Theater 650 Pro Discussion

[Seraphic-]

I just took BestBuy (WorstBuy) for a ride!

Walked in and returned the TV Wonder 650 that I paid full price or $140 for, I then walked out. Walked back in a half hour later and picked up twenty 30% off "back to school coupons", walked out again. Came back a half hour later and picked up a brand new TV Wonder 650, used one 30% off coupon, got it for $98!



Thanks forgz

Originally Posted by jake123

Can anyone tell me who (partner company) is putting out this new card?

Samsung is on the card, so it looks like they did.

[SHSPVR]

Boy I wish I had 100 buck to blow rigth now

[ArsenalSam]

mines going back to best buy this weekend...i am very disappointed

[Seraphic-]

Originally Posted by ArsenalSam

mines going back to best buy this weekend...i am very disappointed

Why?

[tscales]

I strongly discourage the purchase of the TV Wonder 650.

I've had mine (from best buy) since Sunday. It won't find a single OTA HD channel. I use the same antenna that I use with my Dvico Fusion 5 USB which finds every major network.

ATI has been a joke. I've had an open trouble ticket since Monday. They never reply. They just keep updating the date so it never shows as over 24 hours old. I called and spoke to Level 1 and Level 2 and they promised to get back to me. That was two days ago.

Nothing.

There is a knowledgebase article (23131) that acknowledges OTA HD problems and the techs I talked to clearly were not surprised at the problem, but just mumbled a lot and tried to get me off the phone.

I doubt if it will EVER work.

This was with CMC, so it is not an MCE problem. Tried is with BeyondTV too. Still no channels.

What a piece of junk.

Tom

[Octavean]

Well, http://shop.ati.com/ has the ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI NTSC listed for sale at $129 US. Currently there is no stock on this item though,…

[ArsenalSam]

Originally Posted by Seraphic-

Why?

read me separate thread on this card?


that's why....after spending so many hours working on this card and get crappy results...inconsistant channel scans and getting a couple of channels that i don't even want and never heard of

all of our local channels are broadcast in HD....at best i can get 1 or 2 of them

everything that i had to do with this card is unacceptable...it should of been up and running within a half hour

[Octavean]

Anyone try this card with MCE 2K5?

[brotherman38]

All I can say is I’m very disappointed with this card, it doesn’t work at all! I could only get 2 HD channels with the 650, and I I’m only 2 miles from my area stations HD transmitters (Top of Stone mountain, GA). I tried everything, and I’m using an amplified antenna! It’s going back to Best buy ASAP!

Using MCE 2005 with all the updates installed.

[Octavean]

Originally Posted by brotherman38

All I can say is I’m very disappointed with this card, it doesn’t work at all! I could only get 2 HD channels with the 650, and I I’m only 2 miles from my area stations HD transmitters (Top of Stone mountain, GA). I tried everything, and I’m using an amplified antenna! It’s going back to Best buy ASAP!

Using MCE 2005 with all the updates installed.

Brotherman38, thanks for the input from a MCE user, it is much appreciate indeed.

Before you return you T650P card or uninstall it would you please clarify how your MCE 2K5 + T650P combo handles an attempt to use both NTSC/ATSC tuners on the card simultaneously in MCE?

This is easit to do if the T650P is the only tuner in the system or if the T650P NTSC and ATSC tuners are setup as the default (primary) respective NTSC/ATSC tuners.

One way to test would be to schedule concurrent (simultaneous) recordings that would use both the T650P NTSC/ATSC tuners.

In such a case, proper handling of the T650P NTSC/ATSC limitation in MCE would result in a scheduling conflict error message and a prompt to correct the conflict (chose one of the two recordings).

Improper handling of the T650P NTSC/ATSC limitation in MCE would result in allowing such simulations NTSC/ATSC recordings to be scheduled uncontested and thus resulting in a missed or corrupted recording (one good recording and one bad recording).

Another test would be to start an NTSC recording and then attempt to change the channel to a DTV ATSC channel. Conversely an ATSC recording could be initiated and then one could attempt to change the channel to an NTSC station.

