerCinema which comes with it only allows capture to the My Videos folder on drive C. Tech support said there is no way to change this. Unlike other ATI products, this one has no program guide software (the excellent GuidePlus comes with all the others). The GUI looks like TiVo on quualudes. And kiss goodbye ATI's previously excellent choices of capture bit rates and sizes.

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  4 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  so-so hardware, terrible software

  by johnbr54 on December 8, 2005

  Pros: inexpensive, easy to install

  Cons: worst software ever!

  Summary: Its unfortunate ATI has packaged this card with such terrible software (PowerCinema). This is by far the worst piece of software I've seen. Its painfully slow to start up ...

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  Summary: Its unfortunate ATI has packaged this card with such terrible software (PowerCinema). This is by far the worst piece of software I've seen. Its painfully slow to start up -from the time you click on the PowerCinema icon to the time you are watching TV it takes at least 2-3 minutes. The software doesn't allow you to jump to other channels, you have to click up/down arrows forever (or use the remote). The program won't record anything larger than a half hour show (a one hour show gets broken into two files - very annoying). Despite what the manufacturer says, you can NOT change the default directory for recorded programs. Their website is completely devoid of any meaningful information and is full of spelling and grammatical mistakes! I bought this product several months ago and stopped using it after a couple of weeks.

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  3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  I'm sure it's a good TV Tuner, if you can get it to work!

  by NickSim on November 16, 2005

  Pros: Package looks nice, remote is slick, the purple box is nice.

  Cons: Spent $150, 3 hours, 351 pulled hairs and still couldn't get it to work.

  Summary: I'm a sucker, I read everybody's reviews and said "Ahh, it'll work". Was I ever so WRONG! I have a brand new (3 days old) Win XP ...

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  Summary: I'm a sucker, I read everybody's reviews and said "Ahh, it'll work". Was I ever so WRONG! I have a brand new (3 days old) Win XP WME 2005 Athlon 3800+ 64 Bit 1Gig of DDR Ram, yada, yada, yada...I installed the driver, nothing. I installed the lame software, nothing. I updated windows, nothing. I updated the friggn' BIOS, NOTHING. I will never buy a product from ATI again.
  
  ATI, this is what happends when you rush the realese of a product. By hoping to gain pennys you have lost my (and ovbiously others) busniess for good.

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

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