Thoughts on ATI AIW cards today

[anitract]

I've been in the ATI AIW crowd for around a year or so. I initially decided to go this route because (1) I really liked the capture results and (2) the card does direct-to-mpeg2 caps (thus saving me all that encoding time).

The caps I have gotten have been, IMHO, pretty good when coupled with a TBC-1000, prosumer JVC VCR, & a BVP-4 to tweak some of the picture.

Anyway, I dropped off the site a while back as my VCR was in wait-for-support-hell for 4 months, and when I started frequenting the site again I noticed far fewer AIW card recommendations being given by members. So I'm curious...

Are the newer cards/dvd recoders that much better? Did people find AIW setup too complex and dump it? I will probably stick with my AIW card, as I do like it, but am interested in anyone's thoughts.

[Bigdaddybrat]

Funny that you ask this question... I too have been a AIW fan and was very happy with my card... untill just over a month ago.

My original card was a AIW 9000Pro which did all that I wanted and I was happy with the captures I got. However, back in the end of January was the last time I have seen it... I have been stuck in ATI support Limbo. Probaly the worst support I have seen.

To make a long story short, they have sent me two re-built cards and I have had nothing but problems with them... I am about to start looking for another card and capture device, due to this really bad taste in my mouth and the fact that ATi claims that they have done nothing wrong (even though I have had a hardware guy look at my computer and say its the card).

I am really undecied on what to do myself... I really like my card (when it worked) and was very happy with the graphics (when it worked).

[jman98]

I believe very strongly that doing software encoding, which ATI does, is a losing idea. For people who want to record directly to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 and do not need to ever record in AVI mode, the Hauppauge cards are excellent PCI based cards. I have the PVR-350 and it is quite simply the best card I have ever owned. Yes, if you have a state of the art system, the CPU can keep up with the demands of ATI's software encoder, but why should this be a requirement? Hauppauge uses a chip on the card so I don't have to worry if my PC has enough horsepowere or not.

Yes, ATI's tech support is the worst. I bought an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon about 5 years ago for my PC to use for recording TV shows. There was a problem where if I tried to use the ATI DVD player software, it would consistently lock my PC after about 10 seconds. It was a problem with AMD CPUs that was well known on the internet. I reported it to ATI via email and told them that it was a well known, reproducible problem. They replied with a canned email saying that ASPI wasn't set on my DVD drive (NOT true!) and they gave me instructions on how to set it. Nothing I said could get anyone to look into my problem, so I gave up and bought Power DVD, which worked with no problems.

I have read about others who say that ATI has given them rebuilt cards that don't work. The fact is that ATI really does NOT care at all about your problems unless it is a game related problem. They might take a look at a game problem, but they could care less about their customers who want to record video with their cards. If you are willing to live with that and you understand that you won't get any help from them for anything other than maybe a game related problem, then stay with ATI. I use the Hauppage PVR-350 to record TV shows all the time and it works great. I also every now and then pull it out to record an old laserdisc. I record at a high bit rate, say 9100 or so, and then re-encode with CCE to the correct bit rate to fill up a DVD. I've had excellent results.

[SingSing]

I've been in the ATI AIW crowd for around a year or so.

Are the newer cards/dvd recoders that much better? Did people find AIW setup too complex and dump it? I will probably stick with my AIW card, as I do like it, but am interested in anyone's thoughts.

AIW was great before DVDrecorder. DVDrecorder is easier to use, and with the same result in quality. and since VCR to DVD is done at 1x playback speed. Tight up a DVDrecorder is better than a PC.

I still think AIW still has a place if it is used as the TV tuner as part of the media center.

[lordsmurf]

ATI is not pure software encoding. So it's not a losing idea.

The real "losing idea" is capture cards as a whole. DVD recorders are easier, cheaper (by the time you factor in software needs), and a lot of them are using better chips that capture cards.

I still like and use my ATI, but the LSI encoder chipset can pretty much beat the crap out of any capture card. The only exceptions would be "pro" cards from Canopus or Matrox, the ones in the $1000 range.

But for the capture card market, ATI AIW cards are still strong contenders, especially if you want a decent graphics card, and you're looking to do BOTH AVI and MPEG-2 DVD-compliant encodes.

I would not say ATI does not care, but rather that their techs are not trained in video. Nobody there is really that trained. In fact, having the ATI AIW turn into such a good card was probably luck. Even the ATI MMC software came with some dumbshit settings by default. It was clear to me from day 1 that ATI was pretty much clueless on how to use their hardware. But I did not need them, and most people never will. A number of folks have provided guides and support on video-related sites.

Hauppauge is also a good card, but it too suffers from various problems. For one, the video is soft/blurry on 352x480 (at least a 4-5 pixel range), and there can be other issues. But all in all, the card is fine, and most people like it. I like it too, it's alright.

ATI DVD player software is not something they made. It's Cineplayer, which is well known to be crappy. They just re-branded it. Use WinDVD or PowerDVD, far better software. I don't even know if Cineplayer is around these days.

"Re-built" and "pre-owned" and "refurbished" and "restored to factory specs" are nothing more than crappy euphemisms for "THIS THING IS USED!" So, you take your chances. Always keep this in mind, don't get confused by marketing gobblygook. It's used, end of story. Sounds like ATI is not a good "used" vendor.

[anitract]

lordsmurf, which dvd recorders (lsi encoder chipset) are you recommending these days?

EDIT: Specifically, stand-alone recorders. =)

[lordsmurf]

JVC DR-M100S gets my vote for #1
LG, Pioneer, LiteOn, Toshiba all come in at #2-3

[anitract]

I shouldn't have started looking at that dr-m100s. Now I've got this urge to purchase one (or something like it). This always happens. Really though, someone sell me on a dvd-recorder. What justification is there to upgrade from an AIW to a stand-alone?

LS, you said "the LSI encoder chipset can pretty much beat the crap out of any capture card"...is it really that obvious?