ATI Technologies All-in-Wonder Radeon 7500 Graphics Card

List Price: $199.99

Features:

• Powerful all-in-one 3-D, TV, and video for your PC
• Powered by the RADEON 7500 GPU
• Wireless radio-frequency remote control
• 64 MB DDR memory
• Easily capture and edit MPEG-2 video into your own creations

Accessories:
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault	WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos	Age of Mythology

Customer Reviews:

DONT BUY IT. [Posted on 2003-05-28]
Ok, First of all, I have only 22 days using this device and Im sick of it.

Software:
The package comes with the 7.5 version of the Multimedia Center, if you have WindowsXP dont even try to watch DVD with the DVD player that comes with that version... Tha machine will always freeze. Also happens with the file player and eve worse with the TV Capture.

Hardware:
Graphics Card was much better than my Nvidia GForce 2 MX/200.
A lot faster, the Cable TV looks very poor but still you could watch your favorite programs, but still poor.

BIG REMOTE CONTROL ISSUE!!!!!!!
The remote receiver [is bad]!!! I dont know why but one day it just stop working and thats not all, my USB Ports doesnt work anymore. My Microsoft Optical USB Mouse is useless now. The only thing that works is my MP3 Jukebox and My Camera, thats it. I could not plug any other device in it. I tried several times to plug the USB remote freq. receiver and then I started to smell like "burned circuit".

Yeap, that was all for my excellent remote control... Right now Im trying to get the people at ATI to help and still no response.

Please do not buy this item. Try to find something else in the market... Im going back to my nvidia card.

Not Worth the Trouble [Posted on 2003-05-29]
You just want to use your computer as a digital VCR right? It's unlikely you'll be doing so anytime soon with this video card. The TV feature wouldn't work until I uninstalled my NIC and USB. TV and DVD work fine now, but the capture (record) feature doesn't record any audio. Yes, yours may be ok, but here's one more thing: the software that comes with this card is version 7.5, but the current version is 8.5. Owners of the 7500 have to PAY $$$ for this upgrade, whereas owners of higher-end ATI cards get it for free. You want to do business with a company like this, be my guest.

There are better options [Posted on 2003-06-11]
I bought this card to start creating SVCD's (Super Video Discs - basically CD's you can play in your DVD Player) of my favorite show. I didn't have any problems getting this card to work right out of the box, but when I started watching/recording - I found a lot of strange static on the channel I wanted to record. After replacing all the cables I was sure it must be the card... as the same cable, plugged into an actuall television had none of this static. I managed to return the card for a new one, but had the same problem with the second card.

I later purchased a Leadtek Winfast 2000xp tuner card - and it has great sound and picture - but lacks the software features of the ATI. So, for anyone interested in recording and making SVCDs or VCDs of their shows, I offer the following comparison and pro/con list.

Picture quality and sound: The Leadtek was far better, showing a crisp picture, and with none of the sound problems of the ATI.

Software: ATI is the clear winner here. Leadtek has no built in channel guide (although you can use titantv.com - but it is much more time consuming than using ATI's built it guide). The ATI software allows you to create much better recording schedules, and you can modify most details of the recording. The ATI software created great SVCD compatible MPEG2s (on the non-static channels), but with that static, they were useless. Leadtek allows you to modify the recording options (like bitrate, etc) in their software - but you can only select the resolution from a drop down list (and the SVCD compativle 480x480 is not there) and making any custom settings seems to throws the audio/video out of sync by several seconds.

One thing to note, however, is that this card comes with an older version of the software. If you want the new stuff, you'll have to pay $ to get it from the ATI online store.

Pros:
-Great software

-I'm sure some people will have better luck with the whole static issue

Cons:
-Just OK graphics chip
-Have to pay for software update
-Less than perfect tuner card

End result: I started using the freeware Virtualdub to record from the leadtek card, and then convert this to compliant MPEGs. This works, but it is incredible time consuming compared to the extremely simple ATI setup. I wish anyone who buys this card more luck than I had!

Tuner doesn't work well after 1 yr. [Posted on 2004-10-31]
I purchased aiw 7500 aprox. 1yr. ago. I thought it was a decent card when I bought it at that point would have given it a 4star rating. Within three months the card started freezing my machine while using DVR. Then more reciently the video with the tuner started flashing bright than dark. It happens all the time making the tuner unusable. I have found no resolution to my problems from ati. I'm not angry just unsatisfied.

WONDERFUL LITTLE CARD [Posted on 2005-07-25]
I wanted to upgrade my computer from an integrated video system and tried NVIDIA but was bothered by hang-ups , crashes and freezes constantly.It just didn't want to get along with my computer running Windows XP. I removed the NVIDIA card and installed an ATI RADEON 7500. It installed easily and I've yet to experience a problem with it.It has the same amount of memory as the NVIDIA card but was a lot less expensive.If I upgrade again I'll stick with ATI .I got a five star card.

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