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ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 (01/31/2006)

ATI All-In-Wonder X1900

Entered CNET Catalog: 01/31/2006

SKU: 0727419413091

Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.

Content [Hide]
  1. Manufacturer's description
  2. Editors' review
  3. Users' opinions
  4. Keywords

Manufacturer description

The All-in-Wonder X1900 features a brand-new graphics process and proudly follows closely behind its Radeon counterpart. The X1900 is a one-card solution of great performance for extreme gamers, entertainment enthusiasts, time shifters and moviemakers alike. ATI's Avivo display platform gives incredibly rich video quality from capture through to playback, while PCI Express punches through the AGP bandwidth ceiling. The built-in TV tuner, PVR and programming guide provides now or later program enjoyment, while hardware H.264 decoding gives effortless playback of next-generation HD DVD.

Editors' review

  • Editors' Choice: No
  • Reviewed on: 01/31/2006
With 3D graphics plus basic TV tuner capabilities, ATI's All-In-Wonder line has always been a safe bet for one-stop shopping. Unlike previous generations, however, the All-In-Wonder X1900 is hitting the market right on the heels of a next-generation ATI GPU. The Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire Edition cards were released less than two weeks ago, so users looking for DVR along with their gaming don't need to wait long for ATI's latest graphics technology and multimedia features to be paired together.

The All-In-Wonder X1900 fits into a standard x16 PCI Express slot and includes DVI and VGA outputs, an SD coaxial connection, and an FM antenna connection. An A/V hub dongle plugs into the card, allowing you to connect a variety of adapters for component, S-Video, and composite inputs. You also get ATI's Remote Wonder for controlling the included Multimedia Center front-end software.

Upside: The All-In-Wonder X1900 offers support for all the latest video technologies, including H.264. Avivo is ATI's name for its next-generation collection of video technologies, and that includes HD-DVD and Blu-ray compatibility, for when those formats become common. The X1900 uses ATI's Theater 200 chip for analog-to-digital conversion, which in these pre-CableCard days is about as good as you're going to get.

The included ATI Multimedia Center software is a serviceable suite for recording TV programs and playing back all kinds of media files. You can even make the full-screen TV-viewing window semitransparent and work on your desktop while a program plays, even if that sounds more distracting than useful. Also included is Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 and Adobe Premiere Elements 2.

We haven't run the card through CNET Labs' gaming benchmarks yet, but we'd expect to see scores in line with those of the Radeon X1900 XTX and the Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire Edition cards, which is to say fast; the X1900 XTX wrestled the crown away from the Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX. For more details, check out GameSpot's detailed run-through of the gaming aspects of the X1900 line.

Downside: All PC TV tuner cards force some level of compromise in terms of signal quality, especially if you're inputting the signal from a cable source, then outputting it to a TV monitor. The All-In-Wonder X1900's series of daisy-chained dongles may be a hassle for some users who want to connect a variety of media sources to the card. And they're not conducive to a clutter-free PC setup.

Outlook: Sporting a version of the latest and greatest 3D technology, plus ATI's well-regarded TV tuner hardware, the All-In-Wonder X1900 may prove a good choice for users with limited expansion space in their computer cases or people looking to upgrade their graphics and obtain TV and multimedia functionality in a single card. True power users might prefer a dedicated X1900 card (or even two of them in CrossFire mode) along with a stand-alone TV tuner card with dual tuners or over-the-air HD capabilities. At $499, the All-In-Wonder X1900 is the cheapest card in the X1900 line, coming in $50 less than the X1900 XT. Check back soon for our full review.

User opinions

Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
User Rating:
4.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Answers to some of the questionsby ttam951 - November 10, 2007

Pros: Good proformance, Good quility tv tuner

Cons: Vista Media Center, ati 550 theater

Review: About a year I purchased this for about $200 at that time it was a very good deal with good performance equal to nv7800gtx and atiX1900gt and a tv tuner. To answer some of the questions this card has been discontinued by ATI because the tv tuner longer works with Vista's Windows Media Center. How ever this is not ATI's fault this was caused by Vista's new handling of services and programs (still works with XP). ATi tried to work around this but was unsuccessful. The gpu still works normally in vista but no more tv tuner support with vista's windows media center. However if you bought this and vista you can use a third party tv tuner software, like Snaptream's BeyondTV 4.6. This plus new ati driver, say 7.8 and up will give you full tv tuner functionality. If you some how find this for sell and want to buy in I would recommend buy it if you have XP for under $150 or if you have vista and you want a new graphics card and tv tuner and you are will to spend a little bit more money right now the best deal would be and nv880gt graphics card with a sapphire 650 pro tv tuner, both can be found on newegg.com for around $300 total.
If you still want to go with the AIWX1900 I would recommend a 450 watt min power supply and make shore you have a PCI-E X16 this is not compatible with PCI, PCI-E X1 or AGP X4/X8.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Great card till vista arrivedby tjellyca - July 18, 2007

Pros: everying on this is a pro

Cons: No capture support for windows vista

Review: The latest Catalyst drivers for Vista still do not include one for the tuner subsystem on the ATI All-in-Wonder cards. So, these cards are useless under Vista for their intended main purpose: watching and recording live TV. I’m surprised no bloggers have taken up this issue yet. Maybe you can, so that some pressure can be brought to bear on AMD/ATI to give us back the capabilities we lost when we upgraded to Vista!.
When will this issue be resolved for all in wonder products?

Why have they been taken off the shelf?

