ATI All-In-Wonder Q's

Robb@E.P.E · 09-25-2003, 10:14 AM

I am planning a home entertainment center and I want to build my own TiVo type computer as the core. With this computer, I want to use it as my media center for my house. My whole house is networked, and I want to get into the habbit of storing ALL my media on the central box.

Now, what I need to know is, have any of you used an All-In-Wonder card before? How is the quality? Is it easy to set up? Things like that. I don't need this computer to be able to play games, it's simply needed to act as a file server, and the machine that will be hooked into my cable so I can record stuff from TV. I have so many questions. I'm just gonna post a list of questions, and if you know the answer, YAY!

1. How is the quality of the recorded media?
2. Would the 9800 have better quality than the older (and cheaper) 9000?
3. What format does it save the recorded media in?
4. Would I be able to access the recordings from a different room and play it? Or does it require the presence of the All-In-Wonder card to play?
5. What is the file size of an average 1 hour recording?
6. Can you record just like a VCR? Meaning, could I pause the recording during commercials?

I have a lot more questions, and I'll post them as I get nearer to actually building this thing

I know I could probably find these answers with a little research, but I'm extremely busy, so any help you all can offer would be great. Thanks in advance fellas.

hijinks21 · 09-25-2003, 10:29 AM

I've used older ones and they are great cards. I'd get the most expensive one you can get in your price range. The better specs the better quality you'll see on the screen.

from its software i know it saves in mpeg format.. but from a good htpc client you could save in many other formats once its done recording.

You can access it from any computer you want. As long as your computer has the right codecs you're set.

file size will verify on what quality of video and sound you want to use and what format your save it as.

as for the final one yes there is software out there to record live TV. Just gotta find what you like

parawing742 · 09-25-2003, 10:33 AM

Both the AIW 9000 and AIW 9800 have the same recording chip so they will be identical in quality except for 3D games. Go with the AIW 9000 for your HTPC, I have one and like it.

tejesh83 · 09-25-2003, 11:15 AM

Here's a review of an htpc:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1121844,00.asp

1. Quality can be as good as the source. It depends on the software used, the format the file is saved as, and the quality settings.
2. Probably not, but it will have more GPU power for gaming.
3. Varies with the software. Snapstream used a windows media player format.
4. Snapstream software allows you to view recording on other computers on the network. Other software may offer a similar feature.
5. Varies. Get a 250GB HD or bigger and it won't even be a concern. At dvd quality recordings(upto 4.5GB/hr), you'd have over 50hours of recording time. Tv quality doesn't use near as much and the software may also do realtime compression.
6. Yup, again it just depends on the software used.

wizardPC · 09-25-2003, 12:06 PM

i record knight rider every day with the ATI software set to "DVD-Quality" and each episode is 3.47GB unedited.

I've had an all-in-wonder for 4 years, and it still works fine

Robb@E.P.E · 09-25-2003, 01:43 PM

Outstanding! Thanks for the quick replies guys!

This computer will not be used for gaming, so I will definatly go with the 9000.

frodobaggins · 09-26-2003, 05:00 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Robb@E.P.E

1. How is the quality of the recorded media?
2. Would the 9800 have better quality than the older (and cheaper) 9000?
3. What format does it save the recorded media in?
4. Would I be able to access the recordings from a different room and play it? Or does it require the presence of the All-In-Wonder card to play?
5. What is the file size of an average 1 hour recording?
6. Can you record just like a VCR? Meaning, could I pause the recording during commercials?

1. Excellent as long as your system can handle it
2. No
3. Avi or MPEG 1/2 and a special MPEG2 called ATI/VCR or some ****
4. You can play them on any computer, the really old all in wonders had a
proprietary codec that would sometimes cause problems, but there was a
workaround.
5. Depends on the codec used, the resolution, bitrate.
6. yes

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