In such a case, proper handling of the T650P NTSC/ATSC limitation in MCE should result in a “tuner in use” notification and a prompt to terminate the current recording (or cancel the requested channel change) before turning the channel.

In such a case, improper handling of the T650P NTSC/ATSC limitation in MCE would likely result in allowing the channel change without notification of the conflict. This would, in all probability, cause either the current recording to be corrupted or a blank screen to be shown on the current channel change.

Thanks in advance!

[jonaslasky]

Originally Posted by dabl

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.

It's so typical!.... this happened several times in the T 550 thread. Just when you think ATI has finally changed, there they go again.... still up to their old tricks. I hope AMD fires every upper management person there and start with a clean slate. Otherwise they'd just be ruining their good name getting involved with ATI.

How obvious can you be. Just when the bad press starts to come in, Multimedia Mike says goodbye. I don't know who he thinks he's fooling.

Jonas

[ArsenalSam]

just another observation...the analog tuner in the 550 is better than the 650....does the 650 have the same 16 MEG ddr?

i returned my 650 back to best buy today....going to look at an alternative

TSCALES....how is that fusion usb hd tuner? does it capture?
i would like to get an HD option for my laptop

[Octavean]

Originally Posted by ArsenalSam

just another observation...the analog tuner in the 550 is better than the 650....does the 650 have the same 16 MEG ddr?

i returned my 650 back to best buy today....going to look at an alternative

TSCALES....how is that fusion usb hd tuner? does it capture?
i would like to get an HD option for my laptop

Likely,...

For what its worth, there has been some slight variation between the memory modules on some of the older Theater 550 Pro models (slightly faster rated RAM).

This hasn’t caused any significant change in the performance of these cards in the case of the 550 and it is unlikely that it will have a noteworthy effect with respect to the 650.

[dabl]

The plot sickens.....

=================
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/print...3412&p=8288705

I was at Best Buy today(Santana Row) and asked about Tuner cards..The salesdude said.."wait a minute, I just got a message about Tuners"
I said, ATI 650?
He says" Yep, I am going to pull them off the shelf right now...they say they are defective"
He grabbed the last 3 off the shelf and headed to the back room..

So either, BestBuy is pissed with everyone complaining/returning, or ATI realised they blew it and asked to have them pulled.
===============

Actually my sense based on the reports from the guys at Snapstream (BeyondTV) that tested the early cards is that the basic design is sound and that for whatever reason these production models had manufacturing defects. The SnapStream guys say they were getting nice high antenna readings on the ATSC/digital input so it sure seems like this is not something which is a design flaw.

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/show...7&postcount=14
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/show...0&postcount=23

I'm optimistic that working ATI version 650 cards will appear post haste, it's in ATI's best business interest.

I'm hoping Powercolor is in the loop on all this and comes out with working PCI-e verions sooner rather than later, they could actually take advantage of this and I need the PCI-e version anyway.

Again all just my own speculation/thinking out loud....

--Don

[dabl]

Originally Posted by jonaslasky

... I don't know who he thinks he's fooling.

Jonas

Exactly.

ATI would do well to keep in mind that users have LONG memories and this and the previous behavior won't soon be forgotten.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...

--Don

[Octavean]

Very interesting,….

A 650 recall or a partial recall, if that’s what this indeed is, would be scandalous (disgraceful and or disreputable) but to keep things in perspective,…”BOOM !!!” at least its not a DELL and no one was blown up in the process.

dabl, since you are in the market for a PCIe tuner card you might want to consider the dual configurable tuner (NTSC/NTSC, ATSC/ATSC or NTSC/ATSC) and simultaneously functional Vbox 164e . If its not out already it should be soon. There are supposedly some on sale now on ebay.

I hate to admit it but I was looking at PCIe video cards recently and came across the (500/960 MHz core/MEM) AIW X1900 16pp (retail) for only $215 US. That’s a bargain-basement price IMO considering the (575/1200 MHz core/MEM) X1900GT 12pp (retail) goes for about ~$300 (maybe $200 with rebate).

It’s either the AIW X1900, gForce 7900GT or wait for DX10.

In all honestly, I would take a ~$215 AIW X1900 over a ~$130 Theater 650 Pos.