ATI Announces TV Wonder USB 2.0

ATI today announced the TV WONDER USB 2.0 – a high quality, low cost external TV tuner solution that easily plugs into both desktops and notebooks.

The key features include quick setup, TV viewing with full personal video recorder (PVR) capabilities, and video capture for editing. Available this summer in North America, TV WONDER USB 2.0 will beoffered in two versions: TV WONDER USB 2.0 REMOTE CONTROL EDITION with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of USD$149 and TV WONDER USB 2.0 with an MSRP of USD$100.

“The unique combination of ATI’s industry leading THEATER 200 chip with the critically acclaimed MULTIMEDIA CENTER software, plus the high-speed bandwidth of USB 2.0, deliver industry leading ALL-IN-WONDER visual quality and advanced features not available in any other external video solution,” said Godfrey Cheng, Director of Marketing, Multimedia Products, ATI Technologies Inc. “TV Wonder USB 2.0 brings industry leading TV and video capture features to desktops and notebooks quickly, easily and without having to open the PC.”

Powered by ATI’s industry leading MULTIMEDIA CENTERâ„¢ software, TV WONDER USB 2.0 includes full PVR capabilities enabling users to watch, record and pause live television with ease. The product also features a fully-searchable interactive electronic program guide (EPG) that displays the schedule for TV shows for immediate or future viewing. In addition to video capture functionality, TV WONDER USB 2.0 features the EAZYLOOKâ„¢* distance user interface that enables remote access from the couch, bedroom or dormroom when used with ATI’s REMOTE WONDERâ„¢ remote control (provided with the Remote Control Edition).

TV WONDER USB 2.0 is able to deliver high quality images and sound via the Universal Serial Bus (USB) — a high-speed communications standard that makes it easy to connect peripheral devices to desktops or notebooks. USB 2.0 is up to 40 times faster than USB 1.1. This remarkably fast speed makes it possible for TV WONDER USB 2.0 to deliver much higher quality TV images on desktops and notebooks. The USB 2.0 connection allows uncompressed digitized video and audio to be sent directly to the computer for a pristine live preview without any delays. The video can then be compressed using ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER® Encode to allow the customer to record the video for later personal viewing.

*Requires RADEONâ„¢ 8500 or higher graphics support.