Customer Reviews

ATI Technologies TV Wonder Pro PCI-NTSC (100-703138)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

It works pretty well.

On the other hand the setup was a mess (I'm using Windows XP).

a) The CD that came with the hardware didn't have the same folder/directory structure as described in the manual. Had to browse and locate the XP drivers myself.
b) TV viewing and recording worked pretty well the first time, but the captured images had a totally green tint (red objects appeared black, so somehow "R" was missing from RGB signals). At first I thought the hardware was defective. Really freaked me out.
c) ATI.com had downloads for a newer version 8.8. I forgot to uninstall the CD's 8.2 first, and 8.8 didn't recognize 8.2 and got everything mixed up. Eventually had to uninstall both 8.2 and 8.8 and reinstall 8.8 (Urgh).

Anyway, after all this, it started working pretty well. Picture quality is decent. Video encoding works well on my humble P3 machine.

The software is not great but okay with me (I just want to watch TV and occasionally record and capture stuff so what do I care). The user interface is not very pleasing to the eyes by the way.

For $65 it's a pretty good bang for the buck. I would give it 5 stars if it weren't for the trouble I had. I'm gonna burn a CD myself and keep it for downloaded 8.8 stuff instead of that sorry CD.

I was kind of worried when I read reviews on how this didn't work with video cards other than ATI. (I have an 128MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, which is a fairly common card.) I recieved this TV-Wonder card as a gift, so I was about ready to ask to return it without even trying it. However, I decided it wouldn't hurt to try it out since they still returned opened defective hardware.

And low-and-behold, it worked! Despite building my own computers, and feeling that directions were below me, I followed them carefully as to not ruin the experiment. I probably would have done a few directions out of order, so that was a good idea.

In the end, I suppose people still have problems with it, probably with different video cards. All I can say is, it works with the Nvidia FX5200 card I mentioned above, and to follow the directions, carefully and treat the card like a holy grail while taking it out of the box.

At first I was worried about this product due to the reviews it recieved. In my experience with the card thoguh, I have actually found it's preformance excellent. First off, people complain of the quality of the image. This is called a cable signal, you can't expect your computer to magically make it better. If you ask why it doesn't look so bad on your TV, there's a simple answer, go sit right next to your TV and tell me how it looks. In the room my computer is in, I have a comfortable seat about 8 feet from the computer screen. The image looks perfect in full screen from there.

The second problem that people stated with this card is that there is an audio sync issue. This is very easy to solve, it's all in the setup of the computer. This is not an ATi problem, but rather a windows problem. When the cord is plugged from the back of your TV card and into your sound card, it goes in the microphone jack. Here is where most people have the problem. To process the cable image takes some time from where it comes in, therefore the image is delayed. Most people experience either the sound being early, or an echo. I have seen several reviews where the stated solution for the echo is to mute the media center. This is what creates the delay. ATi media center delays the audio to match the video perfectly. Mic thru speaker needs to be disabled in your audio pannel. This way, the programs get the audio signal, but the signal doesn't go through your speaker.

A+ work on this one ATi, sorry everyone who didn't know until now, but there's the fix, it's in the instructions, it even has pictures.... there you have it.

This is a decent product with loads of features. But the horrible software that comes with it will surely turn away some users - as it almost did me. Despite being a tech-savvy user, I had to spend 2+ hours to get the software (sort of) working, after encountering problems with program hanging and other malfunctions. Tech support was surprisingly helpful and they sorted out two of the problems I had. I did, however, had to register my product online, and then call a Canada number to reach tech support.

Once I got past the software problems, the true potential of the product shows. I have crystal clear pictures on my monitor. I could capture screenshots, record programs and save caption text with a few simple clicks. The included Guide + program works like Tivo - allowing you to find and schedule recording of programs.

PROS: Excellent video quality; decent performance; Helpful tech support (you only get it free for 30 days after registration though).

CONS: Buggy software; TV Guide software doesn't integrate well with the player; Can't play TV on 2nd monitor (major drawback for me).

ADVICE: Do not install from the CD that comes in the box. Directly go to ATI.COM and download the latest driver and software. Register your product while you are there and have a phone handy to call tech support.

