ATI All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro Preview

Conclusion

Judging by what ATI had to show us of the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro, it seems that the card will only further raise the bar of multimedia TV-tuner cards. The card offers features that are above and beyond the previous multimedia card of choice, the All-in-Wonder 8500DV. Let's recap what the most important improvements are.

First off, the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro's VPU is powerful enough to perform at exceptional rates in 3D games. Since the card uses the exact same chip as the Radeon 9700 Pro and is clocked at the same core and memory speed, performance of the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro should be identical to that of the Radeon 9700 Pro. We have already shown how fast that is and can therefore rest assured knowing that the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro uses the highest performance 3D graphics chip on the market.

Secondly, the hardware additions that the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro received represent the largest hardware gains that the All-in-Wonder line has had in some time. The All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro not only makes use of the new Theater 200 chip with improved audio and video features, it also makes extensive use of hardware built into the R300 core. The hardware MPEG-2 encode features along with the new VideoSoap technology should prove to produce high quality MPEG files at lower bit rates than were previously possible.

The R300 hardware will also play a role in the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro's success once DirectX 9 comes out. When the new API is released, look for the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro to be able to manipulate video in real time using pixel shaders, producing effects not previously possible on consumer level video cards. It is still uncertain how far off DirectX 9 is, but it is likely that Microsoft will release the software before the end of this year.

The Multimedia Center software has been improved this time around. As Multimedia Center continues to evolve, it gains subtle improvements that should add to the appeal of the package as a whole. On top of the new features, Multimedia Center now features the ability to use two TV tuners in one system giving a user the ability to watch one channel and record another at the same time with a separate TV tuner card.

Lastly, the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro box now comes even more loaded than before. Including both a DV Wonder remote control and a component output dongle, the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro ships with two features that are of the utmost importance in the home theater market.

With all the advanced hardware and features that the All-in-Wonder Radeon 9700 Pro brings to the market, it is hard to imagine the product not securing even more of the multimedia segment for ATI. In fact, the only down side to the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro will be its price. Although pricing has not been finalized as of yet, adding even more chips to a $399 card will only make it more expensive. From what we have been hearing, the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro will arrive on shelves with an MSRP of around $100 more than the Radeon 9700 Pro. The added features do result in an increased price, limiting the card's market to those with lots of money to spend. Hopefully we will see scaled down versions of the All-in-Wonder Radeon 9700 Pro come to market given time.

The All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro provides a marked improvement over the previous generation All-in-Wonder 8500DV. When we looked at the TV tuner market five months ago we found that the ATI All-in-Wonder 8500DV offered functionality that was superior to the competing products. Things haven't changed since then. NVIDIA has yet to update their Personal Cinema line and Matrox has not yet released a Parhelia in an eTV solution. In the case of the All-in-Wonder 8500DV, no competing product could offer comparable multimedia functionality. With the release of the All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro, it looks as if no competing product will be able to offer comparable multimedia functionality or 3D performance.

Be on the lookout for our full, hands on All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro review in the next few weeks, around the time that cards start appearing on shelves. Until then, you may want to start thinking exactly how to get your computer into your living room.