TV tuners have been on the market for quite some time, but most of them were separate PCI cards or bulky all-in-one video cards, and were absolutely incompatible with notebook computers. Only recently companies started to realize that there is a growing demand for TV tuners compatible with laptops. Large proportion of people, including a large number of college/university students, prefers laptops for obvious reasons - CONVINIENCE. ATI has addressed the needs of these people with a very slick, compact, powerful, full PVR, High Definition (HDTV), USB 2.0 TV tuner – ATI HD TV WONDER 600 HD. Although it has been on the market for quite some time, its current price and features are perfect for media and home entertainment enthusiasts without breaking the wallet.
What actually drew my attention to it is the fact that unlike other HTDV tuners out there, ATI TV WONDER HD 600 is a very budget oriented product, delivers superb video and sound quality, and features a full PVR – allowing you to watch, pause, and schedule recordings of you favourite shows.
Key features of ATI TV WONDER 600 include hybrid TV Tuner stick for Over-the-air Digital HDTV and Cable Analog (NTSC), remote control, telescopic antenna for free-to-air TV channels, full PVR with time shifting capability, audio/video input cable, ATI Theater converter, DVD Playback software and other wonderful features of ATI Catalyst Media Center.
Before getting into more detail, I want to clarity a few things that many people ignore, and tend to buy products and get very disappointed later. A lot of people are confused what HDTV actually means. The main problem is that majority of computer monitors, especially laptop screens, are incapable of outputting HDTV full resolution video. So why is it that the tuner is called HDTV? Well it’s because the tuner can actually receive HDTV signal. Note that HDTV signal has to be free-to-air. Again that might be misleading a bit, but that’s what companies use in order to sell their products, not just ATI – they slap HDTV on the tag and people fall for it. Let me explain what is actually going on here. In the recent years a lot of companies, in Canada and US especially, started transmitting HDTV signal over the air (which means signal can be received with an HDTV antenna and watched for free, and NOT, I repeat NOT over the cable – cable HDTV is encoded and needs your Cable provider’s digital box to decode it!!! And they obviously charge you for HDTV programming) HTDV implies high quality uncompressed video and audio, and can be quite pleasant to watch on the TV (HDTV compatible TV’s that is) either over free-to-air antenna or from digital receiver box from your provider. So what about the HDTV tuner? Well ATI TV WONDER 600HD tuner allows you to capture these free-to-air channels that many companies broadcast. However, you CANNOT output this HDTV signal as high definition on your PC as well as you would on your high def TV. This, like I mentioned earlier, is primarily because most monitors and laptop screens cannot output full HD picture. Picture is quality is still very impressive, only limiting factor is the output resolution of your screen and not the actual signal! Full HDTV monitors are available on the market already, with full 1080p resolution, and would give the best picture with HDTV tuners, but most of us do not have them yet. I hope this shines some light on what you are actually getting. Anyways, back to the tuner.
ATI tuner includes an audio/video input cable that has an RCA type connector (with white, red, and yellow connectors) as well as S-video input, so you can playback video from other sources – DVD players, VCR, Camcorders, Satellite Boxes etc. This connector is not HDTV, so keep that in mind. Full HDTV inputs come on different ATI models, but are incredibly expensive and require a bit of computer knowledge to set up and obviously a screen can output high def. Nonetheless, ATI TV WONDER 600 outputs video/audio with an incredible quality. You can view you basic cable from your provider, or catch free HDTV programming that is rapidly becoming available, and use your PVR capabilities to schedule recordings of programs and watch them at your convenience. ATI includes a basic antenna for free analog channels, but if you want to catch HDTV you do need an HDTV antenna!
I have noticed a lot of people give the tuner a very low rating because they have trouble setting it up, and blame lack of technical support for it (especially on the websites that sell it). This isn’t a proper review, that’s just anger and frustration coming out of their technical challenge, and lack of understanding, and has absolutely no connection to the quality of the product and its features. Of course everybody hates being on hold for hours with technical support, and majority gives up on the product, but that should not affect what the product is supposed to do and how it does it. This product is very good at doing what it is supposed to do, and if you have trouble setting it up, ask somebody who knows what they are doing for help before saying the product is bad. Anyways, I thought I would throw that out there, simply sick and tired of technically challenged people giving bad ratings to something they haven’t even used.
So how much will this TV WONDER actually cost? It is available at many stores, including Amazon, in the $70 range. If you always wanted to bring high quality TV and video to your laptop or avoid an incredible hassle of large video card units for desktops, ATI TV WONDER HD 600 USB is probably for you. Don’t forget to understand what your needs are before you buy, and if they fit ATI tuner’s profile, you won’t be disappointed!
