It can do it all!
Written: Jan 26 '01 (Updated Jan 26 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredible DVD, nice TV tuner
Cons: poor driver support, and incompatibility with VIA chipsets
The Bottom Line: Superb DVD and video functions make this solid video card for ATI Technologies. For multimedia lovers, I highly recommend purchasing this video card!
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| civic2000's Full Review: ATI All-in-Wonder® 128, (32 MB) PCI Video Car... |
The main purpose of my purchasing a video card created by ATI was for its DVD capabilities. Many reviews that I have read document the amazing and incredible DVD capability of ATI video cards. Originally, I was going to purchase the ATI Rage Fury video card. However after seeing the many features that the ATI All In Wonder 128 provides, I immediately change my mind and purchased this little wonder.
Features
This card has it all! TV Tuner, DVD decoding, Video Capture and editing, and 3d gaming. Out of all the aforementioned items, this video card lacks in the 3d gaming department. I doesn't quite perform as well as other cards, but it shines in its overall multimedia functions. The TV Tuner is a nice addition to the AIW. You can watch TV as a small screen on your monitor, or also can be displayed as you desktop wallpaper! Image quality is excellent. One of the cooler functions is the ability to do an "instant replay." First, you must determine how much memory space will be allocated to the video. After doing this, you can now replay "live" tv. Depending on how much memory you set is the amount of "live" tv you can replay.
DVD decoding is one of the major strong points of this card. The video quality is amazing! The colors are rich and vibrant, and there is little artifacting present in the video. Since ATI cards have built in hardware DVD decoding support, you do not need a fast processor to get smooth playback. The quality of the video is breathtaking and just as good as any set top DVD player.
The AIW also comes with a basic video recorder. You can record video in different settings, even MPEG2. MPEG2 is pretty much the same format used by DVDs. So with this, you can record high quality video to your computer. However, you do not a fast processor to attain smooth video recordings.
Software
The AIW comes with a couple 3d games and vide-editing software. My package came with ATI's DVD plater, RAGE Ependable, Moto Racer 2, and MGI Videowave. The games are not all that exciting, but the editing sofware is really nice. It is simple to use, but powerful enough to create cool and professional looking video.
Conclusion
If you are looking for an all in one solution to you multimedia needs, you can go ahead and purchase the ATI All In Wonder 128 video card. Its excellent DVD capabilities and video utilities make up for the subpar 3d performance. There are a couple incompatibilities with ATI video cards and VIA chipset motherboards. Just make sure that your PC is compatible with this card before you purchase. Trust me, you won't regret this purchase!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 189.99
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Epinions.com ID:
civic2000
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Location: West Orange, NJ, USA
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 18 members
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