Video capture adapter Video Components

The Bottom Line: ATI's Radeon X1950 XTX is the fastest single-chip 3D card that you can buy. Unfortunately, with Windows Vista and its accompanying gaming technology, it's going to become obsolete in just five months. ATI adjusted the price of the Radeon X1950 XTX accordingly, but at $450, it's still not an insignificant purchase. We recommend it only if money is no object.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire, 2560 x 1600, 512 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: The Plextor ConvertX PVR is an affordable USB TV tuner with a decent software bundle, but its performance is less than stellar.

Specs: Plextor ConvertX PX-TV100U - TV tuner / video input adapter - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, Video capture adapter - Hi-Speed USB - External, S-video input, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Of the external TV tuners we've seen, we recommend the Diamond XtremeTV PVR600 above the others for its strong image quality and inclusion of A/V cables and a remote control.

Specs: Diamond XtremeTV PVR600 USB 2.0 Power Pack Edition - Video input adapter - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, Video capture adapter - S-video input - External, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Whether you're looking to turn your PC into a DVR or simply want to watch TV on your desktop, the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 does the job at a reasonable price.

Specs: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 - TV tuner / video input adapter - PCI, PCI, Video capture adapter - TV-in - Plug-in card, S-video input, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Diamond's XtremeTV PVR550 provides everything you'll need to turn your desktop into a media center PC, but its TV image quality isn't perfect.

Specs: Diamond XtremeTV PVR 550 - Video input adapter - PCI Express x16, PCI Express x16, Video capture adapter - S-video input - Plug-in card, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Aptly named, the ATI TV Wonder Elite is easily the best PC TV tuner card we've seen.

Specs: ATI-TV Wonder Elite Remote Control Edition - TV / radio tuner / video input adapter - PCI, PCI, Video capture adapter - S-video input - Plug-in card, Composite video input, Stereo

Editors' Take: ATI's next-gen family of high-end graphics cards is fast, but the cards are not as elegantly designed as Nvidia's competing GeForce 7800 series.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1800 GTO, 256 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: ATI's second-best 3D card brings all of the requisite features to the 3D gaming table, but its specialized performance makes it less compelling.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 2048 x 1536 / 85 Hz, 256 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: We don't recommend that you buy a Radeon X850-based CrossFire setup due to the core chip's age, but at least ATI proves that it can keep up with Nvidia.

Specs: ATI Radeon X850 XT, 2048 x 1536 / 85 Hz, 256 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: Though definitely a product that only select users will need, it's a generally stellar prosumer solution for analog video capture.

Specs: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor - Video input adapter - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, Video capture adapter - Hi-Speed USB - External, S-video input, S-video output, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), Composite video input, Composite video output