ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 Pro: Multimedia Refresh
by Andrew Ku on October 16, 2003 11:38 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Dual Monitor Support — What the doctor ordered
One of the biggest requests for the All-in-Wonder product line has been dual monitor support (from dual engines). This is something long in waiting, which was first materialized in Personal Cinema 2, though still a bit “off.”The reason behind this frequent request is that the act of watching TV or a movie is often done in conjunction with doing something productive (like writing an article, in our case). With TV or File Player running, it does take up a significant amount of desktop space, and the only way to work on a spreadsheet and watch media (TV or File) is to enable ThruView (which manipulates the video in a certain transparency range). Though ThruView isn't the same as watching TV and working on a spreadsheet separately, it is a clever idea as a space saver. That having been said, the need/want to multitask and the increase of desktop space are obvious reasons for dual monitor support for an All-in-Wonder card.
The problem, however, comes in the implementation of dual monitor support. Previous All-in-Wonder cards could do simply one monitor plus another device (TV monitor, projector, etc.). However, the single video source could only be shown on the primary display.
Now, ATI has brought the All-in-Wonder 9600 Pro with dual monitor support, which brings the option of running up to three displays (dual monitor and TV/projector/etc. in clone mode). Yet, there are certain limitations to the way dual monitor support works. TV, for one, can't be extended over the second monitor so that it is viewed on both monitors at the same time. When you drag the TV window towards the other desktop, there is a docking effect, where you just hit the edge of the primary monitor and are automatically stopped. While running video on the second monitor, you can't get the extending effect either, which the Personal Cinema 2 allows. When you drag the window to the other desktop, the video simply appears there. Meanwhile, whichever desktop has less video occupying it, the video won't appear on that monitor's desktop space.
Click to enlarge.
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Anonymous User - Sunday, October 19, 2003 - link
My only question is "With this card can I finally view cable on my TV(secondary display)?". I currently own a 8500DV and find using a TV as a primary display more than a little displeasing.Anonymous User - Sunday, October 19, 2003 - link
#26Thanks you for the dumbass comment of the week.
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 18, 2003 - link
It is now clear. ATI has failed.Anonymous User - Saturday, October 18, 2003 - link
I can't comment on how good the 9700 AIW is, but you can definitely notice the difference between using a VGA adapter instead of (the better) DVI connection. It isn't a substantial degradement, but as long as you have an expensive LCD screen, you might as well use all the available features. Unless you really need the new/additional features in the 9600 AIW, I would go with 9700 AIW if you can afford it. You'll be getting a better gaming card in the process too...Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
I am Considering to buy the 9600 Pro AIW. Mainly because its has everything i need. but only one problem it doesnt have a DVI. I own a LCD monitor and i was wondering if i use the VGA cable rather then the DVI. is there going to be any differents in picture quality. or Should i just go and buy a 9700 Pro AIW. if i do, i wont be able to have some of the new features they implimented into the 9600 AIW. What should i get?Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
"The reason behind this frequent request is that the act of watching TV or a movie is often done in conjunction with doing something productive (like writing an article, in our case)."when i was a kid we watched television AFTER doing our work =)
Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
#17: the card does fitI can send pictures if someone has a place to host them.
Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
#17: The 9600 can't perform like a 9700--it has only 4 pixel pipes compared to the 9700/9800's 8. It simply won't perform the same at higher detail settings (i.e. AA, AF). Even AT's article mentions this. Still, the 9600 seems to offer much better performance for it's class and price range than some of it's competition.Pete - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
Arrrgh! No benchmarks?! I really wanted to see if extra memory bandwidth would help the 9600 series, which has always been at a huge disadvantage to the 5600 (and now more so to the 5700).You guys need to get one of those Powercolor 380MHz DDR 128MB 9600XT's and one of those 340MHz DDR 256MB XT's, pronto! :)
Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
#15 and #16Tweaknews.net indeed had more material, but most of their info is straight from ATI's website description of the product, including all PR BS: "The power to pause live TV", "industry leading digital video features for unprecedented video quality." The point of a review is not to regurgitate stuff like this, but to test and verify them. Their review read more like an ATI sponsored advertisement. NBTW, I have nothing against ATI personally (have a 9600 Pro myself) -but just wanted to point out that AT's review was simply more concise and to the point. It would have been even better with some gaming benchmarks is all....