Another Newbie bought ATI...

[sandycliffs]

I built my dream multimedia centre (and my first custom computer) a couple of months ago. I fell prey to the advertising and obviously paid-for reviews and bought the ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro and the ATI TV Wonder VE as my graphics card and dual tuners. The the AIW seems to handle everything I throw at it well enough, but ATI's software is CRAP!!!!! I have spent more time and money trying to get them working....
Now I find out there is a problem with the Gemstar TvListings and they won't work properly. Period. My whole PVR functionality basically thrown out the window after more than $700 CDN in Hardware and support.
I'm just a little P/O'd.
So... Will Sage v.2 work with my AIW 9800 Pro and TV Wonder VE? If not? any other suggestions? I really don't have the money to buy 2 more tuner cards.... Pls Help. Somebody... Anybody..?

[stanger89]

Sorry Sage won't work with either of the cards you have listed. My only advice would be to sell (return?) them and get a pair of PVR 250s and a standalone video card.

I hate to go recommending competing products (especially when I don't thing they're as good), but BeyondTV can work with cards w/o Hardware encoders (like the TVWVE). However software encoders are inherently limited in their viability for PVRs (high system requirements just for capture).

[sandycliffs]

Thanks. I was afraid of that. I was looking at Beyond... Sage looks SO much BETTER! They don't even support multiple tuners. Part of my problem is that I want to record other shows while I watch , etc...That's what I was building it for! Resources are not a big problem. I have trouble using all of my PC's resources!!! (P4 3.2g HT 800 fsb 1G dual Ch ram etc, plus the vid card has 256 meg onboard to help out.)
I'm surprised at the lack of PVR software out there. I guess I could have looked sooner, But I figured this would be a heavily competetive market. Of course, I also assumed that products from such a highly respected company like ATI would be top-=notch as well. Newbie-naivety.

[stanger89]

Originally posted by sandycliffs
Thanks. I was afraid of that. I was looking at Beyond... Sage looks SO much BETTER!

No arguments here

<snip>
Resources are not a big problem. I have trouble using all of my PC's resources!!! (P4 3.2g HT 800 fsb 1G dual Ch ram etc, plus the vid card has 256 meg onboard to help out.)

Oh, there are ways to suck all that and more up, just on playback

I'm surprised at the lack of PVR software out there. I guess I could have looked sooner, But I figured this would be a heavily competetive market.

PC PVRs are a relatively new market, good ones have only been around for a year or so. It's probably mostly due to the "Who would want a PC in their living room?" Of course my intuition tells me the reason PC PVRs are becoming more popular is because this is kind of the time when most kids have grown up around PCs and thing "Why wouldn't I want a PC in the living room?"

Of course, I also assumed that products from such a highly respected company like ATI would be top-=notch as well. Newbie-naivety.

Yeah, it's unfortunate, I haven't figured out why ATI gets the respect they do. Theres a thread over on the AVS Forum about the ATI HDTV Wonder, which offers nothing that isn't currently available, and yet there are a ton of people oogling it Don't feel bad, you're not alone though, I started with a TV Wonder, probably 4-5 years ago (I can't believe they're still making it).

It may be painful, but I'd get a couple of PVR 250s, you'll be much happier in the end. Maybe you can find some poor sucker to buy your AIW.

Oh, and the AIW will work as a video card with Sage so you wouldn't have to replace it, it's just the AIW part that's not supported.

Well, good luck with your project, hope you get it working one way or another.

[kny3twalker]

well ATI has the E home wonder
one point finally for ATI

it seems to have very few problems
and works with sage

but keep the 9800 PRO AIW unless you can get another one without the AIW
it should be an awesoem card to use with Sage

[stanger89]

Yeah the E-Home probably only works that well because it's designed to depend on XP MCE (and MS probably tested the crap out of the drivers).

And the only reason I'd get rid of the AIW is if you could recoup some of the cost and get a non-AIW version.