AMD smells a comeback with ATI All-in-Wonder HD

And you thought Microsoft bringing back the SideWinder was gnarly. Announced today, AMD is resurrecting the long-standing AIW line with its first-ever high-definition variant: the $199 ATI All-in-Wonder HD. The PCI Express 2.0 card attempts to handle both PC gaming and HDTV duties by boasting specs like DirectX 10.1 support, a 725MHz engine clock, 600MHz memory clock and MPEG2 / VC-1 / H.264 video decoder acceleration. You'll also find Vista and AMD LIVE! certification badges to go along with the dual-link DVI port, HDMI jack (which supports 5.1 Dolby Digital transmission) and optional component video connectivity. As expected, users can capture live programs (as well as pause / rewind) in SD or HD over-the-air, and there's even support for ClearQAM. For those looking to take their clips elsewhere, the bundled Avivo software converts it for viewing on some of today's most popular handhelds (yes, including the iPod). Look for models from Diamond Multimedia and VisionTek to hit retailers in North America late next month. Full release after the jump.

AMD smells a comeback with ATI All-in-Wonder HD

AMD Expands The Ultimate Visual Experience™ Combining Exceptional HD Graphics, HDTV, and HD Video for PCs
One-of-a-kind ATI All-In-Wonder™ HD takes the home theater PC to new levels of TV enjoyment and graphics quality

Sunnyvale, Calif. - June 26 , 2008 -AMD (NYSE: AMD) today expanded The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for North America with the ATI All-In-Wonder™ HD, combining award-winning ATI Radeon™ Premium graphics and ATI TV Wonder™ HD tuner technology card in one PCI Express® 2.0 solution. As the newest multimedia powerhouse to join the long line of All-In-Wonder offerings, ATI All-in-Wonder HD transforms the PC into a highly immersive digital video recorder for HDTV and analog TV, plus expands the realm of exceptional gaming with cinematic HD graphics for mainstream PCs. Blu-ray™ disc playback can be enjoyed in full HD glory (1080p) thanks to ATI All-in-Wonder HD's unified video decoder (UVD) technology, ensuring movies play back smoothly and with incredible detail2.

AMD LIVE!™ Ready and Certified for Windows Vista®, ATI All-In-Wonder HD has a manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) of $199, includes capabilities to watch and record free-to-air HDTV, unencrypted digital cable programming3, and superb analog TV reception powered by ATI Theater™ 650 Pro hardware MPEG-2 encoding technology. All-In-Wonder HD merges the best of the ATI TV Wonder™ product line with ATI Radeon Premium Graphics to deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience.

"Never before has this level of HDTV and graphics performance been seen in an all-in-one PC multimedia solution," said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "The award-winning ATI All-In-Wonder lineage is built on long-standing leadership in TV and video on the PC. For the hundreds of thousands of owners of previous ATI All-In-Wonder models and for those hungry to realize the full potential of their PC, we're excited and proud to introduce the newest addition to AMD's PCTV product family."

ATI All-in-Wonder HD prepares you for brilliant TV, sharp images and smooth playback on a wide variety of HDTVs and displays. With support for Microsoft DirectX® 10.1, gamers can play the top HD games with life-like 3D graphics, stunning realism, and great shading effects. Full support for PCI Express 2.0 technology allows for twice the throughput of current PCI Express 1.0 cards, which means gamers will be ready for demanding graphic applications.

ATI All-in-Wonder HD further expands TV viewing capabilities with support for Windows® Media Center bundled with Windows Vista® Home Premium and Windows Vista® Ultimate editions, as well as Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005. The ATI All-in-Wonder HD complements media-rich AMD LIVE! PCs.

Featured with ATI All-in-Wonder HD is ATI Catalyst Media Center™ software that provides an easy path to view TV programs in a variety of entertainment environments and mobile video devices. Recorded TV programs and home videos can be quickly converted into the most popular formats for viewing video on portable media devices4. Digitize and preserve priceless moments and start building your video library. ATI Catalyst Media Center software includes a scalable TV interface with integrated TV programming info, DVD video authoring and movie playback, and video conversion technologies5. A second bundled AMD LIVE!™ Entertainment Suite CD includes AMD LIVE!™ On Demand to access the DVR from any computer with broadband connectivity and AMD LIVE!™ Explorer that provides an immersive way of managing and interacting with your entertainment library. Explore your complete digital collections of music, photos, and videos in a single window, in full 3D6.

With Home Theater environments in mind, ATI All-in-Wonder HD provides expanded connectivity with built-in support for six channel (5.1) Dolby Digital® surround audio transmission through HDMI, native dual-link DVI-I for high resolution panels, and optional component video connectivity.


Available through Diamond Multimedia and VisionTek at leading computer retailers and etailers across North America by late July, ATI All-In-Wonder HD is designed to take home theater PCs to the next level of multimedia performance.

