ATI Updates TV WONDER Family

by Anton Shilov
08/27/2003 | 02:03 PM

ATI Technologies announced that it is now shipping the new TV WONDER PRO, for $69, and the new TV WONDER PRO REMOTE CONTROL EDITION, for $99. Both new additions to the TV WONDER family are now available in North America and provide owners with a digital VCR and electronic program guide (EPG) as well as improved video capture quality, obviously, the only advantage over the original TV WONDER announced roughly three years ago.

These new add-on cards plug into any PCI slot and allow end-users to watch TV and enjoy all ATI’s highly-advertised video capabilities. The new TV WONDER PRO solutions also deliver real-time MPEG-2 compression at full 720x480 resolution when using the Digital VCR that’s included as an essential part of the software package.

In short, TV WONDER PRO REMOTE includes the following:

• ATI’s MULTIMEDIA CENTER 8.2 offers a full range of critically acclaimed multimedia functions including VIDEOSOAP, a filtering process that removes noise and improves video quality during digital video recording captures;
• MulTView support – When an ALL-IN-WONDER video card is combined with TV WONDER PRO, owners can enjoy dual TV tuner capabilities such as Picture-in-Picture;
• 125-channel stereo TV-tuner;
• Stereo audio reception;
• Digital VCR allows recording of scheduled TV programs to computer hard drive for viewing at any time. Preset, easy-to-use recording formats include DVD compliant video allowing users to archive TV recordings on DVDs using disk creation software included with DVD recordable drives;
• Gemstar’s GUIDEPlus+ provides an intelligent free integrated program guide (North America only) that allows users to view and search TV listing by category, actor/performer, or date. Schedule and record programs at the click of a mouse – all the benefits of a Digital VCR without the monthly fees;
• Security/monitoring camera functionality (using attached separate camera);
• ATI’s REMOTE WONDER, only included with the “Remote Control Edition” versions of the TV WONDER family (as well as being sold separately), is a radio frequency wireless remote that extends computer multimedia control with the flexibility of a hand held, 30-foot user interface.

The difference between the new TV WONDER PRO and the original TV WONDER seems to be only in software support, a little bit better VIVO as well as in the REMOTE WONDER controller. Other features seem to remain unchanged from the TV WONDER launched back in the year 2000.