ATI TV Wonder HD 650 Combo USB PC TV Tuner

I first bought the ATI TV Wonder HD 650 PCIE card to go in my computer (a Gateway SX2800), but discovered that the card is about 1/8" too long to fit (runs into the DVD drive). So I returned the card and picked up the external USB version instead. I went with the HD 650 because it offered dual tuning and was on great sale at the local big box retailer ($30 PCIE and $40 USB).

I'm running Windows 7 and wanted a dual TV tuner to use with Media Center. I currently have standard definition cable running into the analog input (very basic cable, no fancy channels). I hope to get a digital antenna soon to test out the digital input, and if that works okay then I'll replace the analog TV with an FM radio antenna or leave the analog cable to allow recording of one channel and watching another.

So when I first got the unit, I plugged it straight in and let Windows deal with it. It appeared to recognize it and load drivers okay. Then I went to set it up in Media Center. That went okay, too, and it didn't indicate any problems. BUT then when I tried to watch TV all I got was a black screen. I discovered that I could unplug the unit and plug it back in and it would work perfectly fine. Fine, that is, until I exited MC. Launching MC again brought it back in the unusable state. Unplugging always fixed it though. There was also a scary incident where the computer blue screened and crashed, then couldn't find the hard drive to boot from. Not sure it was related the tv tuner or not, but after unplugging the SATA cables and re-seating them on the motherboard it was able to boot again.

Having to unplug it every time I wanted to watch TV wasn't acceptable, and I was afraid I would have to return it. I decided to try upgrading the drivers first. I downloaded the latest driver from the ATI website and ran the .exe file. Turns out that is not enough. You have to go into the device manager and manually update the driver by pointing it to the appropriate folder. Once I did that, VOILA it seems to be working as expected now! The picture looks really good (at least as good as it did on the TV's tuner) and all the TIVO-esque functionality is there (which is great!).

So getting it working was a bit of a pain and a little bit scary, but so far so good. Now to test out the digital tuner...

Great tuner! The picture quality is one of the best I've seen and I've owned many pc tuners. I love that you can utilize analog and the digital tuners at the same time (be sure to get the latest drivers from the Amd website). The digital tuner can also receive QAM non-encrypted from sources such as your cable company which I have been utilizing with Charter and have a great picture utilizing it in Beyond TV 4. The remote is simple and nicely laid out however if your going to use Beyond Tv I suggest the Streamzap remote. I also suggest using the Nvidia Purevideo decoder to view your recorded/live tv/movies within Beyond Tv 4. It has a great picture compared to the other decoders. Also, for more options with decoders you can install the K-lite codec pack full edition for free and I haven't heard of any issues with it like some people claim with other codec packs. If you have any issues with tuning in your QAM and you've tried everything else try boosting your catv signal. I boosted it 10db and got a great picture. For those of you that decide to go with this tuner I really don't think you can do better for the price enjoy it!

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The TV Tuner works great with Windows Media Center. Recognizes ATSC digital TV over air, and NTSC Cable both at the same time so works as a true dual tuner. You can connect both ATSC wire as well as NTSC wire at the same time. I cannot comment on the ATI software for watching TV simply because it takes some time to setup and Media center setup is easy and works fine. I did not even have to install the driver as Windows Vista with Media center found it automatically.

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So many reviews on tuners like this are a result of people not having the patience for setting the device up correctly.

This tuner works awesome with Windows Vista and Windows 7 32-bit (not Windows 7 64-bit). I always use the tuner with Windows Media Center to record local TV shows.

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If your using VISTA forget the ATI software that comes with the TV Wonder HD 650,the picture quality sucks and the channel scan keeps getting lost. So far I've not been able to get the remote to work. Download the drivers from AMD/ATI and use only that. The VISTA Media Center works well with the TV Wonder HD 650 and has better picture quality than the ATI Catalyst Media center.