An incredible piece of engineering
Written: Nov 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredible functionality, TV and Digital VCR featues, one mean 3D chip, and excellent drivers.
Cons: A tad pricey, Multimedia Center could be more tweakable.
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| kadge's Full Review: ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON, (32 MB) PCI Video Card |
The ATI All-In-Wonder represents ATI's crowning achievement in the All-In-Wonder series. The features are almost too numerous to count.
First, we have the basic TV viewing application, powered by nicely refined drivers (Available for Windows 2000 Pro as well as 98 and ME), and the versatile ATI Multimedia Center Version 7.
I was particularly impressed by the smooth and seamless rendering at all video sizes and resolutions. The ability to zoom in on a certain part of the screen is fun to play with, especially when used in conjunction with the TV-On-Demand feature which lets you pause live television (much like the celebrated Sony Tivo, except with even more functionality).
The onboard Rage Theatre chip produces smooth MPEG-2 and DVD playback, and the real-time MPEG-2 capture feature allows you to use your computer like a VCR. The VCR feature is integrated with the included TV-Guide program which allows you to download program times and listings directly off the internet. All you need is a zip code! Other features include DVI digital flatscreen output, S-Video and composite RCA inputs as well as the basic coaxial, and S/PDIF Dolby Digital Audio Output (for those of us who like to hook our computers up to our Hi-Fi systems).
Think I'm done? Guess again! In addition to all of these wonderful A/V features, this beast of a card packs a very powerful 3D-Rendering chip. ATI's Radeon chip is currently the most capable competitor to the prevailing NVIDIA GeForce2 cards. With 32MB of onboard DDR memory and well implemented pipeline control, Radeon is able to produce the high framerates, enormous resolutions, and brilliant colors necessary to satisfy the needs of the vast majority of gamers. Unless you are extremely hardcore and care about nothing except 3D framerates, I find this card to be the best overall video card available on the market today.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kadge
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 1 member
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