Where is the Theater 650 Pro???

[bigboxes]

Our heads were filled with great reviews from many sites including our very own AnandTech. Soon after it's early release the cards were pulled from shelves. Is there anyone selling this card or 3rd party card with the chip? The reason I ask is that I am in the process of putting together a starter HTPC and wanted to check this tv tuner card out.

Anyone?

~bb

 

[Nightmare225]

Its been discontinued.

 

[Mloot]

Last I read was that there was some kind of defect with the HD tuner part of the card, and that a revision was due sometime soon.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Mloot
Last I read was that there was some kind of defect with the HD tuner part of the card, and that a revision was due sometime soon.

Yep, what he said.

 

[SilentRunning]

The Best Buy near me had three 650 PRO's on the shelf at $135 when I was there about an hour ago.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: SilentRunning
The Best Buy near me had three 650 PRO's on the shelf at $135 when I was there about an hour ago.

Cool! Sounds like v2.0 is hitting the shelves

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I've been wondering the same thing, I've got an HDTV Wonder yet the analog quality leaves a lot to be desired, and the hardware encoding of the Theater series is really appealing...I would have given in and picked up a Theater 550 based card if my HDTV Wonder didn't get me hooked on OTA HD, I simply can't pass up on the 650 - although the delay has been very annoying.

Originally posted by: Nightmare225
Its been discontinued.

Please don't post any BS, all information suggests otherwise. ATI advertises the product (and have even released new drivers for it), yet they only mention that it is OOS - NOT discontinued.

 

[Len]

ATI pulled this product off their online store on the morning of Sept. 21st. I called up their online sales dep. on Sept. 22nd, and the rep. said that he "hasn't been informed on the reasoning", but suspects it might be to fill the backorders at retail locations. He then proceeded to suggest that I go to retail outlets to make my purchase. In either case, I then told him that the retail stores have pulled the item off the shelves as well due to the aforementioned HD reason, so in a drone voice he repeated his script about not being informed as to the reasoning behind them pulling the card and offered me some corporate pre-sale phone number.

The nerve... I'm sure I'm not the first one calling there... Why can't at least come up with some common party line that all reps. adhere to. Matter of fact, I called on the 21st and got a different type of BS response about the product being discontinued. When I asked the rep. how a product can be discontinued after being on the marked for just several weeks he lost his gift of speech.

Oh well... I guess its hurry up and wait till they sort out all the bugs.

By the way, I'm wondering if these "issues" are with the 650 chipset, in which case cards from all 650 manufacturers will be affected, or it is just with the ATI-manufactured cards.

 

[Len]

Just talked to an ATI sales rep. and the word is that these cards will be re-released in mid-october after undergoing some minor modifications to fix a bug that in a "select few cases reduces the performance" of the card.

Almost forgot - the rep also cautioned against purchasing any 650 cards which are still available until the new revision comes out.

 

[eplebnista]

Originally posted by: Len
Just talked to an ATI sales rep. and the word is that these cards will be re-released in mid-october after undergoing some minor modifications to fix a bug that in a "select few cases reduces the performance" of the card.

Almost forgot - the rep also cautioned against purchasing any 650 cards which are still available until the new revision comes out.

Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:

 

[SilentRunning]

Originally posted by: eplebnista

Originally posted by: Len
Just talked to an ATI sales rep. and the word is that these cards will be re-released in mid-october after undergoing some minor modifications to fix a bug that in a "select few cases reduces the performance" of the card.

Almost forgot - the rep also cautioned against purchasing any 650 cards which are still available until the new revision comes out.

Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:

Everyone that wants to can wait, but those that don't can check their local Best Buy. I really don't know why after three calls Len cannot get a proper answer.

 

[Len]

Originally posted by: SilentRunning

Originally posted by: eplebnista

Originally posted by: Len
Just talked to an ATI sales rep. and the word is that these cards will be re-released in mid-october after undergoing some minor modifications to fix a bug that in a "select few cases reduces the performance" of the card.

Almost forgot - the rep also cautioned against purchasing any 650 cards which are still available until the new revision comes out.

Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:

Everyone that wants to can wait, but those that don't can check their local Best Buy. I really don't know why after three calls Len cannot get a proper answer.

There were a lot of talks on other forum sites that Best Buy was told by ATI to pull these cards off the shelves earlier this month. I think even if finding them at Best Buy might be possible (I'm not entirely sure it would be after several weeks of the recall request from ATI), it would probably not be a great idea since you will have to get the card exchanged somehow to get the updated version. Unless, like SilentRunning said, you really can't wait any longer.

 

[Len]

To add to my previous post, I think Amazon still carries the card, but as I said before, I think it might be a better choice to wait until the new rev comes out supposedly within a month.

 

[bigboxes]

I can wait. Thanks for the info Len!

 

[imported_sabrewulf]

So does anyone know of a way to check when a T650 was manufactured? My local Best Buy had six on the shelf when I went in today, and I picked up one to see how it compares to my current setup (T550 + Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150). It would be nice to be able to eliminate two cards and replace it with just one (or maybe even just use a pair of T650's for dual HDTV loving) But I'm concerned about these "problems" in the older cards. Does anyone know anything more specific?

 

[Len]

saberwulf,

I don't have specifics, but I came across forums where issues with HD tuning were mentioned. Specifically, I remember reading about trouble tuning more than a particular number of channels.

I also saw a number of 650s on the shelves of a local Best Buy, but was hesitant to purchase one, for the time being. ATI did issue a recall, so you should probably be able to exchange it for one of the newer ones once it comes out.

As an update, I just talked to ATI sales. The person I spoke to said that the redesign and testing have already taken place and the product should be re-released within several weeks.

 

[mazzmond]

The ones on the shelf at Best Buy ARE the new revisions. They pulled all old ones. I picked one up Monday and both analog and over the air digital tuner work great (you do need to buy an antenna though). I live about 10 miles away from all digital stations and can pick up 7 of them easily with a cheap UHF garbage antenna on this card. Analog works well, haven't tried any of the other features.

Good discussion on this topic can be found at: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=713412

They talk about inital problems and the success with new batches of cards.

Later

 

[mikeford]

I have zero OTA signal, is this still the best way to go for SD recording?

Any news on Cable cards besides rumors its dead?