http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/ Engadget HD Comments for Sub-grand WMCE 3: add the HDTV tuner card http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=314569&pfp=srch1%3E&cm_ven=Performics&cm_cat=%2AFatWallet%2ECom%2A&cm_pla=General&cm_ite=Primary&ref=performics]]>Nov 27th 2005 8:03PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/manufacturers_id/56
The cost is a little higher, but the ati card you have chosen will not receive digitalHD TV from a QAM cable company. If you chose a Fusion QAM tuner/card then it extands the use of the HTPC/Media Center you are using.]]>Nov 27th 2005 8:53PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/Nov 27th 2005 10:24PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/I am looking to buying the Samsung 19" LCD - 910MP with built in tuner for my new system. Does this tuner/monitor function in the same way as the ATI card?
Thanks,
Graham]]>Nov 28th 2005 12:24AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/Nov 28th 2005 9:04AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/Do you guys know of any HD PCI cards that accept component video imputs? I would like to plug in a Dish HD receiver via Component to record from that. Any suggestions?]]>Nov 28th 2005 4:11PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/
The thing ate up so much processor power that I could not watch a show and record another at the same time on my Athlon 2700+ system. Their drivers are locked down by some proprietary encryption to make sure you don't somehow unlock their bundled DVD-decoder. It was so unstable (until the most recent drivers), that I could not sit through a show without the picture freezing, which required me to kill the TV application and bring it back. I never got it to recognize that my harddisk was DMA-enabled, which meant that it would put up an annoying dialog box every time (they had a checkbox that said "don't show me again" which did not work, no matter how many times you click it). This would just be an annoyance, except a user had to click it so it would start recording from the timer--so I couldn't record anything while away from my computer. I went through 2-dozen reinstalls with different versions of my motherboard, video card, and HDTV wonder drivers to try to get it to work, and even replaced my GeForce Ti4200 with a Radeon 9600 with no effect.

I eventually bit the bullet and bought a Sony DHG HDD-250 for $699 and left my computer to gaming. This worked beautifully. It only has one tuner, but I don't miss having two since I can watch a recorded program while another is being recorded. I would reccommend anyone looking to use their computer as an OTA HDTV DVR to go this route instead of attempting to build one. If you are using cable or satellite, just go with your provider's box.]]>Nov 28th 2005 7:43PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/Nov 28th 2005 8:33PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/
ExtremeTech even downgraded their original review of the HDTV wonder:

"Our June review of ATI's HDTV Wonder add-in card, designed to allow viewing, pausing and recording over-the-air HDTV signals was cautiously positive. We called the overall product a "solid offering," and despite a top 10 list of improvements needed, our final judgment was that this product was a "good first generation OTA HDTV offering." ... However, based on our experiences over the past week with the shipping version of the HDTV Wonder, and supplemented by user experiences chronicled on AVS Forum and Rage 3D that mirror our results, we cannot recommend the HDTV Wonder at this time. In fact, the product is now widely referred to as the HDTV "Blunder" by users on both forums. Even though we gave it a good rating of 7 out of 10, based on subsequent testing, we've lowered that to a 5."

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1641010,00.asp]]>Nov 29th 2005 2:18PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/
To be a good sport I ordered one today from CompUSA for $69 AR to see for myself. I'll post my results. After my ranting, perhaps you'll at least find some humor if I suffer the same fate you did.]]>Nov 29th 2005 10:21PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/11/27/sub-grand-wmce-3-hdtv-tuner/
The system I was installing in had XP sp1 with a rolled back sp2 install, an Audigy 2 sound card,ATI 850XT PE video card, P4 2.8 Processor, and a gig of ram. Having read all the crying about needing XP sp2 and the troubles with the Audigy 2 line of sound cards, I really thought I was heading into the perfect storm.

I installed the remote first, downloaded the latest drivers and plugged it in. It worked fine so I powered down and moved on to installing the card. After powering up XP, it detected the card and said it was installed properly. I then went to the ATI website and downloaded the 4 files for the HDTV wonder and installed each of them in the order they appear on the site. I received no errors, and proceeded through each files, rebooting as I was prompted. After about 20 minutes of downloading and installing, I was ready to go.

At this point I was still convinced I would not be watching HDTV last night, or any night for the next few years while I continually reinstalled software. Imagine my surprise when I clicked the DTV button, scanned for channels, and was watching HDTV in minutes. I SPENT MORE TIME BACKING UP MY SYSTEM then getting this card installed. I had no errors, no wild reboots, no audio problems, NOTHING. I can rewind, pause, fast forward, HDTV, with no issues.

Bottom line – If you are a user considering this card, remember that not EVERYONE has problems with it, I believe most folks like me have no problems at all. CompUSA has it now for $99 with $20 rebate, which in my opinion is not much money for one of the coolest things you can add to your PC.
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