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
Final Words
The X1800 All-In-Wonder is supposed to hit shelves today, and we suspect that some will have been waiting anxiously to get a hold of one of these cards. What we have here is a very unique graphics card that combines high-end 3D performance with multimedia capabilities. The different features available like TV recording/editing, as well as the Tivo-like interactive programming with Gemstar's GUIDE Plus+ are nice, and little extras like the Thruview feature, which let you watch TV in the background while doing something else on your PC add to the package.
We were particularly pleased with how easy it was to have everything installed and working so well without hardly any confusion about how to use the different features of the card. Setting up this type of graphics hardware might well seem daunting to someone without much knowledge in multimedia hardware, and the fact that this is not the case here is one of the reasons we liked this product as much as we did. The simple plug-and-play aspect of the X1800 XL A-I-W would be reason enough for some to appreciate this card in spite of the price.
The X1800 XL A-I-W is not for everybody though. With about a $430 retail price, it isn't cheap, and regardless of what the market does, it will always be more pricey than a standard X1800 XL. Whether the features of the A-I-W are worth the extra price is very difficult to determine, even after the card has been on shelves for a while. If you are a gamer, and want the best performance possible, but you also must have the ability to watch and record TV on your computer, then this card has everything you need and will have you watching in no time. However, if you are more interested in the TV capabilities of the card and don't care so much about high-end gaming performance, then the one of the older, less powerful multimedia cards might be more suitable.
For a TV focused PC who's primary use will be at the center of a home theatre, a full media center PC would be a better fit than just shoving an A-I-W card in the box. This is the kind of solution for someone who mainly wants to use their computer as a computer with a little TV functionality on the side in a window on a computer monitor or recording shows in the background to archive them or watch them later.
This card is fairly specialized and as we said, whether it will ultimately be worth the price once it's been on the shelves is subjective and therefore depends on the consumer and his or her needs. The X1800 XL All-In-Wonder is almost like having two separate types of cards in one neat package, and the fact that it's specialized will obviously add to the cost. But the features it claims are all there and accessible, and with regard to video and graphics, All-In-Wonder is more or less a fitting name for the product. It's true that this card doesn't break much new ground on the video and graphics side of things, but having this level of graphics power for gaming in an All-In-Wonder card is a first and will add to the desirability factor. There are other solutions for watching and recording TV on your computer, and many will be forced to pass on the X1800 XL A-I-W because of the high price. But for those lucky enough to be able to afford it, they will find it more than acceptable for gaming and multimedia solutions.
The X1800 All-In-Wonder is supposed to hit shelves today, and we suspect that some will have been waiting anxiously to get a hold of one of these cards. What we have here is a very unique graphics card that combines high-end 3D performance with multimedia capabilities. The different features available like TV recording/editing, as well as the Tivo-like interactive programming with Gemstar's GUIDE Plus+ are nice, and little extras like the Thruview feature, which let you watch TV in the background while doing something else on your PC add to the package.
We were particularly pleased with how easy it was to have everything installed and working so well without hardly any confusion about how to use the different features of the card. Setting up this type of graphics hardware might well seem daunting to someone without much knowledge in multimedia hardware, and the fact that this is not the case here is one of the reasons we liked this product as much as we did. The simple plug-and-play aspect of the X1800 XL A-I-W would be reason enough for some to appreciate this card in spite of the price.
The X1800 XL A-I-W is not for everybody though. With about a $430 retail price, it isn't cheap, and regardless of what the market does, it will always be more pricey than a standard X1800 XL. Whether the features of the A-I-W are worth the extra price is very difficult to determine, even after the card has been on shelves for a while. If you are a gamer, and want the best performance possible, but you also must have the ability to watch and record TV on your computer, then this card has everything you need and will have you watching in no time. However, if you are more interested in the TV capabilities of the card and don't care so much about high-end gaming performance, then the one of the older, less powerful multimedia cards might be more suitable.
For a TV focused PC who's primary use will be at the center of a home theatre, a full media center PC would be a better fit than just shoving an A-I-W card in the box. This is the kind of solution for someone who mainly wants to use their computer as a computer with a little TV functionality on the side in a window on a computer monitor or recording shows in the background to archive them or watch them later.
This card is fairly specialized and as we said, whether it will ultimately be worth the price once it's been on the shelves is subjective and therefore depends on the consumer and his or her needs. The X1800 XL All-In-Wonder is almost like having two separate types of cards in one neat package, and the fact that it's specialized will obviously add to the cost. But the features it claims are all there and accessible, and with regard to video and graphics, All-In-Wonder is more or less a fitting name for the product. It's true that this card doesn't break much new ground on the video and graphics side of things, but having this level of graphics power for gaming in an All-In-Wonder card is a first and will add to the desirability factor. There are other solutions for watching and recording TV on your computer, and many will be forced to pass on the X1800 XL A-I-W because of the high price. But for those lucky enough to be able to afford it, they will find it more than acceptable for gaming and multimedia solutions.
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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.