Customer Reviews

ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro 128 MB 8X AGP Graphics Card

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The funny thing about today's trend of recording to hard drives is that it had been realized by ATI quite some time ago. The All-In-Wonder series of video cards from ATI are expensive items, but in the rare category of "Worth Every Nickel".

I've owned nVidia cards, Creative cards, Hercules, Diamond, just about everything *but* an ATI card. They're expensive, and I never had the scratch until I got older. Boy, had I know what this baby could do, I'd have saved a little more

The AIW Radeon Series extends a successful formula: display television signals on a PC, and display PC video on a television. If this seems logical, consider that ATI (along with Hauppauge) has been in this space for years now. The worst-kept secret is finally out. The Radeon series is an extremely fast, capable display card with abilities far in excess of game-only display cards from nVidia or Creative.

The AIW Radeon 9800 ships with a remote control, an IR receiver, a variety of adapters for video input/output, software galore, and real instruction manuals. The software bundle puts tuning capability (not digital/ satellite though, as they have card access devices that cannot be tuned outside of the receiver), recording capability, and DVD playback right out of the box. Drivers come on a single CD, but after you perform an initial install on a Win2k or WinXP box, just download the latest drivers from ATI's website and go from there.

Installation is easy. Driver installation is easy. Once this is up, you'll need to spend some time learning what it can do, but in ten minutes you can be displaying Unreal on your plasma television for everyone to watch (you'd better be good or your deaths will be good grist for the humor mill).

You can rely on good documentation to help you figure out more-complex routing, and recording isn't really a ten-minute task, but here's the real scoop on this card: you can use your existing PC to record television, just like an add-on TiVo or PVR unit, just by owning this card. Convergence is already here, and my pick is ATI's AIW Radeon 9800.

First of all, let's forget the notion that you're using this to tape shows from television, for either legal or illegal future usage. I'd like to give you the perspective of one who works daily with digital media, both in editing and filming. This card rocks! It certainly lives up to its name!

I had some initial problems getting the output to work, but then again I'm not one to read a manual from top to bottom for fun. Sorry, that's just not my thing. I read the essentials for what I need to do. I was on a rush job and needed answers fast. Though the manual had them, I called ATI's tech support and they were nothing but superb. The person on the other end was cordial, quick to the point, and more importantly, solved my issue in less than 2 minutes! This card really saved our bacon when the president of our organization needed a tape from digital and needed it fast. Without the proper hardware for that, we relied on the All-in-Wonder card to get the job done. Needless to say, the prez was more than pleased with the results.

If you need a reliable piece of equipment, this is the one to go with. But, please be sure to read the requirements. It will need a 300W power source, so keep that in mind when purchasing. Check the one in your PC and either confirm that what you have will work, or buy a newer more powerful one. Trust me, in the end, whatever you need done digital media wise, you will get it done with ATI. Enjoy!

this product does what the others report but... I've only had it 2 weeks and found out that it will REFUSE to record some shows because the software has some way of knowing that the transmitter wants copyright protection. (this was sports of free tv) So consider paying $400 to make a pc into a vcr that refuses to record some shows. 2nd the drivers & software arent being kept up to date. 3rd there are problems with agp drivers on many motherboards. 4th Allot of what you would think that the software would do it does not. for instance i have been unable to tell it to record the same show in the same time slot every week or day like you can a $50 vcr. so it feels like 1st generation hardware & software to me. also if you have a taste for normal tv resolution on replay better add a 100 gig drive to your expected costs.

this thing has more bugs than functions. i got a great deal on it, but after two weeks' worth of downloading new drivers, troubleshooting, searching for answers, and a whole lot of cursing, i returned it for a radeon 9800 pro 256mb. i'm fine without the TV functions, but i need a card that won't crash five minutes into anything.

on a side note, the card runs extra hot, and modding it won't make it go away. so unless your pc is well ventilated, you just might fry something expensive.

I originally had a Geforce 4 5200 Plus by Mad Dog. That card worked great, but it lagged on certain games I play. Then I went with a simple Radeon 9200 SE. It was worse than the Geforce. But I stuck it out. Then the local store stocked some All-in-Wonder 9800 cards ( I have a Hauppage TV card, but it doesn't work right, so I don't have it installed). The 9800 is not the pro version, but I could record TV with it and it has 128 MB DDR RAM.
I installed the card, installed the software, and rebooted. The graphics seemed slower when I would just try to open a menu. Okay, first problem was there. I downloaded the updated drivers, and rebooted again.
Guess what? Graphics were fixed. I loaded the game that had issues with my past two cards. No problems, and the cool microwave tanks actually had the blur around them showing the heat they produced (Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour).
I have tested every aspect of this card: video editing, recording tv, hooking up multiple monitors, and picture editing. All of it worked fine. Any issues other people may seem to have may be due to conflicting hardware or just not installed properly. I just know that it works for me and I love this card.
I get to program recording for my favorite tv show (which works).
The only real compaint I have is with the TV Guide. It only works in Canada and the USA even though it asks what country you are in. I am stationed in Korea and I can't download the TV guide from the net. But that's fine because I know when my shows come on anyway.
So if you want a decent do it all card. This is for you and I highly recommend it.
By the way, my system is self built (AMD 2500+ processor, 1.5 GB RAM, modem, LAN, 6 USB 2.0, 2 FIrewire, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum ZS, 420 GB hard drive space, ZIP drive, Memory Card reader, DVD burner, CD burner, and a basic floppy drive). That's probably why I don't have any problems. I can easily solve the conflicts because I know exactly what is in my pc.

