I have heard that Matrox is the King of Video editing, I know they cost
an arm and a leg so that says to me it must be good. I've only installed one
and it was $1k just for the vid card. I don't doubt their reputation
precedes them, but as I don't deal with a whole lot of hard core video
editors I don't know much about matrox. For the rest of us ATI seems to get
the job done.
A lot of customers want solutions to convert VHS to DVD. Most seem to
honestly want to do this to get old home videos on a more reliable medium.
But either case I usually recomend ATI simply for its simplistic design and
good rep. Plus kids liek it because along with offering great I/O's for
VCR's, TV's ect it is also a wonderful gaming card. The AIW 9800 Pro
probably has the best gaming VPU on the market. the only chip comming close
to it would be the FX from Nvidia. Although I have never seen an All In
Wonder competitor style device fomr this company they do rank extremely high
in 3D graphics performance. The FX card is a noisy beast though, which inmy
opinion drops its value as a usable card. Who wnats to hear a mortorcyle
coming out of their box?
As for the other questions:
-- Any comments on pros and cons regarding ATI versus Matrox cards?
Like I said, sorry, don't know Matrox that well. I would try to do some
research first on Matrox before the final decision.
-- Regarding ATI; should I get an ATI branded board, or would any brand of
> board with an ATI chip be ok?
Get a "made by ATI" card not the "Powered by ATI" you won't get all the
software and manulas you would expect. ATI takes care of their customers and
tries to outbest by offering loads of free software with their cards. Plus
ATI's branded drivers are superior, easier to use, less confusing. Although
they do make powered by ATI drivers also. The support seems to be less. Plus
you can't get support fomr ATI on a powered by ATI card. I know this form
experience. We have a major contracts with a few school districts in the
Springs and use ATI in a lot of their solutions simply because cost is low.
We use a lot of powered by ATI cards becuase they don't require the
software, but I've had numorous porbs with drivers in CAD, TV output, etc.
if you do go this route, the brand Saphire is pretty decent on support and
compatibility.
-- Regarding naming conventions of ATI products; should I look for a
product
> including the name "All In Wonder", if I want integrated video-capture and
> TV-tuner etc.? ----
Yes, for simple intergrated functions and less cost to you (you don't
have to buy 2 seperate cards) buy the All In Wonder. I think that answers
the 1st question
also.
-- I need a quiet board, is there one without a fan? (I'm trying to compose
> a quiet computer.)
The Radeons are extremely quiet and fans seem to last a long time.
-- What about video-editing software? Is any good software included with the
> cards? What would you recommend?
I've never gotten into editing myself except casually, but customers here
who do edit seem to like Pinnacle Studio (I think 8 is the latest version)
Best bang for the buck is probably the All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV you can
pick it up for about $200 retail and it comes with just about everything.
including the software to get you started. But check out Matrox, see what
they offer and make your decision. When purchasing any PC, pperipheral, etc
remeber to look for free software.
*Note to everyone else* The AMD Opteron Server CPU is out already, released
yesterday. Up to 1M cache and its a full 64-bit CPU. The desktop comes out
in Sep of this year. If anyone has touched, seen, felt, experienced, demoed,
released 5,000 squirrels into the wild with a fire hose, this CPU let me/us
know. MSI and Tyan have mobo's out for it. Dual and single CPU solutions.
Mike Kauspedas
Alpine Computer
Colorado Springs, CO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Goran Halfvarson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Graphics card for a non-gamer
> Mike! Thanks for introducing me to the ATI boards!
>
> I realized that I can choose between:
> -- type 1: an integrated card (i.e. graphics, TV-tuner, video capture,
video
> in & out), or
> -- type 2: a graphics card + a TV/video-editing card (TV-tuner, video
> capture, video in & out)
> Did I get it right?
>
> The ATI All In Wonder cards seem to be of type 1.
>
> Thanks to Mark Rode's message yesterday I have realized that Matrox too
has
> a card (also of type 1, above) that might fulfil my wishes:
> -- Matrox Marvel G450 eTV
> (32 Mb DDR, AGP 2x/4x, 360 MHz RAMDAC, Dualhead, TV-tuner, Video in/ut,
> Retail)
> http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/marv_g450_etv/home.cfm
>
> Regarding type 2; a TV/video-editing card that I have been looking at is
> -- Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-350 (http://www.hauppauge.com).
>
> Questions:
> -- Any comments on pros and cons regarding type 1 versus type 2 solutions?
> -- Any comments on pros and cons regarding ATI versus Matrox cards?
> -- Regarding ATI; should I get an ATI branded board, or would any brand of
> board with an ATI chip be ok?
> -- Regarding naming conventions of ATI products; should I look for a
product
> including the name "All In Wonder", if I want integrated video-capture and
> TV-tuner etc.?
> -- I need a quiet board, is there one without a fan? (I'm trying to
compose
> a quiet computer.)
> -- What about video-editing software? Is any good software included with
the
> cards? What would you recommend?
>
> I will order my new computer this week so I need your answers quickly,
> please.
> With best regards,
> Goran Halfvarson, Sweden
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Kauspedas" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 9:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Graphics card for a non-gamer
>
>
> > Get an ATI All In Wonder Radeon or just the AIW itself. Very good 2d
> > card and the lower end models are cheap. Plus when you get to editing
> > you can hook up your stuff without any additional equipment. Check it
> > out at:
> > http://mirror.ati.com/products/pc/aiwradeon/index.html (low end card)
> > http://mirror.ati.com/products/pc/aiw9800pro/index.html (very high end
> > model, but not the best vid editing out there)
> > http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20020122/ (AIW review from
> > "Tomshardware")
> >
> > Mike Kauspedas
> > Alpine Computers
> > Colorado Springs, CO
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> ---
> > I am about to buy a new computer and I would like some recommendations
> > for a good graphics card. I am looking for very good 2D graphics. (Not
3D
> as I
> > am not into computer gaming!)
> >
> > I will use the computer for:
> >
> > - office applications
> > - photos / imaging
> > - home analogue video editing (some day...)
> > - watching TV in a window (possibly...)
> ---
> > Goran Halfvarson, Sweden
>
> Visit our website regularly for FAQs,
> articles, how-to's, tech tips and much more
> http://freepctech.com
>
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