:. Introduction .:

Ever want to surf the web while watching TV? well you can now with this full-featured PCI TV tuner card from ATI. This is something everyone should have.

:. Specifications .:

System Requirements: 

• Pentium/Pentium Pro/Pentium II/Pentium III or AMD K6
• One available PCI slot for the ATI-TV WONDER card
• CD-ROM drive
• Sound Card
• Speakers
• Windows 95b (OSR2) or Windows 98
• European version supports Teletext

Compatibility

ATI-TV WONDER is compatible with all graphics sub-systems supporting DirectX® overlay, for example:

• ATI RAGE Family of Graphics
• NVIDIA GF1 to GF4 Family of Graphics
• 3Dfx Graphic cards
• S3 Savage 3D

:. What's inside the box .:

• ATI TV Wonder PCI card
• Internal and external sound cables
• S video attachment that has both RCA slots and S video.
• Instructions
• Driver CD's and ATI software

:. ATI TV Wonder .:

The ATI TV Wonder turns your computer into a full blown entertainment system. With this inexpensive piece of hardware you can connect your console, vcr, dvd, and other players to your computer.

The picture quality is very good and is maxed out at 640 x 480. The TV window can be set to be "on top" all the time so you can keep watching while performing other tasks. Also, the picture can be set to act as your desktop background.

The ATI TV WONDER is filled with features that rival those of other TV tuner card makers such as Haupauge. The hardware is bundled with Guide Plus+ software that is basically a TV guide like the ones that satellite TV use. I have cable at my house and did not have the luxury of such an in depth TV guide.

The ATI software disappoints yet again. ATI states that the card will work with NVIDIA cards and the ATI line of video cards. However, if you have a card other than ATI's, then prepare to spend long hours trying to install the TV Wonder.

After I got the thing to work, there were still problems. Usually when I turn the TV on my computer there are scrambled lines in the TV picture (not from watching scrambled porn). I have to restart the ATI TV player about two or three times before I get a normal picture. This also happens when I clicked to record a show and the screen turned scrambled. The recording was not affected by this.

One very good feature with the ATI TV Wonder is the ability to record shows in a variety of settings, including custom ones such as Divx. MPEG2 can also be used to record shows although it takes up a lot of hard drive space and the quality is about the same as a Divx recording.