AMD smells a comeback with ATI All-in-Wonder HD
AMD Expands The Ultimate Visual Experience™ Combining Exceptional HD Graphics, HDTV, and HD Video for PCs
One-of-a-kind ATI All-In-Wonder™ HD takes the home theater PC to new levels of TV enjoyment and graphics quality
Sunnyvale, Calif. - June 26 , 2008 -AMD (NYSE: AMD) today expanded The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for North America with the ATI All-In-Wonder™ HD, combining award-winning ATI Radeon™ Premium graphics and ATI TV Wonder™ HD tuner technology card in one PCI Express® 2.0 solution. As the newest multimedia powerhouse to join the long line of All-In-Wonder offerings, ATI All-in-Wonder HD transforms the PC into a highly immersive digital video recorder for HDTV and analog TV, plus expands the realm of exceptional gaming with cinematic HD graphics for mainstream PCs. Blu-ray™ disc playback can be enjoyed in full HD glory (1080p) thanks to ATI All-in-Wonder HD's unified video decoder (UVD) technology, ensuring movies play back smoothly and with incredible detail2.
AMD LIVE!™ Ready and Certified for Windows Vista®, ATI All-In-Wonder HD has a manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) of $199, includes capabilities to watch and record free-to-air HDTV, unencrypted digital cable programming3, and superb analog TV reception powered by ATI Theater™ 650 Pro hardware MPEG-2 encoding technology. All-In-Wonder HD merges the best of the ATI TV Wonder™ product line with ATI Radeon Premium Graphics to deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience.
"Never before has this level of HDTV and graphics performance been seen in an all-in-one PC multimedia solution," said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "The award-winning ATI All-In-Wonder lineage is built on long-standing leadership in TV and video on the PC. For the hundreds of thousands of owners of previous ATI All-In-Wonder models and for those hungry to realize the full potential of their PC, we're excited and proud to introduce the newest addition to AMD's PCTV product family."
ATI All-in-Wonder HD prepares you for brilliant TV, sharp images and smooth playback on a wide variety of HDTVs and displays. With support for Microsoft DirectX® 10.1, gamers can play the top HD games with life-like 3D graphics, stunning realism, and great shading effects. Full support for PCI Express 2.0 technology allows for twice the throughput of current PCI Express 1.0 cards, which means gamers will be ready for demanding graphic applications.
ATI All-in-Wonder HD further expands TV viewing capabilities with support for Windows® Media Center bundled with Windows Vista® Home Premium and Windows Vista® Ultimate editions, as well as Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005. The ATI All-in-Wonder HD complements media-rich AMD LIVE! PCs.
Featured with ATI All-in-Wonder HD is ATI Catalyst Media Center™ software that provides an easy path to view TV programs in a variety of entertainment environments and mobile video devices. Recorded TV programs and home videos can be quickly converted into the most popular formats for viewing video on portable media devices4. Digitize and preserve priceless moments and start building your video library. ATI Catalyst Media Center software includes a scalable TV interface with integrated TV programming info, DVD video authoring and movie playback, and video conversion technologies5. A second bundled AMD LIVE!™ Entertainment Suite CD includes AMD LIVE!™ On Demand to access the DVR from any computer with broadband connectivity and AMD LIVE!™ Explorer that provides an immersive way of managing and interacting with your entertainment library. Explore your complete digital collections of music, photos, and videos in a single window, in full 3D6.
With Home Theater environments in mind, ATI All-in-Wonder HD provides expanded connectivity with built-in support for six channel (5.1) Dolby Digital® surround audio transmission through HDMI, native dual-link DVI-I for high resolution panels, and optional component video connectivity.
Available through Diamond Multimedia and VisionTek at leading computer retailers and etailers across North America by late July, ATI All-In-Wonder HD is designed to take home theater PCs to the next level of multimedia performance.
About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dhjames @ Jun 26th 2008 8:03AM
I used to love my old All-in-Wonder....until ATI screwed me and never bothered to make Vista capture drivers which made it fairly useless in my HTPC. It sounds like a nice card, but ATI screwed me one too many times so I think I'll stick with Nvidia.
DaSpider @ Aug 19th 2008 2:53PM
I have lost my trust in AMD products as well. They honestly believe that by discontinuing support for their not-so-old products you will actually buy a new one. For sure not one of theirs.
I won't risk buying this board and getting stuck with Vista forever.
worldbfree4me @ Jun 26th 2008 8:19AM
Welcome back Vivo!! Viva ATI, Viva!! If only ATI could add the RV770 chip to this puppy, then it will have a true Nvidia Killer app!!!
jason @ Jun 26th 2008 9:58AM
And cue up the LL Cool J..
"Don't call it a comeback!"
Seriously though, I used to think ATI was the bee's knees of video cards. What's the deal with them? I was loyal. I waited and waited and waited for them to bring AIGLX to their Linux drivers. I waited for eons. Finally, after I couldn't stand the wait any longer and jumped ship to Nvidia, they come out with drivers that do AIGLX. And reportedly, an ok job of it even, though I've no reason to complain about my GeForce 8800 GTS...
I'm waiting for Nvidia to deliver the deathblow.. Unfortunately, this will come at a price of no real competition for Nvidia.
Erwos @ Jun 26th 2008 10:54AM
Kinda meh. I know, they can't do CableCard on these things, but without it, it's pretty crippled.
Truth Teller @ Jun 26th 2008 11:37AM
So they're trying to make us pay & jump through the HDMI DRM hoop and still it only allows a 'vanilla' Dolby Digital audio output!?
How does that work?
It's not even Dolby Digital plus.
.....and some folks here think that those of us criticising DRM are over-doing it.
Jeez.
Erwos @ Jun 26th 2008 12:49PM
You're overdoing it because you're making a couple of false claims:
1. That this card is somehow forcing HDCP (it doesn't - the programs using it do).
2. That the lack of DD+ is somehow the fault of HDCP (which it's not).
Truth Teller @ Jun 26th 2008 1:34PM
Um, Erwos
It seems to have escaped your attention that HDMI itself is a form of DRM/security.
Obviously no-one is forcing anyone to buy this card but nevertheless we are being pushed into using HDMI seeing as component connection on many high def displays are in the process of vanishing as standard fit.
Fanfoot @ Jul 11th 2008 2:49AM
I don't see anything about MPEG-2/h.264 decode acceleration in the press release. Can you provide more details, like how it works? I assume its using DirectX VA or its successor? I'm wondering if it works with Vista/XP Media Center for example. What about other programs that are converting FROM MPEG-2 to MP4 for example, will those run any faster?
And given all the speculation that Apple would be including h.264 Encode acceleration in their hardware for some time, where is the Encode acceleration? There are other products in this space, like the USB-based ADS Tech product, why nothing like that in this product? I would LOVE to speed up video conversions on my next PC...
John @ Aug 10th 2008 5:05PM
Can this AIW HD card record closed-caption when recording TV? That's all what I care about. I wish they still .vcr format that they once use with AIW cards. .VCR supports recording TV with closed captions. Can this card do it?
arccoyote @ Aug 19th 2008 10:41AM
HDMI has nothing to do with DRM.
DVI supports HDCP as well. You might as well argue that losing the VGA connector is a form of DRM.
FYI, this card does have a component out bracket.