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ATI All-In-Wonder 9200 Review

Company:

ATI, www.ati.com

Price:

Suggested retail price is $149 US.

Ratings

Price:
Install/Setup:
Usability:
Support:
Average Rating:

Pros:

• Excellent ATI technology gives you great images.
• Great for watching TV real-time or recorded without any processing delays.
• Superb software bundle included.

Cons:

• It's not an AIW 9800 :-)
• Does not include a wireless remote control.

The Card

With the never ending quest to produce faster and better quality video cards, ATI has once again released a new line of their ALL-In-Wonder multimedia cards. The All-In-Wonder 9200 brings new levels of multimedia performance to the masses. Powered by the RADEON 9200 graphics chip running at 250MHz and 128MB of DDR 128-bit memory at 400MHz, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9200 brings great full performance Microsoft DirectX 8.1 gaming and AGP 8X support with only a $149 price tag.

Powerful video and television in/out functions are powered by ATI’s industry leading THEATER 200 audio video processor and advanced multimedia features are made possible with their latest MULTIMEDIA CENTER software. MULTIMEDIA CENTER 8.8 adds even more functionality to the ALL-IN-WONDER family of products, offering EAZYLOOK (a remote control interface for distance viewing), EAZYSHARE (a client/server application which allows for distributed live TV across a home network), integrated DVD and CD burning, and built-in MPEG-4 recording abilities. MULTIMEDIA CENTER 8.8 also includes support for all the great features that MULTIMEDIA CENTER has developed throughout the years including THRUVIEW (translucent TV viewing), MULTVIEW (picture-in-picture capabilities when used with a TV WONDER) and HOTWORDS (advanced closed caption detection and searching).

Included in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9200 box is over $150 in bundled software. Pinnacle Studio 8.0 ($99) enables Hollywood-like video editing abilities on the ALL-IN-WONDER 9200 and Matchware Mediator 7.0 ($69) brings your great multimedia content to the web. Gemstar’s GuidePlus+ is an integrated TV guide with no monthly fee (in comparison, TiVo offers a subscription worth $12.95/month or $249 product lifetime). Also in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9200 box is a special offer for 50% off the REMOTE WONDER wireless remote control from ATI.com.

Specifications

System Requirements

• Intel® Pentium® 4/III/II/Celeron™, AMD® K6/Athlon® or compatible with AGP 8X /4X /2X slot
• 128MB of system memory
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
• DVD playback requires DVD drive
• Interactive Program guide requires Internet connection for listing updates
• 1GHZ minimum processor speed for MPEG-2 video capture
• Sound Subsystem with DirectSound® drivers

Operating Systems Support

• Windows® XP
• Windows® 2000
• Windows® Me
• Windows® 98 / 98SE*
  *Windows® Me driver can be installed on Windows® 98/98SE
  

Memory Configuration

• 128MB of double data rate SDRAM

Display Support

• One VGA monitor simultaneously connected with a TV or VCR

TV Tuner Requirements

• TV signal from amplified antenna or cable. Version included for: NTSC (North America, Japan, and Latin America*)
  *Features vary from country to country and depending on the television standard. Note that Latin American countries using the PAL M and PAL N standards including Argentina and Brazil are supported by the NTSC version.

Connectors

• Stereo audio, S-video, and composite video inputs and outputs
• External stereo connections to sound card’s line input and output
• Dolby® digital stereo audio output (S/PDIF)

Warranty

• 3-year warranty

Display Modes

MAXIMUM 3D RESOLUTIONS

Getting Started

Installing this multimedia card is a piece of cake. Slip out your old AGP card and put this one in (make sure you uninstall your video drivers for this old card). Windows recognizes it upon reboot. Install the CATALYST drivers and included software and you are up and running. To get your TV signal and sound working, you'll need to hook up a TV signal and run sound out of the AIW9200 and into your sound input jack on the mother board. This set up is a little funky for the sound, but easy to do. An ATI Input Adapter is included in the box. This is basically an extension cord that allows for hookup to other video sources such as a VCR or DVD player or your Video Camera.

