Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

ATI HDTV All-in-Wonder

Sep 20, 2005 2:22AM PDT

Does anyone use the ATI HDTV All-in-Wonder? I'm thinking about getting it has my first HDTV. My monitor is a 19" 1600x1200. It can't show all of 1080i, but at 19" it wouldn't matter. I think it would be worth it even if the HDTV looks only as good as DVD.

Is a there a place where can buy the ATI HDTV All-in-Wonder with a good return policy incase I'm not able to receive good OTA HDTV channels? I think I read on amazon.com that I could only get an 80% refund if it doesn't work.

One problem I might come into is that I already have a SDTV tuner in my pc that I want to keep. I don't know if I have a free slot for another tuner card and I might need a larger power supply.

I know 19" seems too small to bother with HDTV, but I'm the only person who will be watching it and I sit about 2 feet away from the monitor.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
: ATI HDTV All-in-Wonder
Sep 20, 2005 6:26AM PDT

I've had mine for about a year. Works good.
The ATI card has two tuners one for analog( NTSC) and one for digital (ATSC).
Fry's has a 30 day return policy.
I'm using a 19" monitor. When TVs first came out in the 1940s Tv were only 12".
More info about your PC Do you have an ATI video card???
It will work nVida but you have to play around. I got fedup and just got a ATI video card. The current software is good. How fast is your PC, should be 2ghz or faster. You didn't give a lot of info about it.

How far are you from the broadcast antennas???? You do need a good signal! Digital tends to be all or nothing!

Here is a link that I found helpfull, It was started in 2002 but has a lot of info, skip to the last page and go forward. John

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=393949

- Collapse -
PC Specs
Sep 20, 2005 11:45PM PDT

My PC is a Gateway 700XL purchased in 2002. It has a 2.4GHZ P4, 1GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce4 4600ti, Creative VB Digital VCR, 120GB harddrive.

I checked antennaweb.org and it said I'm between 7.0 miles to 8.6 miles to all digital stations. Analog stations come in fine, but there are a lot of tall trees around here so I don't know how they might affect a digital signal.

How much hard drive space does HDTV take if I recorded it?

What is Fry's?

How does the HDTV All-in-Wonder software compare to the Creative VB Digital VCR? The Digital VCR is very easy to use and I like the ability to watch TV in a 320x240 while I'm online. I wouldn't want to watch HDTV in a small window, but I still would like to watch SDTV in a small window.

- Collapse -
PC Specs
Sep 21, 2005 12:47AM PDT

PC Ok. Most likly you would have to upgrade your video card, ATI has a list of compatable video cards. ATI 9200 with 128mb is about $50 or anything above this.

Since your so close you shouldn't have problems.

I added a second 120gb hard drive for the video files.

FRY's Electronics. They have about 35 stores mostly in the west and southwest. But they are expanding across the country. Chicago, Indiana, Alanta, etc.
http://outpost.com/

" Creative VB Digital VCR?" I have never used this.
The ATI software is easy to use, comes with a downloadable "TV guide" and you can sechudle programes to record.
You can watch HDTV or SDTV fullscreen or window.
If you have any more questions let me know. John

- Collapse -
Questions
Sep 21, 2005 12:38PM PDT

Why won't it work with my video card? Their website says any card that is 64MB and DirectX 9.0. My graphics card is 128mb.

How much file space does an hour of HDTV take up?

I have 4.1 speakers and a creative audigy. Will it work with surround sound broadcasts?

We have one large antenna on the roof for all tvs in the house. If my pc is tuned to a HDTV channel, does that have any effect on analog channels playing on other tvs? Is there any sort of 'bandwidth limit' that an antenna can handle?

If I put another hard drive in my pc and a HDTV, and pc doesn't have enough power supply, will things just not work or can that cause damage to any part of my system?

With my current SDTV tuner, there is a thick black cable that brings the signal in(I forget the name of that type of cable). Will that type of connection work with HDTV?

My only complaint with my current tv tuner is that I can not create dvds with the video I've recorded. The audio always gets out of sync. The weird thing is that the video will play fine in the Digital VCR software, but gets out of sync everywhere else.

Does the HDTV All-in-Wonder have this type of problem? By the way, I realize I can't fit all of HDTV resolution on a 4.3GB DVD, for file size reasons and the standard resolution of DVDs.

- Collapse -
Re: the antenna
Sep 21, 2005 11:13PM PDT

HiDef is in the upper UHF bands ... most TV antennas have at least 2 elements - one for VHF, one for UHF. The last time I put a roof top antenna up (about 15 years ago) the instructions did specify that the antenna could be "tuned" for better reception in one band or the other by the way you arranged the elements. A rotor motor on the antenna is also useful for fine tuning the signal by remotely turning the antenna due to the fact that TV broadcast signals ARE directional. All these factors may effect your reception.