DON"T BUY IF:

--You want to record from your VCR/Camcorder

--You want it to work with Windows Media Center

--You want to make personal vids with the recorded data

I purchased this product at Best Buy, expecting excellent results after a brillant review by one of those Geek Squad personnel. I should have known, he is a salesman, hence the sale. This product was a pain to install, the software took forever and even then it didn't run smoothly.

There is little to no documentation to help set it up. Once it was finally set up the TV listings and recording features were activated -- sketchy at best. Out of the 3 programed one recorded. What is up with that?! The picture/sound quality is decent, and I do like the picture-in-picture capability. HOWEVER, the more programs you have running the larger in time delay there is between the sound and picture, NOT GOOD>

On top of everything, the whole reason we purchased this card was to use our Windows Media Center "My TV" setting. Turns out Windows doesn't even recognize this product, AT ALL. I tried saving the video and opening it in WMC to manipulate the data... NADA. I called costomer service and checked out the website, this product is DISCONTINUED. So it's so going back!

The only reason I gave it a star, is because you can watch tv... take pictures, and record --but only in this products software.

This card seemed like the perfect solution to my desire to play VHS movies on my computer monitor. Unfortunately, my (new) computer's video card is not compatible with the ATI TV Wonder Pro. After contacting ATI and fiddling around with software drivers, etc. I found that I need an ATI or compatible video board. Of course, they fail to mention this in their advertising or on the packaging. It would sure have saved me a lot of time had they published this in their specifications. The card seems like it does everything except wash windows, but check out your hardware before buying.

I've had this card for about one month so this is not a spur of the moment review. The documentation is almost non-existant. The software is very buggy. Sometimes the Scheduler runs and sometimes it doesn't. The TV listings sometimes refuse to update even though they download the new data. As for the recording hardware, it seemed to work pretty well when it would actually record, but suddenly two days ago it quit recording sound and I'm still at a loss as to why. You can watch TV with sound (although I bought it exclusively as a PVR), but it won't record sound. It will play sound while recording, but there is no audio in the saved file.

I've been working with computers and PCs for some years, and this is the most annoying hardware I've encountered. It CAN work, but there seems to be no pattern as to WHEN it will work.

(Yes, I have the latest software, OS, patches, etc.)

i do r&d, testing & technical support for a software company. i bought this card because it was inexpensive, but i sure got what i paid for. the bundled sofware is terrible, and i had to download updated drivers and software several times from ati.com befpre i could get their updates to actually install on my machine. and i don't even want to get into how buggy their multimedia center is. plus, i had to call technical support to resolve video and audio issues, which were never solved. then, finally, it crashed my computer.

even after i pulled the card out and uninstalled the drivers, even running their software removal utility, the remnants of their software is causing problems on my machine. if i am a computer professional and having this much trouble with it, i would hate to see the kind of frustration this causes the average joe who buys it.

terrible product.

Works first time flawlessly, just a beautiful product. I follow ATI's instructions and use whatever software that came with the package AS IS. Total install time 20 minutes. Have tried 5 other TVtuner cards but the TVWonderPro is the absolute best in terms of picture quality (almost HD like) and zero dropped frames during high quality DVD recording and play. The only reason for 4 stars is that the remote is not fully functional without buying another ATI graphic card. The included 'GuidePlus' TV guide & sheduler is also by far the best. It is a true one click recording - auto description, time & duration. Just a super product (no I don't own ATI stocks).
I read so many people have problems which is a shame since you are missing out on a truly great product. #1-if your computer conflicts, have it reformated because it retains UNremovable conflicting junk after many program installs. Note that using software to clean your computer likely will NOT work despite claims of the xperts & pros. Reformatting takes 1-2 hours and you get a like new fast computer in the process. Use MicroSoft's downloadable bootup disks software as it likely includes all drivers that you need. #2-must have good strong TV signal. I use a Motorola signal booster which I in turn split & feed into 2 computers both having TV tuner cards. Both have very good TV with the ATI being almost HD like - ATI calls it soap effect. Last, I am no computer expert, just an older retiree with a true interest on how things work.

Never could get the software to really install properly. Furthermore, the software from a design standpoint is just not well thought out. The card is essentially worthless without decent software. I took a look at buying other software and some of them are not compatible with this card.