The trickiest part of the installation is the software. There are several items to load, and then several layers of setup to go through for each item. It’d be nice if you could just answer a few questions about your system, say which programs you want to include, and let it rip. The software should automatically scan the antenna signal for local channels, for example, and should download the local Gemstar Guide+ programming information every time you boot up and/or connect to your broadband signal—or at least give you an option to do that. It does not, and you have to do both manually. And after finding all of our local channels, the tuner lines them up in a random order. I had to manually reorder about 50 channels—with 2 to 4 subchannels per regular channel—sequentially. This may not be a big deal for smaller markets with less channels, though. Nonetheless, this is pointless. I thought computers were supposed to make our lives easier.

The HDTV Wonder has one of the best digital TV tuners that we’ve ever seen. Here in Los Angeles, we can receive 22 different channels, with 2 to 4 subchannels for each one, from a rooftop antenna. The included antenna wasn’t as useful.

Downloading the channel guide software is similarly annoying. I gave up after a while and just went with www.TitanTV.com, which also made it easier, but not easy to schedule recordings. Click on a program and Titan will communicate with the ATI tuner to switch to and play or record the show. Even still, setting up timer recordings is extremely difficult once you’ve gotten used to the simplicity of TiVo or ReplayTV, and it’s also kind of useless. In order for a scheduled recording to work, the computer has to be on or in sleep mode. Recorded shows were similarly difficult to find and playback. I never could get it to work consistently.

The HDTV Wonder’s remote transmits commands using radio frequencies instead of the more common infrared signals. This is a nice touch, as you can keep the PC in your office, yet wire it to the HDTV in the living room. The only problem with the remote is that response time is slow enough for you to want to try again, and send conflicting commands. You do get six programmable buttons that can do one of a handful of tasks, like activate the DTV program.

Press the remote’s ATI button, though, and the ATI: EazyLook™ multimedia center fills the screen. This Windows Media Centerlike interface gives you access to a whole suite of ATI programs that let you watch analog or digital TV, play DVDs or listen to music, among other things. All of the media players are fine for what they do, but aren’t necessarily as good as individual players dedicated for that purpose. Apple’s iTunes, for example, is a much better music server. 

Watching live high-definition signals on my computer is oddly addicting, though. Picture quality from the tuner is excellent. The zoom feature works well, especially with HD signals (which provide plenty of detail to zoom in on). You can even move the zoomed window around the image. You can also take still images from high-definition broadcasts. (Actually, you can take them from any broadcast, but they only look good from a high-def source.) I have a 6-foot projection screen in the next room, yet I often found myself sitting at the computer writing articles (like this one) while watching some random show (and listening through my 5.1 headphones) just because it was in HD.
 

The tuner’s signal will show up on your Windows desktop, but the round multipin connector provides a second video signal for your HDTV. Dongle adapters give you your choice of composite and S-video, or component video outputs. An audio output is available through the mini-plug.

Multitasking is manageable, so long as the alternate task isn’t too processor intensive. Surfing the Internet proved too much. The tuner relies heavily on the system’s central processor, so you need a beefy computer for it to work. ATI recommends something with at least a 1.3 GHz processor, 256 MB of RAM and a video card with 64 MB or more of onboard memory. My computer exceeds this spec, and the picture still stutters at times.

Back when HDTVs were expensive and HDTV tuners were scarce, the HD tuner card made sense, as it was an inexpensive option for getting high-def signals, even if they were on your computer.

Nowadays, that’s less of a factor, but this is still an interesting item. ATI could use a major software upgrade for this product, as the price is great. Things could get really interesting when I add the HDTV tuner card to my upcoming homemade Windows Media Center Edition PC, which will use the MCE software interface. Stay tuned.