Does anyone know about the ATi TV wonder VE card?

[ufcrusher]

I was wondering if anyone knew about the ATI TV WONDER VE TV Tuner and Video Capture for PC. I was just nosing around the store today and stumbled across this card. The box said that this card could be used as a personal digital recorder (like a Tivo).

So what, if anything, does anyone know about the quality of the card? Truthfully I would only be using it at a digital recorder as the computer is next to my hometheater, and as such if its going to look like trash, it isnt worth it to me.

[spigidygak]

They work ok. . . lil' unstable here and there especially depending on what os and if you are recording. Out of the tv tuner class, ati has the better of tuner performance and capture, but its nothing great. For good quality captures you need a real video capture card which will run in the hundreds. But they do work well. . . once in a while like any other tv tuner card.

[ufcrusher]

The OS on the desktop is Windows 98...I havent bothered to upgrade it but I have Windows XP also and have access to Windows 2000.

So I take it that you would not recommend it then? What video capture card would you recommend. As I said, I am just going to use it like a Tivo without the service charges. I figure that with the amount of free hard disk space it would save me a lot of hassle.

[spigidygak]

It will save you a lot of problems if you get a video card integrated with a tv tuner card instead. I hear much more better things from those. Part of the problems that tv tuner cards have are compatibility issues with video cards.

[TommyBoomfiger]

Originally posted by spigidygak
It will save you a lot of problems if you get a video card integrated with a tv tuner card instead. I hear much more better things from those. Part of the problems that tv tuner cards have are compatibility issues with video cards.
:stupid:
if you can, go for an ati radeon all in wonder. i have one and its great, not exactly a gforce killer, but one of the best tv cards out there with good 3d graphics

[ufcrusher]

I currently have a Diamond Viper V770 video card in the system...which at the time I got this system, was one of the best cards out. (You can tell that its a few years old)

So with this knowledge would you still say to go with an all in one card? As I said, if its not going to be worth it (in terms of the quality) I am not going to bother.

Thanks for all the help.

[spigidygak]

Yeah I'd get an all in one dealy. I actually believe I had that same card a while back and used it with an ati tv wonder (the first one) and I could watch tv or any video source but it would freeze my system up after a few hours and the capture worked for like 10 seconds once.

[PoloM1]

I actually use the ATI TV wonder, not the VE version, but it's basically the same things with a couple extra features.

I love it, I have it recording on a daily basis. The OS I'm using is Win98SE and the video card I'm using is the ATI Radeon VE (so this shows that you don't need a strong video card).

What I've noticed is that one of the most important things is a strong CPU. I use to use it with a PIII 800 and that was ok (system froze rarely) but now I use it with an overclocked athlon 1.466 and I don't ever have a problem.

Video capturing is very CPU intensive, you can't have your computer doing anything else while capturing or you will drop frames or you'll get a system freeze

[jase71]

I think the freezing is a software issue with these things.

I have one... and used it for a while in Win2K. I uninstalled it after a week or two because it locked up my system frequently.. sometimes after only a few minutes of use.

I've since switched over to Linux, and reinstalled the card. Using the exact same pc, exact same card, but Linux software (KwinTV) rather than the ATI software/drivers, it's worked flawlessly for more than a month now without a single lockup or hesitation.

[Speedfreak]

Well, unless you stay in Win98, the thing is crap. I got one and put it in my Win2k machine and a few weeks later downgraded to Win98 (being my TV is one of the main functions of that system) because it froze up way to often in win2k. In win98, the thing works flawlessly, but I hate every other aspect of Win98. After a few months of hating 98 and wanting to upgrade to XP, I looked around for a TV card that would be compatible. Well, then I saw the review here on G/A? for the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP (http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?rev=tv2000/index.html) and that it works in XP. So, I got one and it works perfect in XP.

[stream]

does anyone know about Creative's tv tuner...called the Digital VCR. I'm running Windows XP and was thinking of getting it cuz I don't have room for an actual tv

[TommyBoomfiger]

Originally posted by Speedfreak
Well, unless you stay in Win98, the thing is crap. I got one and put it in my Win2k machine and a few weeks later downgraded to Win98 (being my TV is one of the main functions of that system) because it froze up way to often in win2k. In win98, the thing works flawlessly, but I hate every other aspect of Win98. After a few months of hating 98 and wanting to upgrade to XP, I looked around for a TV card that would be compatible. Well, then I saw the review here on G/A? for the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP (http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?rev=tv2000/index.html) and that it works in XP. So, I got one and it works perfect in XP. are you talking about the tv card or the all in wonder card? i have a radeon aiw and it works great in 98, 2k and xp pro. when i first got it, it gave me problems in 2k, but not any more. and the 7.6 software works even better than the original

[NuTs62]

Great, people that know about these cards. I have the AIW Radeon 8500DV. I *just* started recording with it. At what settings do you guys record? I just tried mpg, that worked fine I guess, 1 hr episode of Smallville took up around 600MB (clicked on VCD Quality). From Kazaa, I've downloaded avi episodes that are around 100MB or so each. What codec, and settings do you guys recommend if I want to get the avi file down to that small? When I tried avi, it made huge files. And is there an easy way to edit out the commercials, or a setting I can set, that can distinguish between the show and the commercials?


So far I'm still learning how to use it. But I think its great. The only problem I have (besides the ones listed above) is that.. I have a coax switch, because I have two cable lines into my apartment. The listings Guide+ shows gives two listings for each channel. Oh, and you can only record one show at a time. You can't watch a channel on the computer when you're recording another channel. Eh, I guess thats cuz theres only one signal coming in. Bah, Im thinking I might want to make another TiVo system so I can record two shows at a time.

[TommyBoomfiger]

i use vcd quality, usually its ok, just as good as vcd gets, but sometimes it comes out real nice when i burn it to a vcd with nero. one hour does come out to ~600mb, but any lower quality and you wont be enjoying it very much. unfortunately you cant use just any codec to encode files to my knowledge. it would be great to use the divx5 codec, that would probably cut down on the size without killing the quality. you might want to convert the files to divx, but thats not as good as directly encoding the raw data straight to a divx format. the aiw features arent as good as a dedicated hardware pvr, but it isnt supposed to replace one. plus in order for it to be able to record two shows at once, it needs 2 tuners, which would take up more real estate on the board than there is. ati really squished everything onto those boards real tight.

i also have a problem with the guide plus program where whenever i run it, it shows a whole bunch of channels i dont get (i get regualar broadcast). all i have been able to figure out to remedy it is to right click on a channel name in guide plus, and sort out your channels how you like them and save it. then every time you open it you have to reopen your saved profile. its a pain, but i barely use it. especially since you can tell what the current show and the next shows are from the tv interface.

[ski]

ATi TV Wonder VE is a BAD idea. I first had a basic Hauppauge one which worked great in Windows 2000 and ME. Then I bought the VE, hoping to get it to work in 2000, but to no avail. I couldn't even get the darn thing to work in 98. It's been sitting in a Wal-Mart bag for 9 months now... $40 lost!

[NuTs62]

Anyone have this problem or know a solution? I now hear an echo when I watch TV. When I do a brief playback, its fine, no echo.. How do I eliminate that?