ATI brings about two new TV cards

by: John - posted: 8/21/2006 7:57:00 PM

Now this is some good news. ATI is serving up two new TV cards with the big daddy being the TV Wonder 650. The 650 can do both analog and OTA HDTV so it'll be nice having one card do it all with some good hardware encoding and the great AVIVO features that ATI's known for. The less expensive TV Wonder 200 looks to be a general TV card for those that don't need all the bells and whistles.

ATI Serves Up New Technology To Watch Sports And New Fall TV Programs On PCs In High Definition

New TV Wonder™ 650 and TV Wonder™ 200  feature the new Catalyst Media Center™ for superior PVR performance

MARKHAM, ON – August 21, 2006 – Enjoy new ways to watch major sporting events plus the new fall prime time TV season on your PC thanks to new solutions from ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT). Available today in North America, TV Wonder™ 650 and TV Wonder™ 200 offer new easy-to-use features for Personal Video Recording (PVR) on the PC.

With TV Wonder 650 you can receive free over-the-air high-definition broadcasts and improved quality analog TV programs enhanced with amazing Avivo™ image quality. TV Wonder 650, with a manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) of USD$129, includes an easy-to-use High Definition PVR to record content in a variety of formats: DivX, H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and WMV9.

TV Wonder 200, with an MSRP of USD$59, offers high quality analog TV viewing and video capture. With TV Wonder 200, you can watch, pause and record up to 125-channels of live TV broadcasts or digitally capture video content from your VCR or camcorder to preserve in a video library or burn to DVD. Both TV Wonder 650 and TV Wonder 200 are complemented by ATI’s new Catalyst Media Center™ software application featuring easy access to top notch media PC features.

“More consumers are embracing the media PC evolution than ever before. With today’s announcement, these enthusiasts can enjoy new entertainment value featuring ATI’s high quality  TV-on-the-PC PVR solutions,” said Paul Lypaczewski, Senior Vice President Marketing and General Manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. “The Media PC is now a standard fixture in home theaters; extending the entertainment experience with truly innovative features. For example, with TV Wonder 650, we’re taking ATI’s cutting-edge HDTV technology, that powers popular HDTVs, to transform the PC into amazing entertainment consumer appliances.”

TV Wonder 650 features outstanding picture quality thanks to the Theater™ 650 chip that includes a motion-adaptive 3D comb filter and noise reduction capabilities. Theater 650 Pro offers exceptional digital TV support for free over-the-air HDTV broadcast reception. The add-in TV tuner board enhances many multimedia applications including Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center Edition, and the forthcoming Microsoft Windows Vista™ operating system.

With a 125-channel TV tuner, TV Wonder 650 features hardware MPEG-2 encoding to offload intensive PVR functions from the main computer processor to deliver high quality capture that is easily transferred to DVD. TV Wonder 650 also features motion compensated noise reduction, edge enhancement, FM radio reception, and much more.

Catalyst Media Center, ATI’s next generation PC multimedia application, combines the best of ATI’s long-standing digital entertainment expertise with a new interface designed for the novice as well as die-hard ATI multimedia fans. Key features include:

• Full PVR functionality - Stop, pause, and rewind live TV on the PC

• Combines with ATI graphics cards to deliver an outstanding 3D user interface

• MulTView® functionality  - Record and watch two shows at the same time, or watch one show in a picture-in-picture window while watching another full-screen

• Advanced video compression and conversion settings – Record or convert to DivX, H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV9

• Capture video from VCRs or camcorders

• ThruView™ – Translucent video window over other desktop applications

• Multifunction/triple-function tuner support – Access analog TV, digital TV, or FM stations with one card

• Advanced electronic program guide (EPG)


TV Wonder 650 and TV Wonder 200 are available now in North America and are scheduled to be available in Europe later in the year.