by blakerwry on Sun May 25, 2003 1:40 pm
ATi finally has some decent winXP software (was still beta and broken up till a few months ago) for the TV blunder.
Peronally, there are better cards based on the same chipset (conexant bt8x8) infact, just about every PCI "TV card" uses the conexant 8x8 chip so they all basically have the same hardware fetures. The differences could be in the quality of the tuner (if you'd even be using it), the inputs, and the software. I think Leadtek is supposed to make the best 8x8 card.
The AIW cards don't use the 8x8 chip, they use their own ATi rage theater chips. Any of the radeon AIW cards are going to give the same quality. Except for perhaps the 9700 AIW as I think it uses an upgraded version of the rage theater chip.
For my money, the 8500DV is the best value.. I love the dongle. If you want the cheapest, get the 7xxx series AIW. And if you want to play newer games, the 9700 AIW is it.