It's been a while since ATI first announced the ATI TV Wonder USB CableCard tuner for Windows Vista. But for the most part if you want a CableCard tuner in your PC, you've had to buy a preconfigured machine from someone like Niveus or Okoro. Now Sony is selling the ATI TV Wonder as a standalone box for $299. That doesn't mean you can just plug this puppy into any old machine and get your high definition cable. You'll need a certified Windows Vista PC. But this does open up the possibility of adding CableCard support to your low-end Windows Home Premium/Ultimate machine instead of buying a $3000 media center.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-26-2007 @ 12:23PM
Davis Freeberg said...
I think that this is a great add on, but at $300 it's still a little expensive. For that much you could almost buy an Xbox 360 and use it as an extender. Having access to the high def feed is really nice, but until this comes down to $100, it's hard to see it gaining any type of mainstream adoption.
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10-26-2007 @ 2:47PM
MegaZone said...
Not really - the PC still needs to have the special bios and certification from CableLabs, and the only PCs with that today are those expensive Media Center PCs. The only PCs this will work with now are PCs that *already* have a CableCARD tuner in them, it just allows you to add an additional tuner.
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11-02-2007 @ 3:46PM
Larry McQueary said...
Megazone is correct. There's nothing special here -- the ATI TV Wonder digital cable tuner hasn't changed. They will only work with CableLabs-certified systems, which are only available through OEMs such as the ones you've mentioned above. Still no joy for DIY systems.
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