Theater 650 Pro Discussion

[hrlslcbr]

Nice quality. I might buy one.
I agree that CMC looks like PowerCinema . They just put the same crappy software they shipped with the 550 pro, with a different name.
Seraphic-: It seems all consoles' output have large black bars around the video. I have the same 'problem' with my GC captures.
By the way, if you capture at 720x480 you have to resize to 640x480 (for 4:3 video; 853x480 for widescreen) to correct the aspect ratio and then crop the black bars; otherwise it'll look distorted.

[Seraphic-]

forgz, you won't find it online anywhere yet. An in-store bestbuy is your best bet as all the ones I called had at least five on sale. The funny thing is, at the bestbuy I went to, I was told that the TV Wonder 650 was on sale a week before I got there. I wish I knew...arrggg!

hrlslcbr: Yeah, i'll have to do a few resize tests with PS1 games. Alot of the settings seem to be locked out as of now. I.E you only have YUY2 and 720x480, 720x240 doesn't seem to work. But couldn't the 550 do 640x480 and 720x480? (I never had one)

[SHSPVR]

Seraphic have made any MPEG Record from VHS or DVD you like short clip?.

[Seraphic-]

No, I haven't used MPEG encoding from VHS or DVD as of yet. Haven't had time.

[forgz]

Thanks Seraphic-. Just picked one up from Bestbuy for 118.92 (used a back-to-school 15% off coupon). I can't believe it doesn't come with a remote though! And when you go to the free remote offer webpage, it tells you to check back in a few weeks.

[Octavean]

Originally Posted by dabl

Hmm, none of this is sounding good. So after all the hype and hush it doesn't actually work as advertised in MCE *or* BeyondTV? Incredible.

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=33519

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.c...c64a17112841ab

FOLLOWUP: The card *does* apparently work as advertised in BeyondTV, one user is reporting problems at the moment.

Now to get to the bottom of the story with support for BOTH tuners in Windows Media Center...

I’ll simply revisit the fact that my questions with respect to how the Theater 650 Pro’s NTSC/ATSC limitation is handled in MCE 2K5 and some similar application was never addressed to my satisfaction.

In the absence of such clarification it is difficult to abstain from drawing conclusions one way or the other.

The hothardware.com review was of a preproduction sample and may have been accompanied by preproduction drivers that didn’t address the Theater 311 to 312 model demodulator differential.

The review sample may have deliberately had ATSC functionality disable in order to prevent the problems one would suspect would indeed occur in MCE given the NTSC/ATSC limitation inherent in the Theater 650 Pro design.

However, not to address these problems in a production product and to disable ATSC functionality would be totally inexcusable. I’m willing to give ATI the benefit of the doubt in this repect,…

However, I still need clarification as to exactly how the Theater 650 Pro handles it's inability to use both NTSC and ATSC functionality simultaneously in applications such as MCE 2K5.

If users are able to buy such products now there is little to no reason to hold off on this information. I’m sure that many MCE 2K5 users want to know.

***edit***

By the way hrlslcbr, thanks yeah I just bought that new Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor and slapped it in along with an Xbox 360 Extender

[Seraphic-]

Originally Posted by forgz

Thanks Seraphic-. Just picked one up from Bestbuy for 118.92 (used a back-to-school 15% off coupon). I can't believe it doesn't come with a remote though! And when you go to the free remote offer webpage, it tells you to check back in a few weeks.

Where did you get that "back-to-school 15% off" coupon?

And yes, when I first checked that webpage it said "Not found" and now it just says two weeks.

[forgz]

seraphic-.

Bestbuy has been having a back to school coupon promotion. The bestbuy i go to has the coupons right at the front entrance where the sunday fliers are. The coupons are a "luck-of-the-draw" type, meaning you don't know what discount you will get until you tear it open. The coupons come in a variety of discounts, 30% off being the maximum (I got 15% off though).

