ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON, (32 MB) PCI Video Card

I have always been a fan of the All-In-Wonder series since my old AIW-Pro. The ability to watch TV and capture video have always fascinated those of us who want to push the PC's multimedia capabilities. This is especially important in tight spots like a dorm room, where I didn't have room for a monitor and TV. And while the AIW Family has always provided the finest in home video hardware, it came at a price. The Rage Pro and Rage 128+ chipsets used on their respective boards always went obsolete a few months after the release of the boards. Those of us who wanted to play the newest 3D games as well were forced to decide between lower framerates or our glorious TV/Video features. The TV Wonder family helped, allowing me to put in a 'real card' while still watching TV. But the TV Wonder lacks the compression options, DVD decoding, and raw integration of the AIWs. But in the midst of this dilemma, the All-In-Wonder Radeon provides a beacon of hope.

Now there are those that would argue that, even at it's release, the AIW Raedon will be a runner-up in the 3D. The shadow of the GeForce 2 Ultra and the new Voodoos looms heavily over the Raedon chipset. And for those of you looking for a purely 3D solution, I would agree. For the price that the AIWR will be released at, there will likely be better gaming solutions on the market [or nearly on the market]. But for any of you looking to purchase a card for anything other than just gaming keep some of these features in mind.

TV Tuner/Video Capture: The AIWR TV tuner will provide the same crisp quality as its earlier brothers. And the ability to capture on-the-fly MPEG-1/2 video is something not found in other TV Tuner cards [both standalone and accessory TV Tuner]. MPEG-2 compression gives you the ability to store hours of video on a multiGB HD.

DVD Decoding: ATI cards have long been accepted as the finest DVD decoders short of a separate decoder card. With the AIWR, ATI has added the SPDIF output necessary for Dolby Digital. This card will likely be every bit as good as a separate decoder, such as the Creative Labs Encore series.

2D: People often discount the need to compare 2D quality. But the amazing sharpness of the Matrox G400 is easily distinguishable from the comparitively poor quality of some its competitors. With the new upgrade of its RAMDAC, the AIWR should up in the same league, important for those of us who spend hours in front of the screen.

DVI: For those of using a DVI monitor, there are few, though a growing number, of options available. The AIWR will be one of the few cards providing native DVI support with a DVI->SVGA converter.


With all of these features, you still get the impressive 3D powers of the Raedon. In raw polygon-crunching, the Radeon is currently leading the pack...and will still hold its own with the release of the new board from nVidia. The DDR chipset insures that it will be able to handle the higher color depths and texture-intensive games. And the Charisma Engine and Pixel Tapestry features of the chipset will be exploited fully in DirectX 8.

So for anyone looking for a complete multimedia package, there really is no better solution in the near future. If you need TV, Video capture, or full DVD playback, this is definitely the finest board that will come out in the next few months, probably in the next year. Totally integrated and with a good track record from its older brothers, this is a board to watch out for. Watch for things like driver quality and early support, but definitely keep this board in mind when creating your Holiday shopping lists.