snipper_cr
06-12-2008, 12:08 PM
I currently have an ATI HDTV Wonder. An older card but for the time I've had it, its been descent. Not amazing or great. But it does what's required more or less. It does tune OTA HDTV and cable analog signals. However, the ATI MMC software is unstable at best, fresh installs of windows (I do clean install ocassionally) following the exact procedure (I had it written down step by step since first install nightmare) and I would say it only works every other time. Otherwise there is some sort of problem. That might just be MMC or the card itself.
The tuner is fine although analog cable tunes seem to be kinda cruddy. I plugged a STB in same jack and connected via composite and the picture looked alot better.
I installed Vista to see how it would work and overall, liked Media Center alot more. Getting the ATI HDTV Wonder to work required a patch and some reg editing but it was able to recognize the analog and HDTV tuner as one.
Also, while tuning an OTA channel, while watching the signal occasionally drops to 0 then back to what it was. Not sure if that's the station or the card. This occured in Vista as well as XP using MMC.
So I am wondering if I should get a new card. Most likely it will go into a windows vista system with a high end graphics card. I currently get digital TV and HDTV from my cable provider. I see there are more cards now that offer "Clear QAM." IIRC, cable providers have to provide local HD channels in the clear. Is that right?
Are there cards that can tune the digital stations as well or would the cable provider (Comcast) prevent that? How would channels 1-99 be tuned - digitally or analog? What about above 100? I'm also not sure the difference between a dual tuner and a hybrid tuner and the advantages of either. Most likely I would be using this card in Vista with Media Center. It would be great if I could use the QAM tuner in MC to watch and record HD content.
Any help or advice if I should look at a new card or keep my current. Thanks!
The tuner is fine although analog cable tunes seem to be kinda cruddy. I plugged a STB in same jack and connected via composite and the picture looked alot better.
I installed Vista to see how it would work and overall, liked Media Center alot more. Getting the ATI HDTV Wonder to work required a patch and some reg editing but it was able to recognize the analog and HDTV tuner as one.
Also, while tuning an OTA channel, while watching the signal occasionally drops to 0 then back to what it was. Not sure if that's the station or the card. This occured in Vista as well as XP using MMC.
So I am wondering if I should get a new card. Most likely it will go into a windows vista system with a high end graphics card. I currently get digital TV and HDTV from my cable provider. I see there are more cards now that offer "Clear QAM." IIRC, cable providers have to provide local HD channels in the clear. Is that right?
Are there cards that can tune the digital stations as well or would the cable provider (Comcast) prevent that? How would channels 1-99 be tuned - digitally or analog? What about above 100? I'm also not sure the difference between a dual tuner and a hybrid tuner and the advantages of either. Most likely I would be using this card in Vista with Media Center. It would be great if I could use the QAM tuner in MC to watch and record HD content.
Any help or advice if I should look at a new card or keep my current. Thanks!