ATI's HDTV Wonder - Bringing DTV to your PC

Final Words

With the DTV overhaul already taking place, it was just a matter of time before PC HDTV tuners became the popular stock. The biggest problem that companies like ATI are going to run into is the price tag, which would put some into sticker shock, as the HDTV Wonder costs a cool $199, considering that you can buy an analog antenna/cable TV tuner for under $50, easily.

Putting it into perspective, an HDTV Wonder is a much cheaper solution than purchasing a decked out HDTV or even one of the cheaper models. If this is intended to be used as an HTPC component, EazyLook provides the 10-foot viewing mode for the DTV player, but you are going to have to consider the fact that HTPCs consume more electricity over a typical TV or even HDTVs.

At its worst, you are going to view DTV content at the same quality as a DVD movie. So when it comes to quality, you really can't go wrong with an analog to DTV upgrade. But since analog broadcasts/cable feeds are going to be around for some time, we are glad to see two tuner components on the HDTV Wonder: one for analog and one for DTV content.

Though ATI has the hardware part of HDTV Wonder down, there needs to be a few improvements in the software. Most notably, we would like the ability to record into the map preset recording settings similar to the TV player. And as far as we have been told, EazyShare DTV support should come down the line, which means that you should look forward to sharing DTV content throughout your local network, like you can with the analog signals (EazyShare TV).

While we would like to see support for HDTV [digital] cable/satellite signals, we understand the legal and logistical reasons why ATI cannot support them. Though, we still hope that someone in the near future will provide a product that can. Either way, the HDTV Wonder is a great product that is still probably one of the best things to come from ATI's multimedia team within the past five or so years, which is why it takes our Editor's Choice Gold Award. Granted, it isn't the first PC HDTV tuner, but it probably is the only one that you are going to be able to buy from CompUSA, Circuit City, etc. for some time to come (should be available come early July).

Companies like Microsoft, Snapstream, and Frey's Technologies (according to our last conversations with them) are at least a year away before they start to fully develop DTV technology for their multimedia software. True HDTV on MCE should be awesome, and this is just another thing that we are eagerly waiting for. But until then, the HDTV Wonder should provide a great and cheaper way of getting DTV into your home without having to break the bank by spending $1000+ on a HDTV.