Re: MC or ATI MC?, From what I read, its ATI MC, how about you?

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From: Philip Taylor [ATI] (ptaylor_at_online.newsgroup-poster.ati.com)
Date: 03/27/04 

Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 00:42:38 -0800

OOPS...the eHome card is only for OEMs and ATI doesn't
publically support it even though some retailers have
somehow got ahold of a bunch. Don't know if these are
factory rejects, OEM surplus, or corporate embarassment-
driven back-door sales.

Wholesale price of the card is under $15 in quantity, so
don't be hoodwinked into paying high prices. Competing
cards have much better driver support and superior
features. (i.e. the PVR250 also functions without WMCE
but the eHome card only works with WMCE and may not work
at all with the future version of WMCE)

Don't forget, the Remote Wonder/RWII don't support the
eHome or WMCE natively, and even using plugins, function
is still incomplete.

Telling the honest truth, for a tuner card that works
with WMCE you need to look elsewhere than ATI as there's
nothing satisfactory in the ATI product lineup now.

There are a number of fine tuner products from many other
manufacturers which work superbly with WMCE. The
Hauppauge PVR250 among them:
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/wintvpvr250_data***.htm

Even though there are future versions of WMCE in
development, 2004 is great, and it's too bad ATI can't
make GuidePlus work as smoothly as WMCE Guide. With WMCE,
not only is it viewable on a TV screen, but it updates
itself and channel lists are easily edited and the
changes stick. MMC Guide+ is an embarassment.

Another thing is that WMCE works the same whether by
Mouse, Keyboard, or Remote, which is nice. Using MMC and
a RemoteWonder, "EasyLook" seizes control and everything
changes...makes it necessary to keep a keyboard and mouse
handy. Chalk up another one for Microsoft.

Pretty soon, you will be able to buy MCE Extenders to
distribute the content on your WMCE machines to the TV
screens throughout your house.
The ATI alternative, EasyShare is a very limited tool
that requires Radeon cards in the client PCs, making me
wonder why there was money spent to develop it in the
first place with such robust alternatives available.

I am torn in my feelings of company loyalty and the
truth. I wish ATI was willing to compete in the WMCE
marketplace but the leadership chose not to in the
original version, and now with the 2004 version more than
a year old (including Beta) ATI support for WMCE is still
negligable and grudgingly given at that. Even those
inside ATI are surely puzzled, frustrated and ashamed of
this dismal performance.

I will probably take a lot of crap about this post, but
as usual, the truth is the truth.

>-----Original Message-----
>the TV Wonder is not advertised as an MCE card.
>
>thats what the eHome Wonder is for.
>
>"joesloppy" <joesloppy@peoplepc.NOSPAM.com> wrote in
message
>news:%236apJd0EEHA.3804@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> I just purchased an ATI TV WONDERT PRO REMOTE CONTROL
EDITION.
>>
>> I wanted to use it for WMCE, so I downloaded,
formatted, & installed
>> WMCE.
>>
>> Then I Installed DVD Software and All ATI Software and
Drivers from
>> CD. Tested card with ATI Multimedia Center Software,
worked great,
>> Recorded a show choosing from about 15 different
formats (avi, mpeg 1
>> & 2, wm, dvd, etc.) and with what quality I wanted,
each showing how
>> much time I could record.
>>
>> The quality of the tv capture is ok, some channels are
a lot better
>> than others, some very clear even full screen. I don't
know why some
>> are a little fuzzy (it seems the bigger you make the
tv, the more
>> noticeable) but it seems also when recording, quality
increases, I
>> have no idea why.
>>
>> There is a quick launch Bar that is sort of like the
taskbar running
>> on the right hand side, only 50 pixels wide or so with
the options
>> for tv, music, library, player, guide, etc.
>>
>> The guide is rather nice, sort of like the tv guide
channel but I am
>> in control of the scrolling. Just enter zip and
download a weeks
>> viewing, free I might add. Recording is easy as right
clicking,
>> record, or watch when on. You can search for whatever
you want, or
>> browse by any category.
>>
>> There are lots of tv features, display controls,
quality controls.
>> Channels and shows are displayed when watching tv,
sort of like a
>> digital cable receiver that gives you show info, time,
etc. You can
>> also just fix a little tv anywhere you want, on top,
just the tv, no
>> border, controls, etc.
>>
>> The remote is cool, its RF and works anywhere in the
house, hook the
>> computer up to any tv in the house via tv out and
control it from
>> anywhere. Now I can watch those divx movies without
having to run
>> over to the computer to control it. The remote
controls the whole
>> computer and you can create a couple custom buttons.
>>
>> Overall it was a great experience, just what I wanted.
But now to try
>> WMC and see how much better it could be.
>>
>> Started WMC and downloaded listings, and clicked on MY
TV, right away,
>> error, decoder don't work! So I end up here, and
everyone says, NO,
>> TV WONDER does not work with WMCE, . opps, Oh well, I
am rather
>> pleased with the ATI package, its very nice, and from
what I also
>> read, WMC is restricted, limited, in some rather
important areas.
>> Most obvious is recording. Since I can't test drive
media center
>> using my tv wonder, anybody else want to comment on
WMCE vs other
>> Multimedia center software, I don't know of any other
besides ATI
>> Media center software and WMC. But I know there has to
be more that
>> capture and record, and have misc. options and a
possible a viewing
>> guide.
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> Posted via http://www.xpMCE.com
>> Everything about Windows XP Media Center Edition
>
>
>.
>

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