AIW 8500DV killing me ...in need of a high quality VIVO solu

[klumbz]

I have an ATI AIW 8500dv now, and the driver support is making this card the worst investment I think I've ever made!

a.) the video in looks horrible from my set-top digital cable box.
b.) the video out to my tv is really awful! (4"borders top and bottom of dvd playback, avi playback really sux, e.g. everything going to the tv is hazy, distorted, etc).
c.) the built in tuner is a joke

My main use of this pv is capturing movies from cable and output to my television.

There has to be a better solution than this!

Or is this as good as it gets?

[resnullius]

well as to the hazyness, are your input or output cables close to a power supply or some such device that could cause electromagnetic distortions? as to the 4" borders do you mean the borders they have on all dvds?

[leebo]

I have the Radeon AIW, and yes, the quality sucks.

My CPU is an Athlon 1.2Ghz w/256megs and a seperate, 60Gig HD.

I could have bought a TIVO for less than what I put into this, and the quality would have been so much better. On my brothers TIVO you can't tell the difference between live and recorded. With the Radeon, I appear to get only half the resolution of a normal picture. Makes video originated programming (like the loal news) look almost film like.

Thats not what I wanted.

[klumbz]

The signal cables are all clear of any AC/DC cables etc...
as far as the borders are concerned, yes I get the normal borders from dvd playback but far worse ( I tested with my standalone dvd player)
adjusting the aspect ratio in the MMC dvd setup box did'nt help at all.

Is there a better card out there for my needs?

thx
klumbz