VisionTek TV Wonder HD 650 PCI Express
from: VISIONTEK MASS STORAGE
List Price: $200.83
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Electronics : VisionTek TV Wonder HD 650 PCI Express |
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Rating:  - * Nice HD Tuner ... I bought the PCI Express version of this tuner because I have a Shuttle XPC which is very small and I already had an ATI 650 tuner in the only standard PCI slot, but I wanted to be able to record two shows at once. Since this card and my older card share the same driver, I was able to just install this new tuner in the case, and boot up the PC. It popped up in Vista's Media Center and I was able to record two shows right away. I haven't had any problems at all. Also, the included IR remote and IR receiver work great with Media Center! Rating:  - * It is under rated ... I have owned 4 TV cards from ATI and almost every version of all-in-wonder video cards from ATI. Every newer version has better visual quality than it predecessor. The problem is the driver quality indeed has fluctuated over the time. The time is different though with vista supporting the tv card. I just plugged it to PCIe in a vista PC and then had the vista install its driver. Open and configured the MMC as it should be. Then enjoy your good picture quality TV show. That is it. Since MMC has tv, dvd, music,and video under its control. So switching among them are very dependable and friendly. I suggest that you dont install its dirver in vista where the problem will begin unless you are looking for trouble. So the hardware is just fine and just install the driver provided by vista which seems pretty reliable so far. Rating: - * Good card for Vista Media Center ... I have owned seven different TV cards - this one is the best so far. I have two of these, and experienced none of the problems mentioned by other reviewers. The analog tuner is excellent, and makes very good quality video captures, free of the problems on certain channels I noticed with my previous card. The ATSC tuner works well with all the signals in my area (which not all other cards did). The dual tuner allows configuring a fully-loaded media center PC with just two TV tuner cards, making motherboard selection much easier. As the cards use the PCI Express interface, future compatibility is assured. The only downside is the poor software support for clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable). This worked poorly or not at all. Its about time Microsoft supported clear QAM in media center. Rating: - * Highly recommended ... I compared this card with the "Hauppauge HVR-1800" and the "AVerTv Hybrid Ultra USB". The ATI/Visiontek beats the competition hands down. The picture quality (analog cable) is considerably crisper and clearer on my Samsung 244T monitor. Highly recommended, particularly in combination with SageTV. Rating:  - * Just say no to this card ... Like other ATI products I have owned, I bought it for the features and assume I will be able to beat it into submission despite poor support and software. But this board has a physical fault which I read about on another vendor's website but ignored. I wish I had not bought this because it doesn't properly fit my combination of motherboard [a Jan. 2008 Intel DG965WH] and case [CoolerMaster CM Stacker 830SE]. It looks right but the dimensions are wrong from the PCIe pins to the rear of the card. It is not possible to both plug it in securely and to shove it through the slot. The only way to use it is to bend the top of the back panel out about 3/8" so the screw can mate. Then you will find the connectors are recessed about 1/4". I tried other ways to make the board fit, such as removing the back panel and inserting spacers but nothing works. Whether the fault is the motherboard, the card or the case I cannot say, but I do note that I have two other expansion cards in regular PCI slots, and they fit OK. Of course you can't return it for a replacement because the next one will probably be identical. I would be skeptical of purchasing any ATI/Visiontek product after this even though the problem may be Intel's. It just seems more likely that the tuner card is the culprit. When you write a review like this the likely consequence is that someone who did not happen to have a problem with their particular combination of equipment will call you an idiot. This is just the price you pay for trying to be honest. |
