are all ati tv tuners the same? e.g. AIW radeon vs. tv wonder?

[beggohbe]

was wondering if there were any differences in quality and software between the AIW series cards, and the TV wonder.... i'm looking to "upgrade" in a sense, i'm not too happy with my hauppauge's quality. i heard ati tuners are better... but i really don't want to have to goto a Radeon AIW if the tv tuner is identical to the one on the tv wonder. thanks

 

[(Chanse)]

The TV Wonder uses the older brooktree chipset, which is also used on the original AIW.The AIw 128 Pro and Radeon AIw use the ATI Rage Theatre chipset, whic his far better, i just bought a Radeon AIW to replace my Tv wonder and TNT2 Ultra. but anyway, the tv wonder is a nice card, but just not as good as the Rage theatre on the AIW cards

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

What is the difference between VIVO radeons and AIWs?

Are they the same except for software? And if so, can you use the software from the AIW on the VIVO?

 

[Workin']

AIW's include a tuner. ViVo's do not. TV Wonder is a stand alone tuner card, right?

(Chanse) I think misunderstood the question. His answer was for the TV decoder chip for TV-out. The Rage Theater Chip is the chip of choice for TV-out. The quality is very good. The older cards and the 16MB versions of the AIW's use ATi's ImpacTV2 decoder chip (not Brooktree) and the quality is OK but not fabulous. The Rage Theater chip also does video capture.

But as far as tuners go, my guess is that the quality is the same, if you mean which one is better for pulling in weak broadcasts, etc. The AIW likely has a better software bundle than the TV Wonder. You don't have to jump to a Radeon - the AIW 128 32MB has the good TV In/Out chip and 3D performance comparable to a TNT1, and the AIW 128 PRO has the good TV chip and 3D performance comparable to a TNT2.

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

So with the 64 meg VIVO radeon, you can't switch channels??

 

[Workin']

<< So with the 64 meg VIVO radeon, you can't switch channels?? >>

Right, it doesn't have a tuner, so there are no channels to switch. You need a Radeon AIW if you want a built-in TV tuner.

 

[MGMorden]

Workin' is right. Basically with the VIVO you can connect a direct video source (those yellow output jacks on the backs of DVD players and playstations). I would assume that the VIVO model also can take an S-Video input but I'm not sure (still dealing w/ a lowly TnT2 until Radeon gets Xfree86 drivers).

 

[Workin']

I'm pretty sure that only a composite input is provided (at least that's how it is on my ATi Rage Fury Pro ViVo), but I'm too lazy to go look it up for sure.