ATI's X1800 XL All-In-Wonder: Performance and TV in One Package
by Josh Venning on November 21, 2005 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Features
As we mentioned before, there are some very nice features on this card beyond quality gaming. Most of these features won't be all that new to those familiar with previous All-In-Wonder releases, and while there may not be much new here, what there is reflects the quality that ATI has put into these products.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the card is its ability to play and record TV directly from your Cable/Satellite hookup. This was fairly easy to set up, and after installing the card and connecting the cable we almost instantly had live TV running on our system.
The X1800 XL A-I-W is much like a television in that it allows you to browse cable channels and also set parental controls if you need them. Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ is a program that comes bundled with the card that allows you to download show schedules and record upcoming programs to watch later on. Features like this and the ability to pause and resume live TV at anytime make this package very similar to something like TiVo.
You can record or take screenshots of what you are watching at anytime, and the files will be saved in a media library where you can view or export the files later for editing. Also included is a standard DVD and CD player, as well as an FM Radio tuner in case you want to record or listen to the radio on your computer. These are nice features, but most people already have CD and DVD software on their computer, so they aren't all that necessary. One small annoying thing about the software package is that once installed, a toolbar starts up with windows that launches different media programs. The toolbar isn't really necessary, as all of the programs listed are available in the start menu, and the fact that it's there taking up any space at all kind of rubs us the wrong way; especially given the insidiousness of certain other toolbars that sometimes pop up on your system where you don't want them. The All-In-Wonder toolbar is harmless and simple enough to disable from automatic startup if you don't like it. If you spend a little bit of time looking around at install time, the toolbar can be skipped altogether (which is our recommendation).
Another interesting feature included with the package is something called Thruview, which is basically a way to watch TV in the background while doing something else on your PC. When you enable this, it will make the Video play in the background and change the opacity of the Video allowing you to see through it. This is so that presumably you can do other work while having your favorite show running in the background and not miss anything. The effect of this is much like having someone projecting a video image to a screen behind your desktop with all the lights on. We thought this sounded like an interesting idea, but after testing it out we found it to be a little impractical. For one thing, it's very hard to see whats going on with the video because it's so faint. Secondly having video playing in front of you while trying to get work done can be very distracting, and the combination of live Video and text, etc. can make everything seemed jumbled and confusing. Some people might not mind so much, however.
To summarize, there are lots of extras in the All-In-Wonder package, but the one that is the most important is also the easiest to use. Our test system handled live video and recording without feeling laggy or glitchy, and the options were straightforward and helpful in allowing us to use the settings we desired. As far as the video/multimedia aspect of the X1800 XL All-In-Wonder card, it accomplishes what it claims with grace. With the inclusion of Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements, video editing is a snap, and we are glad to see the switch from Pinnacle. Now let's take a quick look at how this card performs on the graphics side.
As we mentioned before, there are some very nice features on this card beyond quality gaming. Most of these features won't be all that new to those familiar with previous All-In-Wonder releases, and while there may not be much new here, what there is reflects the quality that ATI has put into these products.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the card is its ability to play and record TV directly from your Cable/Satellite hookup. This was fairly easy to set up, and after installing the card and connecting the cable we almost instantly had live TV running on our system.
The X1800 XL A-I-W is much like a television in that it allows you to browse cable channels and also set parental controls if you need them. Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ is a program that comes bundled with the card that allows you to download show schedules and record upcoming programs to watch later on. Features like this and the ability to pause and resume live TV at anytime make this package very similar to something like TiVo.
You can record or take screenshots of what you are watching at anytime, and the files will be saved in a media library where you can view or export the files later for editing. Also included is a standard DVD and CD player, as well as an FM Radio tuner in case you want to record or listen to the radio on your computer. These are nice features, but most people already have CD and DVD software on their computer, so they aren't all that necessary. One small annoying thing about the software package is that once installed, a toolbar starts up with windows that launches different media programs. The toolbar isn't really necessary, as all of the programs listed are available in the start menu, and the fact that it's there taking up any space at all kind of rubs us the wrong way; especially given the insidiousness of certain other toolbars that sometimes pop up on your system where you don't want them. The All-In-Wonder toolbar is harmless and simple enough to disable from automatic startup if you don't like it. If you spend a little bit of time looking around at install time, the toolbar can be skipped altogether (which is our recommendation).
