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| Introduction | ||||
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Although TV tuners have been in the desktop PC space for more than a decade, only in the last couple of years have they started to become integrated and widely used in notebook computers. OEMs started to recognize that many consumers simply didn’t want large desktop systems. But at the same time they wanted the multimedia features offered only by larger PCs, so many OEMs started working on ways to incorporate Video inputs and TV tuning into their notebook designs. After the introduction of Windows XP Media Center Edition in 2005, we saw many of these new multimedia notebook designs brought to market by companies like HP, ASUS, and Alienware among others, but the addition of TV tuning and video inputs added significant costs to these notebooks.
Not much later, a slew of companies like Diamond, Terratec, and Pinnacle Systems all brought to market USB 2.0 versions of their desktop TV tuners to give TV tuning and video input access to notebook users - or desktop users who didn't want to open up their systems - without any built in tuning or video capability. However, most of the products either suffered video quality issues or were too big and bulky to be used by the casual notebook user on the go.
Today AMD has announced a brand new product, the ATI TV Wonder 600 USB, that they hope will appeal to all notebook users looking for TV tuning and video input capability. Only the size of a credit card, the TV Wonder 600 USB features support for OTA (over the air) HDTV, OTA digital TV, analog cable TV, and analog video capture. Will the TV Wonder 600 USB live up to ATI’s established reputation as a leader in PC TV tuning? Let’s take a closer look to find out.
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| ATI TV Wonder 600 USB |
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At first glance, the ATI TV Wonder 600 USB resembles more a USB flash drive than a TV tuner. The tuner is roughly the size of a credit card and has an antenna / cable input on one side and USB 2.0 connection on the other. The USB connector is hidden by a cap that is removed when you are going to install the tuner into your PC . The device also features a mini port for its video in connections and an infrared receiver for the bundled remote control.
We put the tuner side by side with a stick of
For analog video capturing, the TV Wonder 600 USB includes a dongle that includes the standard red, yellow, and white RCA inputs as well as an S-Video input. Due to its large size, the TV Wonder 600 USB will typically hamper the installation of any other USB devices to surrounding USB ports if it is plugged in directly into a USB port in your notebook. To get around this, ATI has also bundled in a USB port extender, allowing you to plug in the TV Wonder 600 USB to the extension which then plugs into the USB port on your system. |
| Installation |
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Windows XP Installation:
For Windows XP users, ATI bundles the same full version release of the
The first step in the configuration is setting up the type of source, analog or digital, you will be connecting to your new TV Wonder. Afterward, the setup wizard automatically scans and lists the channels that are available to watch given your connection. Next, the software automatically downloads the two week television schedule of the zip code you are in, which is needed to set up scheduled recordings of your favorite shows.
Once set up, the CMC interface is very clean and easy to use. You can watch live TV in the TV section, watch DVD movies in the DVD section, listen to local radio in the Radio section, and configure your tuner in settings.
Windows Vista Installation:
Installing the TV Wonder 600 USB in Windows Vista is very easy as well. Once the WDM driver installation is complete, you simply launch
The TV Wonder 600 USB also supports DVR functionality, allowing you to schedule program recordings for television shows up to two weeks into the future. After prompting you for your zip code,
Overall, installation of the TV Wonder 600 USB was very simple. After getting |
| Image Quality |
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As mentioned in our TV Wonder 650 Combo PCIe review, we said that image quality with PC TV Tuners is very subjective and can depend on how good the source of your material is. For example, the cable signal in our area is relatively weak. Because the coax cable signal is spread out throughout the lab, the power of the signal at each end is degraded, which can lead to noisy or unclear pictures. This noise is sometimes hard to notice on standard television sets, but easily becomes apparent when viewing the picture on a high resolution computer monitor. With that said, we took a notebook with the TV Wonder 600 USB connected right to it to a coax signal amplifier to gain access to the best possible signal for our analog cable screen captures. The digital antenna screen captures are taken using TV Wonder 600’s bundled antenna. The images shown below were running in full screen mode under ATI’s Analog Cable
Digital Antenna
Digital Antenna - HD
Even at full screen mode, the TV Wonder 600 USB delivered excellent standard definition image quality as can be seen by the pictures above. The picture from the digital antenna was a bit clearer than the analog coax cable, but the analog cable was impressive in its own right. However, most impressive of all was when we found HD programming on our OTA digital antenna. We caught a few minutes of both Jay Leno and David Letterman’s late night talk shows, with both shows looking excellent in HD. The HD content on a high resolution screen just looks great, so good in fact that it makes watching the great quality standard definition content a little less dazzling. |
| Conclusion | ||||
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For a device roughly the size of a credit card, the TV Wonder 600 USB is surprisingly versatile and allows you to do a lot of different things to the device. First, it is a DVR (digital video recorder), you can schedule the device to record your favorite television shows up to two weeks in advance, without paying the monthly fees that TiVo and cable providers charge. Second, it is both an analog and digital TV tuner, allowing you to watch the TV already coming into your house, and the digital programming that is broadcast from local television stations. It also supports over the air high definition broadcasts, so if local stations broadcast television in HD, you can pick it up as well. Lastly, it is an analog video input device, allowing you to plug in S-Video or RCA feeds and capture their respective video source.
Because it is so small and can do so much, and should be available for about $100 in the coming weeks, the TV Wonder 600 USB will likely appeal to a large segment of the notebook owning population. We can envision business travelers that have long layovers at the airport setting up the TV Wonder 600 USB and watching local television stations. People without any room for television on their desk and only a notebook PC are another potential audience. So are those of us that don’t have TiVo but want DVR functionality. Desktop PC users are also in the mix, especially if they own a notebook and want to swap the tuner back and forth, something only possible with a USB 2.0 tuner like the TV Wonder 600.
ATI has always had a strong multimedia product line-up, and with the addition of the TV Wonder 600 USB, it will only get stronger. The device is small, works great, and is packed with the core features you would expect from a high end desktop television tuner. The installation of the device is a snap, and although ATI has done an excellent job with their
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