Does ATI HDTV tuner questions...

Hello all!

I am currently using ATI Radeon 9800 AIW (128 MB). I am thinking of upgrading my video card and separating the
TV tuner. I am thinking of getting a NVIDIA card (I'm a traitor!) because new and upcoming games are choppy
(e.g., FEAR, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 2 -- I cranked all/most graphic details up) and getting an ATI HDTV
tuner (time to jump into HD stuff!). I am getting a NVIDIA card because I am unhappy with ATI's buggy driver
and software. Since it seems to be hard to find any good HDTV tuners and ATI seems to make good ones, I have
little choices.

I have a few questions:

1. Is the digital audio still there with ATI HDTV tuners and its drivers like with AIW cards? I stopped
upgrading and stuck with v5.2 Catalyst driver. This is unacceptable for console gaming, using computer speaks
for audio with a 30" TV playing the video.

2. Is MMC still buggy? I am stopped upgrading and stuck with v9.03.1.

One thing that bugs me for me is the poor driver support in Linux. It is worse for HDTV tuner.

Also, how's the over the air with ATI's TV tuner? I do not subscribe to cable and satellite TV services.

Thank you in advance.
--
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wrote in message
...
Hello all!

I am currently using ATI Radeon 9800 AIW (128 MB). I am thinking of
upgrading my video card and separating the
TV tuner. I am thinking of getting a NVIDIA card (I'm a traitor!) because
new and upcoming games are choppy
(e.g., FEAR, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 2 -- I cranked all/most graphic
details up) and getting an ATI HDTV
tuner (time to jump into HD stuff!). I am getting a NVIDIA card because I
am unhappy with ATI's buggy driver
and software. Since it seems to be hard to find any good HDTV tuners and
ATI seems to make good ones, I have
little choices.

I have a few questions:

1. Is the digital audio still there with ATI HDTV tuners and its drivers
like with AIW cards? I stopped
upgrading and stuck with v5.2 Catalyst driver. This is unacceptable for
console gaming, using computer speaks
for audio with a 30" TV playing the video.

2. Is MMC still buggy? I am stopped upgrading and stuck with v9.03.1.

One thing that bugs me for me is the poor driver support in Linux. It is
worse for HDTV tuner.

Also, how's the over the air with ATI's TV tuner? I do not subscribe to
cable and satellite TV services.

Thank you in advance.
--

Their are threads on avsforum.com and rage3d.com for the HDTV Wonder. Some
people are using them with some NVIDIA cards.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=393949
http://www.rage3d.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=24
Info on these older thatn 6months probably won't be usefull.

The HDTV Wonder has no audio connector so sound is digital only. It does
Dolby Digital, you know.
I'm using MMC 9.08 w/o problem on my 9600XT AIW and only minor problems on
the HDTV Wonder. Some are having problems with it so YMMV.
A free(for now) 3rd party app, WatchHDTV, has recently been released that
allows most of the functionality of the DTV player that come with MMC but
IIRC it only requires the HDTV drivers and the Cyberlink audio filters.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=590020