Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (
More info?)
I don't agree with your use of the word "kludged" because All In Wonders
weren't designed to be used in MCE - only standard Windows. For MCE ATI has
a card designed for the job and thats the eHome Wonder (and the HDTV Wonder
for US customers using it over there). Encode (the software "workaround")
hasn't been developed for MCE 2005.
Paul
"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4197D697.3000204@neo.rr.com...
> So the bottom line is that no AIW cards prior to the 9700 work, and even
> in the AIW 9700 and later, ATI "kludged" a software work-around for the
> lack of hardware MPEG, which probably means that the performance is
> pathetic.
>
> Re: "Pity that you've returned the eHome Wonder because with the new
> drivers its the cats whiskers. I particularly like the feature where using
> a caller ID capable modem, a callers phone number pops up on the TV screen
> whenever the phone rings."
>
> Well, the "e-Home Wonder" wouldn't install ..... AT ALL. And it's not
> just me, see for example the thread at:
>
>
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33787475&hi
>
> ATI has known about this problem for the better part of at least 90 days,
> all that they have to do to fix it is rebuild the install CD with a
> different version of Installshield, but have they done so? No ....
>
> Screw it. ALL indications are the the Hauppauge card, which only sells
> for $61 (at www.buy.com) is a better card anyway, with better quality
> video.
>
>
>
> Paul Murphy wrote:
>
>> Windows XP MCE 2005 is based on XP Professional SP2 so as such the OS
>> contains drivers for the card (was detected and installed from scratch).
>> The problem is that MCE cant utilise the TV Tuning capability of the card
>> because it has no hardware encoding and the special Encode software
>> written by ATI to bypass this requirement for some All In Wonder equipped
>> MCE machines (yes they DO exist and were released by some OEMs such as
>> Dell) only works with the theatre 200 chipset (which came with AIW 9700
>> cards and newer - basically all All In Wonders after the 8500 series).
>> The consequence of this is that XP MCE works fine when not using the
>> Media Centre functions - ie can install ATIs MMC 9.02 (and I guess 9.03)
>> on it to control the card. When you start Media Centre using either the
>> remote or menu shortcut, windows complains that the graphics card or
>> drivers aren't supported under media centre (even though most of the
>> functions will still run except the TV becomes dodgy). If I go into
>> device manager and disable all of the tuner related resources, this
>> problem in Media Centre disappears and an eHome Wonder can be used for TV
>> instead - I know because I have one in this machine - installed using the
>> brand new (only a few days old) drivers for the eHome Wonder designed
>> specifically for MCE 2005 from ATIs website. Pity that you've returned
>> the eHome Wonder because with the new drivers its the cats whiskers. I
>> particularly like the feature where using a caller ID capable modem, a
>> callers phone number pops up on the TV screen whenever the phone rings.
>>
>> Paul
>> "Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
>> news:4196E5CD.2030004@neo.rr.com...
>>
>>>What is your experience with MCE and the 8500DV? I know that the 8500DV
>>>is not recommended by Microsoft for MCE (media center edition), in fact
>>>generally no ATI products are recommended. MS' position is that MCE
>>>requires hardware MPEG encoding, which no ATI products currently have
>>>with one single exception, the "e-Home Wonder" (a PCI tuner card). I
>>>tried an e-Home Wonder and couldn't get it to install, ran into a problem
>>>that others are having, ATI used a bogus version of Installshield to
>>>create the drivers, and it won't install on many systems. There's no
>>>workaround for this, so I returned it and purchased a Hauppauge card
>>>instead (hasn't come yet).
>>>
>>>Anyway, as I mentioned, ATI AIW cards are not recommended for MCE, so I'm
>>>curious as to what your experience was.
>>>
>>>
>>>Paul Murphy wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>I have the AIW 8500DV as well and I'm using it with MMC9.02 on Windows
>>>>XP MCE 2005 which includes SP2 built in. I have absolutely zero issues
>>>>with it other than the fact the latest Catalyst drivers (it could be
>>>>argued, rightly) don't support the 8500DV under MCE 2005 - only standard
>>>>XP. Interestingly though, the OS has built in drivers for the 8500DV
>>>>which work fine outside of the Windows Media Centre. Thats not an SP2
>>>>issue though. If its good enough for MSFT to include it in their Windows
>>>>XP media now, then I say go for it.
>>>>
>>>>Paul
>>>>
>>>>"Prince Lee" <princeeleex@aol.com> wrote in message
>>>>news:10pcer36o7rea74@corp.supernews.com...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I know what you mean, I still have the AIW8500DV, and it seems that ATI
>>>>>manages to break something while fixing something else in each release.
>>>>>I'm
>>>>>trying to see if this new set will fix a prob I've been having with an
>>>>>old
>>>>>game that was working up until 4.0.100.1190.
>>>>>
>>>>>Before that I was having troubles with vid capture and timeshift
>>>>>unstable. I
>>>>>was hoping they fixed inadvertantly fixed everything with the new
>>>>>driver
>>>>>set, and I wanna try them, but not if I have to put SP2 on my system.
>>>>>
>>>>>At least I'd like to know if SP2 is functioning better than what I've
>>>>>heard,
>>>>>and whethter its absolutely necessary for the new CAT's.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>"Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost.> wrote in message
>>>>>news:a2ecp0hpo8p7uqkbg3e5tlrj5vfctm2mj6@4ax.com...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 10:30:15 -0600, "Prince Lee" <princeeleex@aol.com>
>>>>>>wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>That makes sense, what about performance hits? Also ATI is
>>>>>>>recommending
>>>>>
>>>>>it
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>be installed for thier new CAT drivers, should I go with that
>>>>>
>>>>>recommendation
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>or take heed to th horror stories of SP2 and stay away?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>For the few days I used it, I had no gaming issues with it. Which Cats
>>>>>>you use probably depends on which card you use. Everything since 4.4
>>>>>>for me has been a step backwards in performance and stability for my
>>>>>>9700 Pro.
>>>>>>--
>>>>>>Andrew, contact via interpleb.blogspot.com
>>>>>>Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
>>>>>>please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
>>>>>>Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>