ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 Pro: Multimedia Refresh
by Andrew Ku on October 16, 2003 11:38 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
EasyLook — Squint no more
Since ATI's Multimedia Center 8.0, there have been two new versions introduced with a significant (new) visual feature implemented: EasyLook (in Multimedia Center 8.5 and greater). ATI has recognized the use of their remote (Remote Wonder) in combination with an AIW card for home entertainment. It often means that the user will be sitting on the couch with about 10+ feet between them and the TV/display. As a result, changing the channel with small fonts is straining on the eyes, and this still lacks the versatility that a set top box would bring.After all, with a cable TV set top box and a PVR, TV listings and the ability to set recordings become fully interact able with nice large fonts. Setting a TV show to auto record becomes that much harder when you have to squint to confirm that you had set it up correctly. EasyLook is a clean and easy-to-use interface that is reminiscent of Windows XP Multimedia Center Edition, and we have found this to be an invaluable tool. To be perfectly honest, we continue to be amazed, having survived the use of past All-in-Wonders without this feature…
You can still use a keyboard to access all, plus more, functions of a Remote Wonder. At a distance of 10+ feet, cables will get cumbersome, and we recommend sticking to the remote. A wireless keyboard still isn't the same as a remote for us. We try and keep the other hand free for our snacks...
New to Multimedia Center 8.6 is channel surfing in EasyLook, which makes everything nice and neat. Instead of constantly flipping through the channels, channel surfing in EasyLook provides a way to preview 6 or 24 channels at once. If your tuner receives more than 24 channels, EasyLook channel surf automatically displays thumbnail images to be viewed in a 4 x 6 grid. Less than 24 channels, the grid automatically configures itself into a 2 x 3 grid. This does mean that the 2 x 3 grid will display the thumbnail images larger than in the 4 x 6 grid.
There is one glitch that we found in EasyLook that hasn't seemed to be resolved. Since EasyLook extends itself into other parts of Multimedia Center (DVD, File Player, etc.), we decided to tinker around a bit in those areas. We found that in File Player, changing the time dialog to display “remaining time” wouldn't transfer over to EasyLook, though it did in EasyLook DVD. Instead, the information bar would still read “Elapsed time” and show the time ticking down.
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Anonymous User - Sunday, October 19, 2003 - link
My only question is "With this card can I finally view cable on my TV(secondary display)?". I currently own a 8500DV and find using a TV as a primary display more than a little displeasing.Anonymous User - Sunday, October 19, 2003 - link
#26Thanks you for the dumbass comment of the week.
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 18, 2003 - link
It is now clear. ATI has failed.Anonymous User - Saturday, October 18, 2003 - link
I can't comment on how good the 9700 AIW is, but you can definitely notice the difference between using a VGA adapter instead of (the better) DVI connection. It isn't a substantial degradement, but as long as you have an expensive LCD screen, you might as well use all the available features. Unless you really need the new/additional features in the 9600 AIW, I would go with 9700 AIW if you can afford it. You'll be getting a better gaming card in the process too...Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
I am Considering to buy the 9600 Pro AIW. Mainly because its has everything i need. but only one problem it doesnt have a DVI. I own a LCD monitor and i was wondering if i use the VGA cable rather then the DVI. is there going to be any differents in picture quality. or Should i just go and buy a 9700 Pro AIW. if i do, i wont be able to have some of the new features they implimented into the 9600 AIW. What should i get?Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
"The reason behind this frequent request is that the act of watching TV or a movie is often done in conjunction with doing something productive (like writing an article, in our case)."when i was a kid we watched television AFTER doing our work =)
Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
#17: the card does fitI can send pictures if someone has a place to host them.
Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
#17: The 9600 can't perform like a 9700--it has only 4 pixel pipes compared to the 9700/9800's 8. It simply won't perform the same at higher detail settings (i.e. AA, AF). Even AT's article mentions this. Still, the 9600 seems to offer much better performance for it's class and price range than some of it's competition.Pete - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
Arrrgh! No benchmarks?! I really wanted to see if extra memory bandwidth would help the 9600 series, which has always been at a huge disadvantage to the 5600 (and now more so to the 5700).You guys need to get one of those Powercolor 380MHz DDR 128MB 9600XT's and one of those 340MHz DDR 256MB XT's, pronto! :)
Anonymous User - Friday, October 17, 2003 - link
#15 and #16Tweaknews.net indeed had more material, but most of their info is straight from ATI's website description of the product, including all PR BS: "The power to pause live TV", "industry leading digital video features for unprecedented video quality." The point of a review is not to regurgitate stuff like this, but to test and verify them. Their review read more like an ATI sponsored advertisement. NBTW, I have nothing against ATI personally (have a 9600 Pro myself) -but just wanted to point out that AT's review was simply more concise and to the point. It would have been even better with some gaming benchmarks is all....