I've found that people either love or hate ATI products. Everything revolves around one issue: Will it run on your computer or not? The reason behind this is their long history of inadequate software and driver testing.

In my case I've owned a TV Wonder, an All-In-Wonder Rage 128 PCI and my latest, the All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro. So far, not ONE has worked on any of my computers without constant freezeups and crashes, often accompanied by a screen covered with gibberish.

A case for Technical Support, you say? ATI's technical support, "Customer Care" (Message: We Care) makes me feel like the only thing they care about is getting the sale. What you really experience is an auto-reply which covers advice on several hundred known problems on EVERY card ATI "supports", and a link to their online FAQ for more. Another option is to call them long-distance in Canada and stay on hold for 30 minutes and up. If you have owned your card for more than thirty days, you can pay them a premium for calling as well. I found it interesting that on the largest review site on the web, even all of the reviewers who LIKED the card experienced major bugs. Still, 61% of those who owned the card gave it a thumbs down! Think about that before you take a (61%) chance of wishing you'd never heard of ATI or their lousy drivers and software. Out of the dozens of computers I've built, the only video cards I've had consistent problems with have been ATI's. If Nvidia made a card that achieved what ATI promises with their All-In-Wonder line, I would be happy to throw my ATI Wonder in the trash and be done with it for good.

So, do you think you're lucky?

Update: I've since gone with an Nvidia video card & haven't had a single problem. Lesson learned.

First off, the people that rated this card with 3 or more stars obviously have not used this card. Their reviews are a textbook review I have seen on many websites.

Secondly, before I bought this card I doubted reviews saying, I never have a bad experience with drivers, so I bought it. It was fine for 2 weeks, I got the most "updated" drivers and my games (Doom 3, GTA Vice City, NFS: Underground, and many more worked great). Then the troubles began; my computer would freeze every 45 minutes or so, depending on how much load was on the card itself. So, TV watching was limited, gaming was out of the question, but DVDs actually played without the card quitting on me.

Also free phone support is limited to 30 days after you buy it. Well, since I bought it from a private seller on Amazon who didn't get me the card until 31 days after I paid for it, the FREE phone support was useless.

I knew I wasn't going to pay the 2.99 or 3.99 a minute charges for help, because they would just give me answers to general problems from a list that they have in front of them. Also, going to the website for help is pointless too. E-mailing ATI for support only gives you a response of (once again) general problems with certain situations that have nothing to do with your problems.

I will only give this video card one good mark. The input connector for connecting a VCR to show VHS tapes on your monitor is great with no quality loss at all, the tv quality was pretty decent, and the one touch recording for tv programs was easy as well. I actually programmed the remote control so that I could even turn off my computer from my bed after watching tv or a dvd, just to make me that much lazier. For the people who gripe about having to update the tv listings every week, don't you get tv listings in the paper every Sunday? Enough said.

Lastly, I broke down and bougt an ATI(I'm not against ATI, just the AIW 9800 pro)9550 AGP 256mb video card and a TV wonder pro that came with the video imput device so I still can watch VHS tapes on my computer. Those 2 items were cheaper than what I paid form the AIW and after leaving my computer running all day and watchng tv and doing the normal stuff I do on my computer, I have had no problems at all. Save your money and just buy the 2 cards separetely.

Have a nice day!

This is my 2nd ATI All-In-Wonder Pro card, and this will be my last. The support and drivers to manage the MMC portion (TV, etc.) is awful. When you send in ticket requests ATI, now owned by AMD, sends back canned replies with links which don't work. In addition, you have to keep reopening the case to get someone to provide you assistance. At this point, the card that I have can only be used for its basic capabilities of being a video card. The TV with PVR capability is useless if you are using it with Windows XP SP2. Find a different solution for your entertainment needs!

First and foremost this is a 3d graphics card, and a real good one at that. It has seen better days, but it still runs any game on the market, usually exceptionally well. I too have had various issues with some of the TV recording functions, the software encoder (seems to happen to every ATI All-in-Wonder card I own), and it does run a little hot (better than most competing 3d cards though). All in all, it's a great card, and the TV issues can be dealt with if you know what you're doing--it's just not for everyone.

Good product from ATI for my older but still strong computer. I also have a $ 2000 dollar card ( Matrox Pro ), but you do not see the difference and in analog mode it works as good or better.