Personal Cinema/All-In-Wonder Pro

Has anyone compared these two side-by-side? I own a Chaintech 5600-based
Personal Cinema; and while I'm largely satisfied, I do NOT like the way the
suite of software and drivers is scattered across a variety of third-party
applications. It limits the remote functionality to its own applications
and provides a great deal of overhead in terms of application organization
and maintenance.

With the AIW Pro (9700 or 9800), does their suite of software work more
homogenously? Does it share a common look and feel? Furthermore, as I am
going to install Media Center XP on my system, I would like to know the pros
and cons of each device within that realm.

I am less concerned with a few 3DMarks than I am about overall stability.
Both are good products and would meet my needs; and I can afford either
option. I realize that I am going to forego the benefits of a second
monitor with ATI, but for multi-monitor, I would likely add a dual 5600 PCI
card anyway. Any help would be greatly apprciated.

Thanks!

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 06:28:39 GMT
"Chaintechee" wrote:

Has anyone compared these two side-by-side? I own a Chaintech
5600-based Personal Cinema; and while I'm largely satisfied, I do NOT
like the way the suite of software and drivers is scattered across a
variety of third-party applications. It limits the remote
functionality to its own applications and provides a great deal of
overhead in terms of application organization and maintenance.

With the AIW Pro (9700 or 9800), does their suite of software work
more homogenously? Does it share a common look and feel?
Furthermore, as I am going to install Media Center XP on my system, I
would like to know the pros and cons of each device within that realm.

Where did you get Media Center? If you're going to install it make sure
that you have (in your possession, not "know they exist") drivers for
whichever board you use--the availability of the necessary drivers will
likely end up making the decision for you.

MMC is fairly well integrated and does share the same "look and feel"
and feature set.

I am less concerned with a few 3DMarks than I am about overall
stability. Both are good products and would meet my needs; and I can
afford either option. I realize that I am going to forego the
benefits of a second monitor with ATI, but for multi-monitor, I would
likely add a dual 5600 PCI card anyway. Any help would be greatly
apprciated.

Thanks!




--
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

I did a little more homework and found out that the multimedia features of
the Personal Cinema are not MCE compatible. The AIW products can be, but
only upon acquisition of a software bridge to emulate the hardware
decode/encode features. They are available; I do have them, but ATI has
been pitching a fit about them existing outside their tightly-controlled
realm (for reasons unknown).

For a lot of reasons, it does make sense to use a discreet VIVO tuner, like
the WinTV 250 or 350 PVR. The 250 is natively MCE compatible, while the 350
is made so by drivers that are downloadable. The big drawback of using
MCE-only devices, however, is that MCE does not have a facility for burning
DVD's or playback in any other enviornment other than its own. Therefore,
it may make sense to have a third-party capture applciation at the ready for
such uses.

Microsoft's reasons for making MCE so restrictive are fairly obvious,
support costs. Without being able to control the hardware and software very
tightly, it would be a nightmare to ensure reliable operation of something
that is arguably the most PC-demanding and complex applciation.

For now, I have decided to forego MCE. I AM going to exchange my Personal
Cinema for a stand-alone TV-Wonder Pro, as the RF-Remote makes it entirely
worthwhile, and I do prefer the flexibility of a non-integrated VIVO board,
and the suite of applications does look and work more "as one", which is
more important to me than any incremental trade-off in functionality
overall. Make no mistake, the Personal Cinema has functioned well, and I am
giving up secondary monitor support in the trade.

It's a shame that Matrox, who has always had great VIVO products, does not
have a stand-alone tuner option. You either have to settle for using their
TV on their card's display, or use it as the primary and sole display at the
expense of 3D performance. Their suite of software is actually quite
elegant, but you do lose the ability to position the TV or VIVO window on
any monitor.

Where did I get MCE? Santa was very good to me. If you want it but don't
have it, you simply aren't looking hard enough. : )

HNY.

"J.Clarke" wrote in message
d...
On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 06:28:39 GMT
"Chaintechee" wrote:

Has anyone compared these two side-by-side? I own a Chaintech
5600-based Personal Cinema; and while I'm largely satisfied, I do NOT
like the way the suite of software and drivers is scattered across a
variety of third-party applications. It limits the remote
functionality to its own applications and provides a great deal of
overhead in terms of application organization and maintenance.

