DH Review: AVIVO / AIW X1800XL / TV Wonder Elite

Zardon · Apr 19, 2006, 10:13 AM

Read the review here
__________________________

Steve has spent the last month with ATI's Avivo an AIW ATI X1800XL and a TV Wonder Elite to bring together a comprehensive analysis of how all of this gels together.

"With all the new high quality video options available today, ATI's AVIVO technology is a truly exciting experience for home media enthusiasts. ATI claim AVIVO will revolutionize the quality of multi media and how it is incorporated into a home Media Center PC. To be more specific AVIVO specifically targets high definition formats like HDTV, Blu-ray and HD-DV and ATI’s new cards with AVIVO technology strive to give end users the best, most vibrant video quality available."

brutusmaximus · Apr 19, 2006, 02:10 PM

Nice review steve, im curious, what is the noise level like from the AIW card?

Chaos · Apr 19, 2006, 02:21 PM

it's not bad, they are kinda loud when you first start the system for a brief moment because the fan winds up when first powered on but after that not bad at all

***Veridian3*** · Apr 19, 2006, 02:59 PM

As Steve says, the card is pretty average noise wise. What i've noticed with my sample is that if you build a really quiet HTPC then the card does become more noticable. I installed an Arctic Cooling Accelero on my AIW X18 and its practically silent now. So thats always an option.

Chaos · Apr 19, 2006, 08:03 PM

I am going to stop and grab one of the Arctic Cooling Accelero coolers on my way home tonight and give it a whirl on the AIW X1800XL

$29 CDN seems like a good deal to me

pr0digal jenius · Apr 19, 2006, 10:23 PM

nice review

seems like a pretty sweet card indeed....

...I gotta get on the PIC-Express bandwagon

mike2h · Apr 19, 2006, 10:58 PM

i just ordered one of those accelero coolers for my wifes 1800xl. replacing all the fans with quiet panaflos.

hey CHAOS! what drivers do you use with yours?
forget that, read your sig.

Rasta Monsta · Apr 20, 2006, 07:21 PM

Really nice write up man, good job. One question tho, I am putting together a media box using my old X850 with Rage Theater, which I know has HDTV support at the driver level.

Watching TV and movies at 1080i, do you think the newer hardware would give noticably better quality?

Chaos · Apr 20, 2006, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasta Monsta

Really nice write up man, good job. One question tho, I am putting together a media box using my old X850 with Rage Theater, which I know has HDTV support at the driver level.

Watching TV and movies at 1080i, do you think the newer hardware would give noticably better quality?

That would depend on what you wanted to do if you are thinking about just using tv out from the X850 then probably not but if you want a card with a TV tuner built in I give high regards to the AIW cards. You may just want to add a TV Wonder Elite to your setup, that gives you a PVR, TV tuner and FM radio

I cant wait to go home after work and install the Accelero X2 cooler on the AIW X1800Xl

Rasta Monsta · Apr 20, 2006, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos

That would depend on what you wanted to do if you are thinking about just using tv out from the X850 then probably not but if you want a card with a TV tuner built in I give high regards to the AIW cards.

Well, I'll be using a DVI-HDMI cable, and I have a Hauppauge MCE compatible TV tuner that works very well, so sounds like I'm in shape.

Thanks,

rasta

Chaos · Apr 20, 2006, 10:39 PM

from what i have seen the ATI TV Wonder Elite has better image quality than any of the Hauppauge tv tuners. The TV Wonder Elite offers 12-bit analog to digital converters compared to 9 or 10 bit that the Hauppauge tv tuners provide

pr0digal jenius · Apr 21, 2006, 03:38 AM

not to mention some hauppage models crash on SP2

Shakey_Jake33 · Apr 24, 2006, 07:58 AM

Do these cards have proper HDCP support yet then?

Chaos · Apr 24, 2006, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shakey_Jake33

Do these cards have proper HDCP support yet then?

From ATI website:

"Currently there is no commercially available HDCP content. ATI's Radeon® X and Radeon® 9550 series of GPUs are capable of processing HDCP signals ("HDCP ready"), however ATI does not presently manufacture any graphics cards which are HDCP ready. Some third parties manufacture graphics cards containing ATI GPUs -- you can inquire of them which models, if any, -- are HDCP ready."

