AMD's Newest TV Wonder: Clear QAM For The Masses
by Derek Wilson on October 15, 2007 3:37 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
AMD's New TV Wonder Line Up and Initial Thoughts
The TV Wonder cards available before today have been what AMD calls "hybrid" tuners and they do not support digital cable. They do support digital TV through OTA ATSC (HD content) and analog TV through either OTA or cable. The hybrid tuner is capable of watching or recording either analog or digital content, but is only one physical tuner (only one channel can be watched or recorded at any given time).
AMD's new TV Wonder parts that support Clear QAM make use of "combo" tuners - the board supports analog and digital content through two separate onboard tuners that can be used at the same time. The only issue here is that one tuner is a dedicated analog tuner and the other is a dedicated digital tuner. This means that if you are watching an analog channel, you can only record a digital channel (either OTA ATSC or Clear QAM). Likewise, if you are watching a digital channel you can only record an analog channel (either OTA or cable).
The combo tuners are a bit more flexible, but we would love it if AMD could find a way to produce boards with a cross between the hybrid and combo tuner concept to bring us a board with two tuners that can record either analog or digital channels. Really, the only way to go with the TV Wonder series for use in an HTPC is to plug multiple boards into one system. With two TV Wonder 650 Combo Tuner cards, it's possible to watch one channel and record any other channel no matter what you're watching.
We haven't gotten our hands on any hardware yet, so we will have to wait to make any firm conclusions about the new TV Wonder lineup, but Clear QAM is certainly a step in the right direction. In the meantime, we can absolutely complain about AMD's naming scheme. Sorting out product names to more clearly denote the capabilities of the hardware would go a long way with us. As it stands, the USB TV Wonder 600 does not support Clear QAM, while the PCI TV Wonder 600 does. This is in contrast to the fact that the PCI TV Wonder 650 does not support Clear QAM, while the USB and PCIe TV Wonder 650 Combo versions do support Clear QAM.
Take a look at this chart for clarification:
The TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is the only one of these that supports the cable card, but our initial experience with it was somewhat less than impressive. AMD has mentioned to us that a firmware update is available that should significantly improve performance and stability. We will certainly look into this to determine if there's anything new worth writing about with respect to OCUR.
We will also try to take a look at the new TV Wonder series down the road and see how it stacks up against the competition from Hauppauge and Pinnacle. While Clear QAM is good news for HTPC enthusiasts, we still have a long way to go before the PC gets the respect it deserves from music, movie and cable industry players as a device that can (and should) rule the living room.
The TV Wonder cards available before today have been what AMD calls "hybrid" tuners and they do not support digital cable. They do support digital TV through OTA ATSC (HD content) and analog TV through either OTA or cable. The hybrid tuner is capable of watching or recording either analog or digital content, but is only one physical tuner (only one channel can be watched or recorded at any given time).
AMD's new TV Wonder parts that support Clear QAM make use of "combo" tuners - the board supports analog and digital content through two separate onboard tuners that can be used at the same time. The only issue here is that one tuner is a dedicated analog tuner and the other is a dedicated digital tuner. This means that if you are watching an analog channel, you can only record a digital channel (either OTA ATSC or Clear QAM). Likewise, if you are watching a digital channel you can only record an analog channel (either OTA or cable).
The combo tuners are a bit more flexible, but we would love it if AMD could find a way to produce boards with a cross between the hybrid and combo tuner concept to bring us a board with two tuners that can record either analog or digital channels. Really, the only way to go with the TV Wonder series for use in an HTPC is to plug multiple boards into one system. With two TV Wonder 650 Combo Tuner cards, it's possible to watch one channel and record any other channel no matter what you're watching.
We haven't gotten our hands on any hardware yet, so we will have to wait to make any firm conclusions about the new TV Wonder lineup, but Clear QAM is certainly a step in the right direction. In the meantime, we can absolutely complain about AMD's naming scheme. Sorting out product names to more clearly denote the capabilities of the hardware would go a long way with us. As it stands, the USB TV Wonder 600 does not support Clear QAM, while the PCI TV Wonder 600 does. This is in contrast to the fact that the PCI TV Wonder 650 does not support Clear QAM, while the USB and PCIe TV Wonder 650 Combo versions do support Clear QAM.
Take a look at this chart for clarification:
The TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is the only one of these that supports the cable card, but our initial experience with it was somewhat less than impressive. AMD has mentioned to us that a firmware update is available that should significantly improve performance and stability. We will certainly look into this to determine if there's anything new worth writing about with respect to OCUR.
We will also try to take a look at the new TV Wonder series down the road and see how it stacks up against the competition from Hauppauge and Pinnacle. While Clear QAM is good news for HTPC enthusiasts, we still have a long way to go before the PC gets the respect it deserves from music, movie and cable industry players as a device that can (and should) rule the living room.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
23 Comments
View All Comments
Casper42 - Thursday, October 25, 2007 - link
Last I checked, Vista MCE wont tune Clear QAM channels though will it?And even if it can be tuned, does Microsoft provide the Channel Lineup information?
I have a TV that does QAM Decoding and I figured out which channels my local CBS HD, NBC HD, ABC HD and FOX HD were on. CBS was like 92.1 and NBC was 92.2, etc. I called Time Warner and asked them if they had a channel lineup in this type of format and they didnt have a clue what I was asking about.
Can anyone confirm that this new ATI Combo Tuner, or any other Clear QAM Tuner actually WORKS with Vista AND they can get the Digital Channels to show up in their Listings Guide?
troos - Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - link
I picked one up at Fry's and tried it. Everything works well on XP, except the QAM. Nothing on the box or website or limited instruction manual, mention this. Clear QAM will only work with Vista, so that the signal can be properly DRM'd.I returned it and bought a Homerun!
Chadder007 - Friday, October 19, 2007 - link
What? No PCI version with the hardware mpeg2 for Clear QAM??Gannon - Thursday, October 18, 2007 - link
... the fact that many TUNERS do not update the screen in REAL TIME which makes playing video games impossible. Older TV tuners that used a "passthrough" method did not have a screen update lag-time....I think this is a CRITICAL test by the way, people should know what they are getting, I bought a TV wonder 650 only to find out there is lag time on the screen update, and I was not pleased.
Chadder007 - Friday, October 19, 2007 - link
I think you can turn off the Pause feature somewhere in ATI's program and that will allow it to show in real time to play games. Otherwise its keeping some of the video in memory before showing to the screen so that it will have a skip free pausing of the TV broadcast.flashbacck - Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - link
Derek,Do you know what's the story with the ATI TV Wonder 650 that was introduced last year, and this new version? As I recall, the old one was recalled and then we never heard anything about it until now.
Affectionate-Bed-980 - Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - link
I wonder how this will match up against DVICO's FusionHDTV 5 as that's pretty much one of the best products you can get out there for QAM support. I liked ATI's remote and the interface, but without QAM I had to settle for DVICO. Maybe my second tuner will be ATI =)skyyspam - Monday, October 15, 2007 - link
It's "ATI", not "AMD". Anand's the ONLY website that goes out of their way to call ATI "AMD". Annoyance++ksherman - Monday, October 15, 2007 - link
Do any of these have OS X support? Specifically the USB version. I would also, on that note request that if you all are doing a roundup review of these new tuners that you throw some USB tuners in the mix, I am curious to see how they stack up. I am looking to be able to plug one of those USB tuners into my MacBook Pro to record TV shows for me.bigpow - Monday, October 15, 2007 - link
I'll stay with my provider's HD Box (with IEEE1394 enabled for recording on the PC)and cheapy analog tuners for the SD shows