ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo PCI Express

Windows Media Center & Image Quality

 

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However nice ATI’s Catalyst MediaC enter may be, it can't match the integration that Microsoft brings to the table with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista. After installing ATI’s WDM Vista drivers, to configure the TV Wonder 650 PCIe you just click on the Live TV icon within MediaCenter. MediaCenter then loads up an even simpler setup wizard that is entirely automated, detecting the kind of television input you are using without any prompts or areas that could lead to improper configuration.

 

Image Quality: Analog

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Image Quality: Digital Antenna (ATSC)

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Image Quality: Digital Antenna HDTV (ATSC)

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One of the underlying problems with assessing TV tuner quality is the fact that there are many variables that come into play that can affect how sharp, bright, and clear an image looks. Probably the most important of which is source quality. To put it simply, if the quality of picture coming out of your Coax cable is degraded, the picture you will see on your television or your PC will show this degradation.

 

In our quality tests, we saw that while watching certain channels, our video was a bit noisy. The input signal was coming from a coax like that had been split multiple times, however. With that said, the quality we saw with the TV Wonder 650 PCIe was on par or better than the various televisions in my home, but like we mentioned in our ATI Theatre 650 review, image quality is ultimately very subjective. Nevertheless, we werehappy with the image quality offered by TV Wonder 650 PCIe.


Tags:  ATI, TV, PC, Pre, PCI Express, XP, pci, express, COM

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