Theater 650 Pro Discussion

[Multimedia Mike]

Hello Hexus Users,
I've started this thread so that you can discuss Theater 650 Pro separately from dicussing other existing products. I think this will benefit both the Theater 650 Pro discussion and won't dilute the issues you guys post about older products. For everyone's info, you can check out the details on Theater 650 Pro at:

http://www.ati.com/products/theater650pro/index.html

Shipping with Theater 650 Pro will be a new TV tuner application called Catalyst Media Center (CMC) and you can check out it's details at:

http://www.ati.com/products/catalyst...ter/index.html

I would please ask that we limit discusson on this thread to these new products and focus on other products in the other treads.

[jonaslasky]

Does the 650 work with MCE 2005?

Check the "FEATURES" page... it says 650 does work with MCE. It also says that is works with Snapstream's Beyond TV and PowerCinema. The question is, Mike... did somebody actually sit down for 10 minutes to make sure the card actually works with those applications? I know that wasn't done with the 550, so is it different this time?

http://www.ati.com/products/theater650pro/features.html

Jonas

[hrlslcbr]

Industry leading digital TV capabilities for ATSC and DVB-T DTV standards

Sorry for the 'noobish' question, but does this mean it supports HDTV too???

EDIT: Just read the 'features'... ignore my question please ....

[jonaslasky]

Forget it


Jonas

[Multimedia Mike]

Hi,
I moved some posts here from the monster thread because I want Theater 650 Pro discussion to be focused in one place where people have easy access to it. Also this will prevent Theater 550 Pro issues from being diluted/ignored. Here are some quick responses to some of your questions:
- the main improvements over Theater 550 Pro are improved 3d comb filter, improved AGC, improved noise reduction, ATSC/DVB-T support, edge enhancement, plus a whole bunch of other things, check out the webpage for more info
- the volume issue has been improved, but I'm not going to say it's really loud because I don't want to set any expectations, however I will be looking more into it to make sure it's fine
- the sharpness issue is resolved
- CMC should work with Theater 550 Pro products
- Theater 650 Pro will most definitely work with MCE
- ATSC/DVB-T support means that you can get a board that's both NTSC/ATSC or both PAL/DVB-T, I'm not sure if some partners will have just analog boards, but definitely you'll see these hybrid boards
- Yes ATSC is HDTV, so these products will be the next generation for both Theater 550 Pro products and HDTV Wonder product

[jonaslasky]

oops... sorry... you already started one... how do you delete a thread? I started another and I want to delete it. You should have provided a link with your post on the T550 thread so it's easier for everyone to follow.

Jonas

[SHSPVR]

So the only new Specs I see are
Motion compensated noise reduction (this most be about aliasing artifacts or may be more for about moire patters artifacts).
Edge enhancement (you should know what this is for aka jaggies line or deinterlacer)
Now I wondering if add in quilting processing to all of this that really make thing look better.
Digital audio processing (?Hmmm I wonder what is?).

This seem to be an optional
ATSC Digital TV
DVB-T Digital TV

BooBooBoo
Hardware DRM engine.

Operating System
Windows 2000 (ATI get A++ for this).

But after closely reading everything it kind sound like this card dose have an hardware trasoncoding for High Definition to Standard Definition which is more managerable without bring down even the fastest PCs to a standstill.

[jonaslasky]

But after closely reading everything it kind sound this card dose have an hardware trasoncoding for High Definition to Standard Definition which is more managerable without bring down even the fastest PCs to a standstill.

If it's true it would truly be nice. I hope that means there's hardware transcoding from HDTV to DVD. That would really come in handy. Right now it takes hours. Not much fun.


Jonas

[SHSPVR]

Well check this out
- Advanced video compression and conversion settings - Record or convert to MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, WMV9, H.264
A bit more info but dosen't say hardware conversion.
http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=10...983&highlight=

[jonaslasky]

It does look like that,,, but I'll wait till I see it.

On the other hand I trust Rakesh from Snapstream more that ATI. He said this:


"We're really excited about ATI's Theater 650 Pro. It offers the convenience of both analog and digital over-the-air TV in one card with exceptional picture quality," said Rakesh Agrawal, CEO and president of SnapStream Media. "Beyond TV takes advantage of Theater 650 to give PC users more of want they want - outstanding TV-on-the-PC with an award-winning PVR solution."

Jonas

[SHSPVR]

Yup I read that to just not to long ago.

[hrlslcbr]

Thanks for the answers Mike.
Do you know when the new CMC will be available?

[SHSPVR]

Catalyst Media Center dose look nice I wonder the same thing when the new CMC will be available

[hrlslcbr]

Catalyst Media Center dose look nice I wonder the same thing when the new CMC will be available

More importantly... will it be free?

[SHSPVR]

By the way mike two things I want ask
1: Dose it run hot as hell like the 550 I ref to 60 Celsius+ about 140 Fahrenheit+?.
2: Dose it have ture VBR ajb bitrate mode this time? as we all know the First Generation chipset didn't.

[Octavean]

Right then,….

Do you have a finalized Theater 650 Pro or prototype available to you now for testing?

- the volume issue has been improved, but I'm not going to say it's really loud because I don't want to set any expectations, however I will be looking more into it to make sure it's fine

I’m not really sure what this means,….

Improved meaning that the volume is a bit louder but still cannot be increased linearly according to the 0 to 255 scale with default setting of 150 or so. Look, I think what people want to know is if the T650P has the same affliction(s) wherein raising the volume above 150 in the Registry or via Graphedit results in no appreciable improvement.

This is easy to test and as such the answer should be equally easy to obtain provided one has access to said hardware.

Here’s an idea, how about ATI providing some test Theater 650 Pro cards to a few Hexus.net forum members and previous owners of Theater 550 Pro cards!?!