With the AIW Pro (9700 or 9800), does their suite of software work
more homogenously? Does it share a common look and feel?
Furthermore, as I am going to install Media Center XP on my system, I
would like to know the pros and cons of each device within that realm.

Where did you get Media Center? If you're going to install it make sure
that you have (in your possession, not "know they exist") drivers for
whichever board you use--the availability of the necessary drivers will
likely end up making the decision for you.

MMC is fairly well integrated and does share the same "look and feel"
and feature set.

I am less concerned with a few 3DMarks than I am about overall
stability. Both are good products and would meet my needs; and I can
afford either option. I realize that I am going to forego the
benefits of a second monitor with ATI, but for multi-monitor, I would
likely add a dual 5600 PCI card anyway. Any help would be greatly
apprciated.

Thanks!




--
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

As a follow-up, I wish TIVO would put out a Windows-based application to
bridge the gap, even bundled with a hardware solution to deliver the best of
both worlds. On the positive, I've also located two solutions for changing
the station on my digital cable box via IR remote and serial cable from my
PC for better recording choices.

"Chaintechee" wrote in message
...
I did a little more homework and found out that the multimedia features of
the Personal Cinema are not MCE compatible. The AIW products can be, but
only upon acquisition of a software bridge to emulate the hardware
decode/encode features. They are available; I do have them, but ATI has
been pitching a fit about them existing outside their tightly-controlled
realm (for reasons unknown).

For a lot of reasons, it does make sense to use a discreet VIVO tuner,
like
the WinTV 250 or 350 PVR. The 250 is natively MCE compatible, while the
350
is made so by drivers that are downloadable. The big drawback of using
MCE-only devices, however, is that MCE does not have a facility for
burning
DVD's or playback in any other enviornment other than its own. Therefore,
it may make sense to have a third-party capture applciation at the ready
for
such uses.

Microsoft's reasons for making MCE so restrictive are fairly obvious,
support costs. Without being able to control the hardware and software
very
tightly, it would be a nightmare to ensure reliable operation of something
that is arguably the most PC-demanding and complex applciation.

For now, I have decided to forego MCE. I AM going to exchange my Personal
Cinema for a stand-alone TV-Wonder Pro, as the RF-Remote makes it entirely
worthwhile, and I do prefer the flexibility of a non-integrated VIVO
board,
and the suite of applications does look and work more "as one", which is
more important to me than any incremental trade-off in functionality
overall. Make no mistake, the Personal Cinema has functioned well, and I
am
giving up secondary monitor support in the trade.

It's a shame that Matrox, who has always had great VIVO products, does not
have a stand-alone tuner option. You either have to settle for using
their
TV on their card's display, or use it as the primary and sole display at
the
expense of 3D performance. Their suite of software is actually quite
elegant, but you do lose the ability to position the TV or VIVO window on
any monitor.

Where did I get MCE? Santa was very good to me. If you want it but don't
have it, you simply aren't looking hard enough. : )

HNY.

"J.Clarke" wrote in message
d...
On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 06:28:39 GMT
"Chaintechee" wrote:

Has anyone compared these two side-by-side? I own a Chaintech
5600-based Personal Cinema; and while I'm largely satisfied, I do NOT
like the way the suite of software and drivers is scattered across a
variety of third-party applications. It limits the remote
functionality to its own applications and provides a great deal of
overhead in terms of application organization and maintenance.

With the AIW Pro (9700 or 9800), does their suite of software work
more homogenously? Does it share a common look and feel?
Furthermore, as I am going to install Media Center XP on my system, I
would like to know the pros and cons of each device within that realm.

Where did you get Media Center? If you're going to install it make sure
that you have (in your possession, not "know they exist") drivers for
whichever board you use--the availability of the necessary drivers will
likely end up making the decision for you.

MMC is fairly well integrated and does share the same "look and feel"
and feature set.

I am less concerned with a few 3DMarks than I am about overall
stability. Both are good products and would meet my needs; and I can
afford either option. I realize that I am going to forego the
benefits of a second monitor with ATI, but for multi-monitor, I would
likely add a dual 5600 PCI card anyway. Any help would be greatly
apprciated.

Thanks!




--
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)