DVICO vs ATI WONDER

[AdmA]

Is the general concensus on here that DVICO is a superior card? If so how much more superior would you guys say?

[instigator]

I'd like to hear as well.

I read a review comparing CPU utilization between the HD capture cards, but I can't find it now. Anyone have a link?

[tscales]

Well, I have the Dvico Fusion 5 USB (two of them) and they work FLAWLESSLY. Outstanding picture quality, brings in weak signals, nothing but good things to say.

I also purchased, the day it came out, the ATI TV Wonder 650. Supposed to be the hot new card.

Garbage. Won't bring in a SINGLE channel, using the same antenna. So bad that they have recalled them and issued a new model with a new part number, but are giving me the complete runaround about replacing mine. Lost me as a customer forever --- I'm even buying nVidia graphics cards now.

Tom

[AdmA]

Anyone else that has the DVICO cards (more specifically, PCI cards)? Any major advantage of the full DVICO over the lite? Only real difference I see is ADC for better analogue...

[yle]

I have a Shuttle XPC with one PCI slot currently containing a PVR250. I was thinking that I could possibly avoid needing an external box by swapping out the PVR 250 for the ATI TV Wonder 650, since it does HDTV and has the mpeg2 hardware encoder. Any thoughts on replacing the PVR 250 with the ATI card (once they have the problems ironed out obviously)?

[gibbs]

Originally Posted by AdmA

Anyone else that has the DVICO cards (more specifically, PCI cards)? Any major advantage of the full DVICO over the lite? Only real difference I see is ADC for better analogue...

That's it. If you're only using the fusion card for HD, buy the light. I have both the light and full (heavy?) versions, and for what I use them for, should have gone with two lights.

I can echo previous posts about the two fusion cards working flawlessly for me HD. Others have commented elsewhere about getting three dvico cards to work at once, though. I've never tried ATI.

[tscales]

Originally Posted by yle

I have a Shuttle XPC with one PCI slot currently containing a PVR250. I was thinking that I could possibly avoid needing an external box by swapping out the PVR 250 for the ATI TV Wonder 650, since it does HDTV and has the mpeg2 hardware encoder. Any thoughts on replacing the PVR 250 with the ATI card (once they have the problems ironed out obviously)?

Isn't only one at a time supported? Wouldn't you have to rerun the setup wizard to change it?

Tom

[yle]

I guess I wasn't clear. I wouldn't be swapping them, but rather replacing the PVR250 with the ATI 650. This would effectively give me everything the 250 has (hardware analog encoding) plus HDTV in one card.

The real question should probably be is there any dropoff in quality/experience from the 250 to the ATI card, and if so, how bad is it?

[tscales]

I guess I wasn't clear I knew what you meant. My point was you can't use SD and HD at the same time on the ATI card, can you? I didn't even think they could be both setup in BTV at the same time, but perhaps it is smart enough to switch inputs depending on the show being recorded.

I'd keep the PVR250 and add a USB2 Dvico.

Tom

[yle]

Good to know. Thanks!

[Rich A]

Keep in mind that as far as the ATI HDTV Wonder goes, the analog is not hardware encoding. It's analog reception uses a software based "signal to mpeg" encoder. The digital tuner of course doesn't do "any" encoding. It performs a more standard recording of the OTA mpeg Transport stream directly to your hard drive as do most of the current digital tuners.

[cat6man]

anyone using the DVICO for ntsc recording, either cable or ota?
any comparisons to Hauppage tuners?

i'm getting my 2nd DVICO fusion5 card this week and may reconfigure a bit....

thanks

[tscales]

I believe the Dvicos are software encoders for NTSC, so not as good a choice as a Hauppauge.

[AdmA]

yeah I think you should only really use the DVICO for HD, unless you got plenty of processor to spare :-P

[Rich A]

I wonder if that is the normal thing for combo digital and analog tuners? I own an ATI HDTV Wonder and know for sure that it's analog tuner is software encoding only.