AIW 9600 Pro vs. AIW 9800 SE?

[namek]

I've decided to buy an All-in-wonder after reading about it here at the forum, but I'm not sure what model to pick. The 9600 Pro and the 9800 SE are similar in price. Should I assume that the 9800 i superior? I should mention that I'm only interested in good capturing features, not gaming power.

Also, there are all these different brands of AIW: Powercolor, Hercules, HIS, Hightech, Club3D, Sapphire, Connect3D. Are they all equally good since they are based on the same chipset, or are some better than others?

[lordsmurf]

There are two capture chips to look for:
1. Rage Theatre (or Theatre Rage or Theatre 100 aliases)
2. Theatre 200

Both ATI AIW cards you asked about have the second chip.

The other brands are normally just graphics cards built with ATI parts and chips, not AIW cards.

[Donny661]

From what I have heard is that ATI has not updated the AIW series' capturing ability in a long time. I would suggest looking for the cheapest one you can find with the chipsets lordsmurf has suggested (I am only assuming that those are the best ones). That might mean that you could go with a AIW 9000 or 8500 and save a bundle. The newer ones are only going to charge you more for better gaming performance.

[namek]

Thanks, for the input. It seems that ATI doesn't sell cards here in sweden, so other brands are my only option. They are called AIW though, so hopefully they are of the same quality as ATIs own cards. I'll probably go with the 9800SE since the 9600 Pro doesn't have DVI, and most of the earlier cards I looked at didn't even have video-in.

[Sulik]

I think ATI sells their card under the Hercules AIW brand name in Europe.

[jamawass]

From what I have heard is that ATI has not updated the AIW series' capturing ability in a long time. I would suggest looking for the cheapest one you can find with the chipsets lordsmurf has suggested (I am only assuming that those are the best ones). That might mean that you could go with a AIW 9000 or 8500 and save a bundle. The newer ones are only going to charge you more for better gaming performance.

ATI has been updating it's MMC capture software every three months for the last year. Why don't you check your facts before providing inaccurate and false information? The 8500 is a discontinued product line and uses the old theater chip, not recommended at all.

Thanks, for the input. It seems that ATI doesn't sell cards here in sweden, so other brands are my only option. They are called AIW though, so hopefully they are of the same quality as ATIs own cards. I'll probably go with the 9800SE since the 9600 Pro doesn't have DVI, and most of the earlier cards I looked at didn't even have video-in.

The 9600 alas only has vga but can support dual monitors natively unlike the 9800 se. 9600 also has a FM tuner which no other AIW card presently has. Note that the 9800 Se is a crippled version of the 9800 with gaming capablities equivalent to a 9600. There are reports of hacks to the 9800 se that can convert it to a full 9800 but hacks are always touch and go. The 9600 can be had for as low as $195 now don't know how that compares to a 9800 se since 9800 se is not available in the US.

[lordsmurf]

Before pooping on the Theatre Rage chipset, you should know the difference between it and the Theatre 200 is less than 5-10% ... the only real difference is improved MPEG hardware for both encode and decode

And the other poster obviously meant hardware, not software. Don't jump all over him. There is a new ATI MMC every two month. Always free, normally an improvement.

The tuners on the cards can range, but it has little end effect on the capture. They are all comparable. No more than each tv having it's own tuner, and they function about the same with the same source being inputted. Most of them are Philips chips last I saw.

The 128PRO, 7000-9600 cards have first THEATRE chips. The 9000-9600 PRO lines have next gen, as do all 9700-9800. Early 9700 cards and VE cards have been reported to have 1st gen chips, but latter releases had 2nd gen chips. I've seen both versions of the VE box (now it could have been a box misprint). Also look for VIVO and VE PCI cards from ATI AIW series.

Supposedly some of the less non-AIW cards have Theatre chips, but nobody can seem to send me a photo of this. It's hard to keep track, and I think they've messed up some things that were OEM makes. Just check the chips when you get it and you'll be fine.

A 9600 or 9800 will not outperform my 7200 cards by much, if any.

[jamawass]

Before pooping on the Theatre Rage chipset, you should know the difference between it and the Theatre 200 is less than 5-10% ... the only real difference is improved MPEG hardware for both encode and decode

And the other poster obviously meant hardware, not software. Don't jump all over him. There is a new ATI MMC every two month. Always free, normally an improvement.

The tuners on the cards can range, but it has little end effect on the capture. They are all comparable. No more than each tv having it's own tuner, and they function about the same with the same source being inputted. Most of them are Philips chips last I saw.

The 128PRO, 7000-9600 cards have first THEATRE chips. The 9000-9600 PRO lines have next gen, as do all 9700-9800. Early 9700 cards and VE cards have been reported to have 1st gen chips, but latter releases had 2nd gen chips. I've seen both versions of the VE box (now it could have been a box misprint). Also look for VIVO and VE PCI cards from ATI AIW series.

Supposedly some of the less non-AIW cards have Theatre chips, but nobody can seem to send me a photo of this. It's hard to keep track, and I think they've messed up some things that were OEM makes. Just check the chips when you get it and you'll be fine.

A 9600 or 9800 will not outperform my 7200 cards by much, if any.

I use the ragetheater chip in my Radeon 32 MB AIW so I'm not pooping on it at all. That card ranks as the best hardware purchase I ever made, in the 2 and half yrs of use it has made my vcr obsolete. However if someone is making a new purchase now I would not recommend discontinued technology.
The previous poster was wrong whether he's talking about ati capture hardware or software both have seen recent improvements the addition of fm tuner to aiw 9600 with FM radio timeshifting and capture abilities in mp3.
The 9600 chips do not have the rage theater chip only the updated theater 200 you can confirm this at www.ati.com.

A 9600 or 9800 will not outperform my 7200 cards by much, if any.

Not too sure what you mean here. If you mean in terms of capture ability probably about 20% less cpu utililzation with a 9600-9800 vs 7200 but in gaming terms they blow away 7200.

[elmotheteapot]

Pop over to the Graphics section of the www.overclockers.co.uk forums, there was a massive topic regarding the Hercules 9800se aiw which had a 70% sucess rate of modding into a 9800 pro aiw, and at the price its going for considering its got aiw features and a chance of a 9800pro its the deal of the centuary. Also even at stock, its faster than a 9600xt.