Shakey_Jake33 · Apr 24, 2006, 08:19 PM

You'd think they'd be more on the ball with this, given Vista will require it for it's HD-DVD output.

_ə_ · Apr 25, 2006, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shakey_Jake33

You'd think they'd be more on the ball with this, given Vista will require it for it's HD-DVD output.

And when is Vista coming out? Or HD-DVD movies? Or how about HD-DVD-ROM drives for that matter?

There's plenty of time before all 3 of those are out in decent numbers, trust me....

Shakey_Jake33 · Apr 25, 2006, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _ə_

And when is Vista coming out? Or HD-DVD movies? Or how about HD-DVD-ROM drives for that matter?

There's plenty of time before all 3 of those are out in decent numbers, trust me....

Oh true, but it is the main reason they're pushing the H.264 acceleration of these cards!

Apr 19, 2006, 10:13 AM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 177	DH Review: AVIVO / AIW X1800XL / TV Wonder Elite Read the review here __________________________ Steve has spent the last month with ATI's Avivo an AIW ATI X1800XL and a TV Wonder Elite to bring together a comprehensive analysis of how all of this gels together. "With all the new high quality video options available today, ATI's AVIVO technology is a truly exciting experience for home media enthusiasts. ATI claim AVIVO will revolutionize the quality of multi media and how it is incorporated into a home Media Center PC. To be more specific AVIVO specifically targets high definition formats like HDTV, Blu-ray and HD-DV and ATI’s new cards with AVIVO technology strive to give end users the best, most vibrant video quality available."

Apr 19, 2006, 02:21 PM	#3
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,269 Rep Power: 165 System Specs	it's not bad, they are kinda loud when you first start the system for a brief moment because the fan winds up when first powered on but after that not bad at all __________________

Apr 19, 2006, 08:03 PM	#5
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,269 Rep Power: 165 System Specs	I am going to stop and grab one of the Arctic Cooling Accelero coolers on my way home tonight and give it a whirl on the AIW X1800XL $29 CDN seems like a good deal to me __________________

Apr 19, 2006, 10:23 PM	#6
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	nice review seems like a pretty sweet card indeed.......I gotta get on the PIC-Express bandwagon

Apr 19, 2006, 10:58 PM	#7
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	i just ordered one of those accelero coolers for my wifes 1800xl. replacing all the fans with quiet panaflos. hey CHAOS! what drivers do you use with yours? forget that, read your sig. __________________

Apr 19, 2006, 02:10 PM	#2
brutusmaximus DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 520 Rep Power: 74	Nice review steve, im curious, what is the noise level like from the AIW card?

Apr 19, 2006, 02:59 PM	#4
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,828 Rep Power: 174	As Steve says, the card is pretty average noise wise. What i've noticed with my sample is that if you build a really quiet HTPC then the card does become more noticable. I installed an Arctic Cooling Accelero on my AIW X18 and its practically silent now. So thats always an option.

Apr 20, 2006, 10:39 PM	#11
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,269 Rep Power: 165 System Specs	from what i have seen the ATI TV Wonder Elite has better image quality than any of the Hauppauge tv tuners. The TV Wonder Elite offers 12-bit analog to digital converters compared to 9 or 10 bit that the Hauppauge tv tuners provide __________________

Apr 21, 2006, 03:38 AM	#12
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	not to mention some hauppage models crash on SP2

Apr 24, 2006, 07:58 AM	#13
Shakey_Jake33 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Do these cards have proper HDCP support yet then? __________________ CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz RAM: 2GB (2X1) GEiL DDR2 800MHz CAS4 GPU: OCUK GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512Meg Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Sound Card: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Case: Antec P180 Black PSU: Seasonic S12 600W

Apr 24, 2006, 08:19 PM	#15
Shakey_Jake33 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	You'd think they'd be more on the ball with this, given Vista will require it for it's HD-DVD output. __________________ CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz RAM: 2GB (2X1) GEiL DDR2 800MHz CAS4 GPU: OCUK GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512Meg Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Sound Card: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Case: Antec P180 Black PSU: Seasonic S12 600W