Whay SnapStream?

[rbowers]

I was looking at the ATI Radeon 8500DV video card and it claims to be able to record, instant replay, etc. TV and cable programs.

Is anyone familiar with the card? What will I gain by buying SnapStream and using it with this card?

[Trevor_richmond]

I have a ATi card and love it, but i found the interface for recording a pain in the ass and the files to big. I tested snapstream and found a great tool. I can record tv and us it on my pocket pc, or on my laptop, also you can save your shows and keep them for later. I personaly dont do the live tv thing as I dont have time to watch TV, other thaen that i record.

Hope this helps, this is what i use this product for...

[ldavies]

I saw the 8500dv card as well and was going to jump in and buy it. However I have read lots of posts now and it seems that people don't think much of the drivers that ATI puts out and that drivers are very important. It therefore might be better to get a separate TVinput card and video output card. I'd love additional comments from others with opinions. I have not made my decision yet.

[MattS]

Generally I go ATI simply for the price/performance difference -- however, both cards of course have their good and bad features -- which I won't go into detail about.

Although admittedly I've had problems in the past with ATI drivers, they seem to have been getting better about things recently. If I had the money -- I'd probably go Nvidia every time (but right now, it's the fastest cheap card ). Of course, I primarily use the 3d accelerated features for games -- almost never have a need for the video recording/editing capabilities. Although I've heard from a number of ppl here that ATI is the way to go in that regard.