Two types of wire are generally found on an antenna - either Coax or the common small gauge flat antenna wire. I don't know if one or the other will effect ATSC reception. What I would be worried about is the quality of the connection where the wire attaches to the TV antenna. I've seen these connections so corroded that it was amazing they even worked if the antenna had been up for several years. Did you not say that the broadcast stations were within ten miles of your home ? (or was that a different thread ?) If so, then you might look into an omnidirectional "flying saucer" antenna or even an indoor antenna unless there is an abundance or mountains or buildings between you and the broadcasters. The extra antenna would also address your concerns about signal loss due to too many TVs on the feed (although I don't think I would worry unless you had 20 TVs on the feed going all at once - you could always get an amp to boost the gain anyway).

The sound is generally Dolby Digital or Pro Logic... if you get reasonable audio while watching a DVD with your present speakers you will get the same with the HDTV... thats if the all-in-one card supports the audio signal to begin with.

After you do all this and get the gear up and working, please let us know how it worked out... I've been considering several avenues including this or a Magnavox 15 LCD HD TV Monitor/Computer Monitor model 15MF605T that has a NTSC tuner but no ATSC for $300.00. The advantage is it's a TV right out of the box but only 1024x768 resolution for the computer... get the tuner card and the antenna (there's instructions on line on how to build the antenna) and I'll have true 1080i on a really tiny TV. LOL... I'd be interested in finding out how a larger dedicated LCD computer monitor (with better resolution) handles the ATSC signal.

good luck
grim

- Collapse -
Questions
Sep 22, 2005 1:08AM PDT

Well again I would suggest spending some time on the AVS fourm link from the previous post.

In order of your asking.

I had a nVida 5200 with 128mb and had strange problems untill I put in a ATI 9250 128mb VGA card. Per some of the post on the AVS fourm the lastest version of the ATI software now works with nVida cards. I guees I need to check for updates.

The ATI software has the option to convert to other formats so it depends. I think it is around 4 to 5 gb. It also depends on what format 720p or 1080i. I will look tonight when I get home.

The sound should work fine.

I'm using my main antenna, I did have to fine ture it for the local PBS station, since it is lower power than the networks, but has the best programs. It does not have any affect on other TV, no bandwidth problems.

If you have a good PSU in your PC of 400w or more you should be OK. Won't damage any thing , it will just shut off.

The cable is a 75ohm coax, you should only use 75ohm coax!!!
I run my antenna signal to 4way splitter RF amp, then to the TVs and PC. You would need to put a splitter on the feed for the PC so you could have a signal for each tuner. I have a Dishnetwork PVR in my living room and feed the analog part of my ATI card with the RF from that.

I have only played back on my PC.

So far I havn't tried to make a DVD. I need to explore some of options more. But to make a DVD the HD stream would have to be down converted to a DVD format.
Also keep inmind that there is a lot of things going on about copy protecion on HD content, this battle is far from over.
I hope my answers help. John

- Collapse -
question for jcrobso
Sep 22, 2005 1:57AM PDT

are you using any sort of surge protection on your antenna feed to the computer ? I've seen home theater surge protectors specified to not interfere with bandwidth from your mini-dish satellite - are there protectors out there for antenna feeds as well ?

grim

- Collapse -
surge protection on your antenna feed to the computer ?
Sep 22, 2005 4:12AM PDT

My antenna is in my attic of the house, so I don't use one. Now ALL of my electronics are on surge and battery backups.
Now as for my Dishnetwork antennas no. But they are grounded. Hmmm, I have to check in to this.
Since mini-dish is a higher frequency than OTA if it works for min-dish is should work for OTA.
I have a big tree in front of my house that has been hit twice by lighting and survived. John

- Collapse -
when I sold TVs...
Sep 22, 2005 12:37PM PDT

I had one guy whose wife went through the house and unplugged every TV during a storm... and awoke to 4 TVs fried by a lightning strike to the cable line.

I had another guy lose a 36" JVC to a lightning strike that hit the oak tree out front. The tree had a branch that ran up against the side of the house,,, the TV was directly on the other side of the wall ! He described to me the black, scorched mark on the wall against which the back of the TV rested against. That was more unusual.

I saw an average of 5 customers after every spring thunderstorm (that is when we get the worst electrical storms around here) who lost a TV to surges... many had whole house surge protectors or outlet surge strips but lost their electronics to phone line or cable overloads. Consequently I'm a bit paranoid. LOL

grim

- Collapse -
who lost a TV to surges
Sep 22, 2005 1:04PM PDT

When I worked for IBM, lighting struck a flag pole at one company, it travled in to the main power box and blew out some of the network controlers. There is no absolute protection from lighting!! John

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) LOL...duck and cover !
Sep 22, 2005 1:08PM PDT
- Collapse -
Questions
Sep 22, 2005 1:10PM PDT

Back to the file size. I'm looking at BPS sound stage program of Cheryl Crow. It's about an hour long at 3.4gb.
On of the save settings if for MPEG-2 720x480 to be used DVD authoring, the file size will be 1.41gb if I use this option. I'm saving it to that format, I'll let you know later. John