Luckily, getting a 30% off coupon has been "cracked" so you can sort through and find to coupon w/o tearing it open. This is good cuz I doubt bestbuy employees will let you open up more than 1 coupon. Check the following link for information on this: fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=636454
(Sorry, I can't link this, I have less than 5 posts)

I was unable to get 30% coupon cuz all of them were gone, but you should try your luck. Hope this answers your question.

[TechnologyNut]

Thanks for those pointing me to Best Buy.

Just came home with it at $129 (They had 3 on the shelf).

I just bought the 550 TV wonder elite 2 weeks ago at compusa for $89.
I suppose that remote will work with this in the meantime.

Anxious to try CMC as the MMC program never made ipod compliant video.

Also I'll be curious to see the MCE2005 like tv PVR section too.

I guess I might return the elite if this is a vast improvement.

Too bad the HDTV doesn't includde free i nthe clear QAM (HDTV off of your cable TV feed without the need for an antenna) like the dvico cards do.

Jeff

[jonaslasky]

Originally Posted by Seraphic-

BestBuy had the "TV Wonder 650"! I paid $140 with tax and i'm going to do a full format of my HDD and test it out. Woot!!

Are you serious? there's no such thing at their web site yet. I guess I'll have to walk into a real store.



Jonas

[Seraphic-]

Yes, but you won't find it online. Go to a "real" BestBuy.

[jake123]

Can anyone tell me who (partner company) is putting out this new card? Maybe it's a production problem with the partner company. I got to tell you I was ready to go out and buy this at Best Buy, but with all the problems I'm hearing, am going to wait and see. MM how come you don't jump in here and try to address some of the concerns and problems people are havin with the 650 card. After all, you seem so deliriously upbeat before it came out. Now only silence. Hmmm...sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

[Octavean]

Yeah, same here.

I was planning on stopping by BestBuy anyway to buy an Xbox game for my little girl “Sonic Mega Collection Plus” or the like. I probably would have looked for the Theater 650 Pro and bought one if there were stock but there are just too many questions and a rather large gray area with respect to how this product will work with my preferred PVR application AKA MCE 2K5,…

BTW, I’m actually glad that the Theater 650 Pro took so long to reach retail shelves since I used that time to research some other solutions. If the Theater 650 Pro were available sooner I probably would have knee-jerk-ed myself into buying one without really determining if it was the right solution for my needs.

Due to the ability to dynamically configure both the simultaneously functional tuners of the Vbox 164e as either NTSC or ATSC, its been suggested that it is actually a "software encoder" based product.

However, it has also been suggested that the dual simultaneously functional tuners of the Vbox 164e can actually bypass the decoder for ATSC signals.

In either case, the Vbox 164e may be a better solution for my needs with fewer limitations.

[dabl]

Originally Posted by jake123

Can anyone tell me who (partner company) is putting out this new card? Maybe it's a production problem with the partner company. I got to tell you I was ready to go out and buy this at Best Buy, but with all the problems I'm hearing, am going to wait and see. MM how come you don't jump in here and try to address some of the concerns and problems people are havin with the 650 card. After all, you seem so deliriously upbeat before it came out. Now only silence. Hmmm...sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

see the 'Multimedia Mike signing off' post

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=83077

Funny how just as the card is released ATI shuts up about it.

[jake123]

Thanks dabl, didn't know. Funny if he saw what was coming down the pipe and ran..hahaha. And where is this "mystery" replacement now? Yeah, I think i would rather look at other options while the smoke clears on this. Too many people reporting problems with this "Wonder" 650. Still would like to know who is making them. Maybe, its the "Acme" company, you know, the one that wiley coyote buys all his useless stuff from, ha.

[ArsenalSam]

i expected an improvement over the 550....
is there another forum for people with wonder 650 problems?
i had such good luck with my 550 that i didn't have to look for answers to problems

i literally spent all wednesday evening and a good portion of early thursday morning working on this problem....see my new thread for details