About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 12:26PM]

Amd continues its rule over the HTPC.

With the 690g, 780g, and MSIs 7411 coming soon AMD has demonstrated an understanding of the htpc market far beyond Intel/Nvidia.

This may be my next upgrade.

[Marc B Posted Jun 26th 2008 10:40AM]

After dealing with all the driver/ software problems in the AIW X800XT AGP, I'll pass on this one.

[Danakin1 Posted Jun 26th 2008 10:41AM]

as long as the fan is quiet and this mother stays cool...it's got everything I want.

[OneLove Posted Jun 26th 2008 11:03AM]

You know, you all could choose to just ignore clak instead of replying to his comments. (He has a right to say what he wants and we have a right to ignore him)

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 11:08AM]

Ima Need one of these! :p

[ethana2 Posted Jun 26th 2008 11:44AM]

This spammer took my comment, copied it, appended links, and has been reported.

[michaspi Posted Jun 26th 2008 1:23PM]

tl;dr

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:09PM]

Well here is my two cents on this product. I was always a fan of AIW products and their TV cards for that matter. Well I was a fan all the way until they released the HDTV card. OVER THE AIR ONLY! Let me say that a few more times.
OVER THE AIR ONLY!
OVER THE AIR ONLY!
OVER THE AIR ONLY!

What the hell! When are we going to get a cable card tooting TV card for the WhiteBox crowd? For some reason the Cable consortium caved in and allowed cable-card equipped TV cards in OEM PC's from HP. I guess they feel that no one that would buy an HP would dare record movies and put them up online. Come on lets face it, your average Joe is far too lazy to go through the effort of recoding a movie in HD and then uploading said movie to their online host of choice. On the other hand the guys that DO manage to put up HD rips of movies are ALREADY doing so, despite all of the hurdles they have in place.

To top it all off, we are talking about movies that have finished their run in the theaters, already finished their run in the DVD outlets and are now on Premium channels. That means they have already milked 90% of the project by that time. Now this doesn't mean that they will be loosing out on the reamaining 10% of the milk, although their public relation monkeys will try to convince you of that. Cable channels are still going to air these movies and money is still going to be made doing so. Only a very small percentage of the population is going to download these movies online, an even smaller amount is going to copy the movies and make them available for download and an insignificant number of people are going to cancel their premium channels because they can download the movies online.

This is just another example of those in charge being out of touch with reality, when it comes to technology. In turn they over compensate with regards to restrictions.

I say we petition this product and make it known to AMD that we are doing so for the reasons listed above.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:13PM]

Well here is my two cents on this product. I was always a fan of AIW products and their TV cards for that matter. Well I was a fan all the way until they released the HDTV card. OVER THE AIR ONLY! Let me say that a few more times.
OVER THE AIR ONLY!
OVER THE AIR ONLY!
OVER THE AIR ONLY!

What the hell! When are we going to get a cable card tooting TV card for the WhiteBox crowd? For some reason the Cable consortium caved in and allowed cable-card equipped TV cards in OEM PC's from HP. I guess they feel that no one that would buy an HP would dare record movies and put them up online. Come on lets face it, your average Joe is far too lazy to go through the effort of recoding a movie in HD and then uploading said movie to their online host of choice. On the other hand the guys that DO manage to put up HD rips of movies are ALREADY doing so, despite all of the hurdles they have in place.

To top it all off, we are talking about movies that have finished their run in the theaters, already finished their run in the DVD outlets and are now on Premium channels. That means they have already milked 90% of the project by that time. Now this doesn't mean that they will be loosing out on the reamaining 10% of the milk, although their public relation monkeys will try to convince you of that. Cable channels are still going to air these movies and money is still going to be made doing so. Only a very small percentage of the population is going to download these movies online, an even smaller amount is going to copy the movies and make them available for download and an insignificant number of people are going to cancel their premium channels because they can download the movies online.

This is just another example of those in charge being out of touch with reality, when it comes to technology. In turn they over compensate with regards to restrictions.

I say we petition this product and make it known to AMD that we are doing so for the reasons listed above.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:42PM]

woops sorry for the double post.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 3:51PM]

I only have one comment... how much!?!?!? I dont know if I like the video card aspect of it, I dont think it would be that great for games, but who knows it could complement the video you watch through the HDMI or DVI port...

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 4:12PM]

I still use my old AIW but the tuner is useless to me now. I have IPTV and a set-top box for TV viewing.

Does anybody know of a card that has an HDMI-input ? Tuners are getting less and less useful now...

[convictus Posted Jun 26th 2008 7:59PM]

so annoyed at amd/ati about not updating the previous models drivers to work with vmc that I don't know if I trust them with a new hybrid card.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2008 1:04PM]

One very important question no one has asked so far is: Is this a combo tuner card or a pathetic hybrid tuner card? in other words, can this card record two different channels (one over the air HDTV channel and one analog channel) at the same time?