Another interesting feature included with the package is something called Thruview, which is basically a way to watch TV in the background while doing something else on your PC. When you enable this, it will make the Video play in the background and change the opacity of the Video allowing you to see through it. This is so that presumably you can do other work while having your favorite show running in the background and not miss anything. The effect of this is much like having someone projecting a video image to a screen behind your desktop with all the lights on. We thought this sounded like an interesting idea, but after testing it out we found it to be a little impractical. For one thing, it's very hard to see whats going on with the video because it's so faint. Secondly having video playing in front of you while trying to get work done can be very distracting, and the combination of live Video and text, etc. can make everything seemed jumbled and confusing. Some people might not mind so much, however.
To summarize, there are lots of extras in the All-In-Wonder package, but the one that is the most important is also the easiest to use. Our test system handled live video and recording without feeling laggy or glitchy, and the options were straightforward and helpful in allowing us to use the settings we desired. As far as the video/multimedia aspect of the X1800 XL All-In-Wonder card, it accomplishes what it claims with grace. With the inclusion of Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements, video editing is a snap, and we are glad to see the switch from Pinnacle. Now let's take a quick look at how this card performs on the graphics side.
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bloc - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
One card consistently performs better though.It's not like one card does better with some demo's and the other card in different ones.
Something to consider...as I think if AT saw the XL beating the GT in all benches, the reviews may be better. As would FS with the inverse.
JarredWalton - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Meh. I generally consider the X1800XL and 7800GT to be about equal. The problem is, why would you want to spend extra for a card that includes an old TV-IN chip? Theatre 200 is not that great. If it were a 550, the additional cost would be worthwhile. I think there are far better TV cards out there that could be used with any setup.Personally, I've never been a big fan of the AIW series: upgrade your GPU, and lose the TV tuner function! With other tuner cards, you can move them around to other PCs quite easily and GPU performance isn't a factor. Just my opinion, though.
Doormat - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Wow. Nothing mentioned about the whole GPGPU aspect of the X1x00 series of cards. This is the most synergistic part of the whole AIW/X1800 experience. Having the GPU transcode the show on the fly to a suitable format (MPEG4, H264, whatever) for your PSP or your iPod would be an extremely powerful feature.ElJefe - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
hm what do you mean? didnt aiw already encode and record tv? it does on mine? soemthing different now?I am trully chipper that this card is out. now i can finally buy a new system. My 9800 aiw pro with 754 a64 system is not completely outdated but before summer it will get to be.
No mention of rage 200 vs 550 theater chips and stuff. hm.
gota go check this out. 429 isnt too expensive for it. you get ALOT of stuff with aiw, and also PICTURE QUALITY, something that is never mentioned in reviews, is always superb on them, hm, i guess it's ati again. Nvidia never bothers to excell in this area. a shame really.
Doormat - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
It records, but what about when I want it to record in MPEG2 for my home viewing, and then transcode it to MPEG4 for my PSP or iPod Video. Thats the single biggest hook for getting people to buy this card - roll your own videos for you device. And not one nary of a mention in the AT article.tayhimself - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
But is the transcoding accelerated by the AIW card? Some sort of new AVIVO feature? This article does seem to forget about AVIVO which was a big marketing push for the X1x00 series launch.Doormat - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
No, the transcoding is accelerated by the X1x00 chip, hence my reference to the whole GPGPU thing in my first post.There was an article a few weeks ago about how the X1x00-series chips will have custom programs to transcode video...
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1880749...">http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1880749...
Encoding this nearly 5-minute clip, at DVD resolution, takes about 2 minutes 17 seconds with DivX 6, with single-pass encoding at 1 megabit. Windows Media Encoder can produce a high-quality single-pass transcode to WMV9 at 1 megabit in about 4:35. Windows Movie Maker 2 takes a few quality shortcuts to produce a DVD resolution clip at 1.5 megabits in 2:05. That's all pretty good: This is, after all, one of the fastest CPUs money can buy, paired with very fast RAM.
How fast does ATI's new Avivo Transcode app get it done? Try 24 seconds! Okay, that's "give or take a second," because the MPEG-4 profile finished a 1-megabit encode in 23 seconds, the MPEG-2 and Windows Media Video 9 profiles were done in 24, and the DVD profile at 6 megabits finished in 25 seconds. That's all at the default full resolution, too. Crunching down the output resolution by choosing the "WMV9 for PMC (Portable Media Center)" profile at 700 kilobits per second completed the job in 17 seconds.