We have hooked this card into a large antenna set up in the attic via coaxial cable. With the TV signal set, we launched Multimedia Center and scanned for channels. The scanning process only took a few minutes. Once complete, the wizard displayed the found channels and gave us options for our viewing and recording preferences. The integrated Gemstar GuidePlus+ made it easy to assign info to the channels and view the upcoming show lineups.

Our first test was to view the channels found by the wizard. It's very easy to view the available channels in the Multimedia Center. In conjunction with this test, we turned on a Television directly connected to the same Antenna. We did this to see if there was any delay in the signal. With some cards, there is a slight delay from a regular TV to watching through a video capture or multimedia card. This is due in a large part to the processing power of the audio video processor which is the guts of the card. To our great surprise, the entry level AIW9200 had zero delay. We have yet to see another entry level card with similar specs do this.

Next test was to actually record something and then play it back. We recorded about 10 minutes of a show in the highest format and screen size allowed. This sucked up about a half a gig of hard drive space. Which is normal for MPEG 2 quality video. We then played back the recording in both WinDVD and Microsoft Media Player. In both cases, the video quality was quite good for a TV show. Obviously not as good as a digital DVD image, but quite acceptable for TV.

Additional Features

Redefine Home Entertainment On Your PC

• An all-in-one TV tuner with TV-ON-DEMAND™ (records TV programs, pauses live TV, and lets you schedule broadcasts directly to your PC).
• The Gemstar GUIDE Plus+™ software organizes TV listings and makes searching for and scheduling programs a snap.
• Drive one VGA monitor and your TV or VCR simultaneously.
• Includes a simple, forward facing input block with s-video, composite video inputs and stereo audio input.
• THRUVIEW™ creates live, translucent TV, video and DVD windows for easy desktop access.
• New EAZYLOOK™ (requires Remote Wonder) provides easy to read on-screen information for TV and DVDs.
• With the EASYSHARE™ feature you can share the power of the ALL-IN –WONDER® 9200 with all of your home networked computers

It’s Your Own Video Production Studio

• It’s “all-in-one” video and audio software suite is ready for recording, streaming, and editing; the included MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ software lets you:
• create your own music videos
• create slide shows
• add European teletext or North American closed captioning
• edit your home movies with Hollywood quality transitions
• convert analog to digital videos
• Save your projects with one touch DVD or VideoCD burning software with faster than real time performance
• Capture still images from TV or DVD at resolutions up to 720x480 and video at up to 30 frames per second

It’s Your Ticket to Breakneck Gameplay:

• 128MB DDR memory to generate detailed gaming without sacrificing frame rates.
• Full support for DirectX® 8.1 ensures fast action gaming with seamless transitions.
• Full support for the AGP 8X standard doubles available bandwidth for a more engaging gaming experience.
• SMARTSHADER™ enables cinematic quality.
• SMOOTHVISION™ delivers sharp, clear textures.
• The ALL-IN-WONDER® family is powered by the industry’s most stable ATI driver suite for reliable user confidence.

Adding It All Up

The ATI All-In-Wonder 9200 Multimedia card is an excellent product despite the fact that it is ATI's for the masses entry level card. Not only is it a fantastic video capture device, but because of its AGP 8X support and 128MB of DDR memory, it's also an excellent video card. An avid gamer wont want to game on it, but for the novice or occasional gaming it will suffice. For those wanting a device to convert home movies and record your favorite TV shows you cannot go wrong here. With the included software and cables/converters, it's well over a $400 value.

Because of the low price, terrific quality, easiness to set up and use, and ATI's world-class support, the ATI All-In-Wonder 9200 Multimedia card is being awarded an UpgradAdvisor.com Recommended Upgrade seal of approval.

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