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AMD ATI TV Wonder 550 PCI Video Card w/PVR Capabilities | List Price: $126.07
Discount Price: $30.00
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Brand: ATI
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - Large, bright easy-to-read buttons and clear, colorful icons pave a quick path to where you want to go
- Compatibility - All high quality graphics sub-systems supporting DirectX overlay, including products from the following manufacturers ATI and NVIDIA and an ATI Radeon 9600 or newer graphics card is recommended for optimal display output quality
- System Requirements - AMD Athlon or Sempron, Intel Pentium 4, Celeron or compatible CPU, Sound card and speakers, 128 MB of system memory; 256 MB or more is recommended for best performance, Motherboard with free PCI slot, CD-ROM drive (for installation software), Cable TV signal or amplified antenna, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 requires use of a compatible remote control and DVD decoder (not included), DVD decoder is included with Catalyst Media Center, Windows XP Media Center Editi
ATI TV wonder 550 lacks features [Posted on 2007-08-27]
Graphics are very good. It does not provide computer auto shutdown after recording. The remote that is available free is worthless. It does not provide all the functions needed to control the capture card such as scheduling. When recording you do not know if it is recording or not. The software has many quirks when using the remote. I would not buy this device
again.
Terrible software and support [Posted on 2008-01-17]
I cannot comment on the hardware, as I never could get it to work on my computer. The so called software included is not worth even trying, and it is impossible to find any updated software on the AMD/ATI website. I was very disappointed with this product, as I have had no problems with the ATI video cards I've had.
A waste of time [Posted on 2008-02-13]
I bought this to replace the AVIVO feature that my ATI AIW 9800 video card had. I love that card but since my new motherboard is PCI-E I can't use it anymore. The 550 was a total disappointment.
The auto-install on the CD only completely installs the Remote Wonder software, an accessory that's not even in the box. You have to get the "working" drivers off ATI's site and if you want to use Catalyst Media Center, you need to dig through the install CD and run it manually (...CMC/CMC/install.exe). The real annoyance is that after doing all that, CMC can't even connect to the card when you choose to watch TV. It just keeps looking for it and eventually crashes. I've tried using three other programs that work with WDM cards but none of them will connect to the card using cable or composite/s-video.
After two days of this nonsense I've decided to return it and research the other capture cards. I've read that Hauppauge's image isn't as crisp as ATI's but at least they work.
DO NOT BUY THIS CARD! [Posted on 2008-03-13]
I bought this card because it is advertised as being windows vista certified and so that i could also play my video game consoles through the my computer moniter. When i got it and tried to install the software and drivers the only thning that would install was the remote wonder software, which is lovely seeing as it doesnt come with the remote.
now, i am used to things not working with vista, so i proceeded to go diging on the internet for the drivers, i was able to find the drivers after about 2 days of searching on ati's website.
after finding the drivers i attempted to use the opensource VLC media player(which has never failed me before) and after fighting the card for several hours i was finaly able to get the software to recognize the card's existance. once i finaly got VLC to work with the card, the video quality was horrible and there was a 3 second delay on the video, making the using the menus on my verizon settop box annoying and making playing video games through the RCA ports impossible.
once i concedeed that i could not make VLC work, i tried using VirtualDUB (also opensource) and could not make it work at all. (I later realized that this was due to the fact that ATI now Uses WDM instaed of VfW)
after that i did what i always save to my last resort, and contacted ATI.
their first response was a computer generated list of suggestions that the average consumer may not know to try, but i had already attempted.
their second response after i let them know there response was unhelpful was an email informing me that what i wanted to do was immposible without giving me a reason or explination.
IF IT CANNOT BE DONE DO NOT ADVERTISE IT AS VISTA CERTIFIED.
well, after buying another card for my computer from hauppage(which worked) i decided to put this card in my freinds XP computer, assuming it would work with the OS it was designed for.
big supprise, it didn't work.
i tried installing the software from the install CD, it would not install anything other than the remote software. i even tried manualy installing each component and it would not work.
after that i was so pissed at ATI that i gave up. i am going to throw this card in the trash. i will never buy another product from ATI again.
A complete waste of time and money [Posted on 2008-09-24]
Buyer Beware! Stay away from this product if you have Vista, especially if you have no stand-alone video card (i.e. only on-board video). The box and user guide say "certified for Windows Vista." Don't believe it. Also, you get no "Catalyst Media Center" software, as the box promises. The drivers on the CD are only for XP. The ATI website Vista driver did not work for me. Customer support was snotty. The first hung up on me, and the second cut me off, telling me to return the item and buy a more expensive product they sell. Also, there is no FM with Vista.
See other reviews. Website will waste your time, and trying to install Catalyst will be an endless loop of installing the same product, which never installs an executable file you can run. Once you talk to one the the rude customer support people, they'll admit that you were wasting your time!
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