ATI Theater 650 Pro and Catalyst Media Center

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, June 06, 2006, 08:00 AM EDT

New Chip Delivers Exceptional TV To PC Users Around The World

Enjoy a new way to experience PC multimedia entertainment with ATI Theater(TM) 650 Pro and Catalyst Media Center(TM)

MARKHAM, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - June 6, 2006) - ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX:ATY)(NASDAQ:ATYT) announced the Theater(TM) 650 Pro video processor chip for superb analog and digital TV reception for PC users around the world. The new chip offers full hardware support for Personal Video Recording (PVR) backed by unrivaled Avivo(TM) image quality. Theater 650 Pro is supported by ATI's new Catalyst Media Center(TM) software which combines easy-to-use PVR capabilities with the ability to handle any signal, any time in any advanced format, from H.264 to DivX.

"We're really excited about ATI's Theater 650 Pro. It offers the convenience of both analog and digital over-the-air TV in one card with exceptional picture quality," said Rakesh Agrawal, CEO and president of SnapStream Media. "Beyond TV takes advantage of Theater 650 to give PC users more of want they want - outstanding TV-on-the-PC with an award-winning PVR solution."

"Now with Theater 650 Pro, PC owners around the world can enjoy improved TV reception and PVR performance," said Paul Lypaczewski, Senior Vice President Marketing and General Manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. "Theater 650 Pro is an outstanding solution to offer both analog and digital PC TV tuner support for worldwide reception standards. Users can expect a new level of video quality designed for home theater PCs that will match or better most consumer electronic solutions today. ATI's new Catalyst Media Center combines with Theater 650 Pro to offer users improved usability with a focus on TV entertainment enjoyment."

Theater 650 offers a new motion-adaptive 3D comb filter and noise reduction capabilities for better image quality. Additionally, Theater 650 Pro delivers worldwide digital TV support: ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) for United States, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea plus DVB-T (digital video broadcast terrestrial) for European DTV standards. Theater 650 Pro is designed for a variety of multimedia applications including SnapStream's Beyond TV, Media Center PCs, Microsoft Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition, and the forthcoming Microsoft Windows Vista(TM) operating system. READ MORE...

Tags: ATI, media, media center, Catalyst, heat, theater, pro, TAL, EA, center, and

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com