Need basic information about: ATI All-In-Wonder 128Pro

  • Thread starter Thread starter walterbyrd
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walterbyrd

I found somebody selling one for $25. But, I need to know a few things:

1) How do I watch TV with this? Just hook my TV cable into the card?

2) I think this is an older model, will it work okay? What can I do
with a newer model, that I can not do with this?
 
I found somebody selling one for $25. But, I need to know a few things:
1) How do I watch TV with this? Just hook my TV cable into the card?
Click to expand...

Yes but you also have to run ATI's MultiMedia Center (MMC) or third party TV
software.
2) I think this is an older model, will it work okay? What can I do
with a newer model, that I can not do with this?
Click to expand...

The newer models have better 3-D performance for games but the TV tuner
portion doesn't seem to have changed much. My AIW X800XT doen't have any
better
picture than my first AIW Rage card did.

Tom Lake
 
Yes, just hook up your cable or antenna to it (of course you have to
install all of the software).

Yes, it's a very older model. Before you buy it, make sure that there
even ARE Windows XP drivers for it (and be careful, because some of the
older cards have drivers for the video card, but not for the TV tuner or
multimedia features).

You would be better with an AIW Radeon 7500, and it won't cost much more.
 
I found somebody selling one for $25. But, I need to know a few things:

1) How do I watch TV with this? Just hook my TV cable into the card?

2) I think this is an older model, will it work okay? What can I do
with a newer model, that I can not do with this?
Click to expand...
You can connect your cable or an amplified antenna into the tuner or if you
have cable box it can be connected to the composite or S-Video inputs.

I'm still using one(AGP) on this computer with W2K. Biggest difference
between it and my AIW9600XT, for example, is the former has the Theater100
and latter has a Theater200. The 200 has better capture hardware but the 100
is certainly usable.
The AIW128Pro has one VGA and a TV output. The AIW9600XT has 2 VGA outputs &
the TV out and with a faster GPU and more video memory it will play newer
games if that's important. You'd have to go to the ATI website and look up
the specs of whatever card your interested in to get the exact difference.
$25 may be a little high. Make sure you get the ATI CD with it if you
want/need to use the ATI DVD player program.
You'll need a 500MHZ CPU or better to make full use of the capture ability.
 
T Shadow said:
You can connect your cable or an amplified antenna into the tuner or if you
have cable box it can be connected to the composite or S-Video inputs.

I'm still using one(AGP) on this computer with W2K. Biggest difference
between it and my AIW9600XT, for example, is the former has the Theater100
and latter has a Theater200. The 200 has better capture hardware but the 100
is certainly usable.
The AIW128Pro has one VGA and a TV output. The AIW9600XT has 2 VGA outputs &
the TV out and with a faster GPU and more video memory it will play newer
games if that's important. You'd have to go to the ATI website and look up
the specs of whatever card your interested in to get the exact difference.
$25 may be a little high. Make sure you get the ATI CD with it if you
want/need to use the ATI DVD player program.
You'll need a 500MHZ CPU or better to make full use of the capture ability.
Click to expand...

500Mz isn't enough. I have two ATI cards with the Rage Theatre chip on them
(Vivo, no tuner),
one (PCI) in a P500 (128 ram) and the other (AGP) in a P733 (512 ram).
Neither captures at even 640x480 without dropping frames. The P733
dual-boots 98SE & XP and nothing changes under either OS.

IMHO - I'll never get another video card with any tv/video-on on it again.
The hassle updating drivers isn't worth it. I'll go with a stand alone
capture solution next time as ATI's software is bad enough updating drivers
without all the bs and hassle the MMC wants, e.g. specific install order,
numerous Windows updates required etc. etc. Note : in my experience you must
update it all to have the VIVO even attempt to keep working.
 
$25 may be a little high. Make sure you get the ATI CD with it if you
want/need to use the ATI DVD player program.
Click to expand...

And make sure it comes with the breakout box as well. On Ebay, the card goes
for ~$15 USD including shipping but with no breakout box. The box goes for
about the same so if the OP is getting the card with all accessories, it's
probably a decent deal.
 
* (e-mail address removed):
I found somebody selling one for $25. But, I need to know a few things:
Click to expand...

25$? That's a rippoff IMHO...
1) How do I watch TV with this? Just hook my TV cable into the card?

2) I think this is an older model, will it work okay? What can I do
with a newer model, that I can not do with this?
Click to expand...

"Older model" is just nice said to such an ancient card. The AIW128Pro
is like the name says based on the Rage128Pro graphics chip. This chip
is the predecessor of the Radeon, it's over 8 years old, and it's
drivers are really horrible. Of course it doesn't support any newer
DirectX version nor is it's 3D performance even close to cards made
during the last 6 years or so. Also be careful since some version of the
Rage128 Pro are not really AGP 4x compliant and thus don't support the
lower voltage (1.5v) of somewhat newer AGP chipsets and which if the AGP
connector is coded wrong instantly kill your mainboard...

I wouldn't spend any money on such a card any more...

Benjamin
 
pjp said:
500Mz isn't enough. I have two ATI cards with the Rage Theatre chip on them
(Vivo, no tuner),
one (PCI) in a P500 (128 ram) and the other (AGP) in a P733 (512 ram).
Neither captures at even 640x480 without dropping frames. The P733
dual-boots 98SE & XP and nothing changes under either OS.

IMHO - I'll never get another video card with any tv/video-on on it again.
The hassle updating drivers isn't worth it. I'll go with a stand alone
capture solution next time as ATI's software is bad enough updating drivers
without all the bs and hassle the MMC wants, e.g. specific install order,
numerous Windows updates required etc. etc. Note : in my experience you must
update it all to have the VIVO even attempt to keep working.
Click to expand...

I have a 450MHZ P3. Can capture 352X480 without disabling anti-virus. The
resolution I prefer for most things. With anti-virus disabled it drops about
10% of the frames trying 720X480. Unusable but close enough to make me think
ATI's recommendation wasn't too far off. You may be right or it may be your
system. Wasn't trying to be precise. Just wanted to make sure he was aware
their were minimum system requirements. PVR works at medium quality for me.
The 128 hasn't been supported for many years so nothing to change. This
install has been going for several years. Just get the last update from the
website. Might even be considered a feature. :^b
I think separate cards are the best way to go if you don't want multiple
tuners &/or have a SFF computer. Wouldn't have bought the AIW9600 had I
known it would be so long before they implemented Multview with the HDTV
Wonder. He may be upgrading his video card as well with the AIW though.
 
Thanks to all who replied. I decided against buying the card.

The machine I planned to use it with is a 1ghz AMD, with 512mb RAM. Low
end, but I guess I could get by with it. I'm not sure, but I think it
has 4X AGP - not 8X.

I would like to use Linux for the video capture and all, but I'm
getting the idea that would be very difficult. Drivers and software
don't really exist for Linux, I don't think.

This is just something I'm doing for fun, I am not going to spend $500
for a new card, but I'll keep my eye out for something a little newer.
 
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