What are the plans for future All in wonder cards?
User Rating:
2.0 stars

out of 10 user reviews

It could have been perfect.. but it's way far from itby bigblubox - May 3, 2007

Pros: 256Mb card + Tv tuner combo (but is it worth it?)

Cons: Same old ATI software (and no software updates), audio pops and clicks, TV on Demand always on, awkward audio/video connectors

Review: This review concentrates more on the negative side of the X1900 (cause the positive side is dim.)

Software:
*currently using v.9.16
-it's still the same old junk since the early All In Wonder cards!!! with the ugly interface, and limited controls (more on that later). Why can't ATI (AMD now) pay a decent programmer to work on something totally new?!?!
-there hasn't been a software update since Dec. 13, 2006!!!! hello? we paid a good sum of money for this piece of junk!
-you cannot disable TV on Demand (which means it's always recording what you watch and using your CPU/hard drive resources whether you want it or not.

Quality:
-TV viewing/recording quality is horrible. My first impression since upgrading from the ATI All In Wonder 9000 is that I'm watching TV through black nylon stocking.. lol. The picture is somehow cleaner than my previous card, but it's not from new hardware, because as you know, the X1900 still uses the old Theater200.. it's probably a filter..

Reliability:
-there was a problem with my first X1900 (PCI-E model); it wouldn't power up when I turn on my PC.. I would have to turn my pc on then off a couple of time for it to work.
-ATI sent me a replacement one which didn't have the power problem but had audio problems (pops and clicks while watching TV).. come to think of it, the first one might have had that too, but I might not have noticed it (it's mostly audible when you use headphones!).
-A third replacement came, and guess what, same pops/clicks problem. I finally gave up and decided to keep this for the time being.

Connectors:
-Why is it that with every new ATI AIW card, the cables/connectors are getting bulkier and uglier?!? When you install this card expect to have more cable clutter than you already have. I now have a stupid looking cable with a Domino at one end constantly connected to my PC.. Why? ask the geniuses at ATI!

Conclusion:
I thought that things might get better when AMD bought ATI.. maybe new software/drivers?! but apparently it looks like they're getting worse..

If you want my opinion, if you really want to buy this (which I don't advise), go to ati.com, and check if they updated their "ATI Multimedia Software" (not the Catalyst display driver)..
User Rating:
4.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Excellent value - Excellent cardby travelerjack - December 22, 2006

Pros: Great frame rate for gaming BF2 with High video settings

Cons: none I can think of

Review: I have had ATI All In Wonder cards since their very first one. The X1900 PCI Express does a wonderful job in my system. I am able to do just about anything I want. I can burn DVD's while playing BF2 (POE mod)in coop mode with 64 bots at 100% AI and it doesn't miss a lick.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Consider another cardby boo#6car - December 22, 2006

Pros: All the features that it is supposed to provide

Cons: Lack of support from ATI. Lack of functionality

Review: I am very disappointed in ATI on this outing. I have built many systems for friends and for profit, with both NVIDIA and ATI cards and have never had this level of trouble. This card was selected for it's advertised capabilities of video/TV capture and good gaming in one package. To begin, I found comments at the vendor's, (computer3G.com and newegg.com) and the manufacturer's site that this card would work with Win XP X-64. Unfortunately for me there was a complete omission of the fact that the multimedia software would not work in X-64. This was a nice supprise! However after acquiring a copy of XP Pro my troubles were not over. Trying to get the right drivers and updates from ATI is a mystry tour through obscurity. Calling ATI for help was the most useless and frustrating experience of all. The only way I even came close to getting this thing to work was reading many review sites. At some point I found out through trial and error, not ATI, that I needed to update to DrectX 9.0c. This sort of worked after that update, however the DVD player would hang, the TV tunner missed strong channels and the FM tuner picked up static. To top it all off, after having the system on for a few hours and needing to reboot for another reason, I found even the POST screen to have corrupted video. Next I tried to wade through ATI's site to get an RMA to no avail. Finaly a sat on the phone for yet ANOTHER hour to get them to give me an RMA. After waiting for more than their "10 day turn-arround" I received back a similar card with a different part number. The returned card would not even allow the system to POST. I installed a NVIDIA card to prove that the system is functional, and it is. Any gains in performance or functionality this or any ATI card prommises is completely out weighed by the lack of warrenty and technical support from ATI. Now I have to wait until after Christmas to get the problem resolved, but I am not hopeful of anything working out even then. Don't buy ATI. Randy B. former ATI customer.
User Rating:
2.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

What Happened to cardby markcolen - October 19, 2006

Pros: Thought it was great card

Cons: Discontinued??????????

Review: A call to ATI customer service reports THAT ALL All In Wonder cards have been discontinued. Anyone know what happened? Should I buy a card from a third party distributor while still available?
User Rating:
4.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Great Cardby sgoasa - September 22, 2006

Pros: Easy to set up w/Media Center

Cons: Very long card

Review: This card works very well with Windows Media Center 2005. Although I do not use this card for gaming (not yet), it does an excellent job as a PVR. The included software package makes this card a very good buy.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Vista Beta-2 Incompatabilityby Pete5231 - June 26, 2006

Pros: Decent graphics for gaming and PCIe functionality

Cons: TV tuner not recognized by Catalyst or Media Center

Review: I am probably going to return my ATI card; it is either broken or incompatible with Vista. I did a lot of cussing this weekend trying to get the TV tuner on the ATI AIW x1900 to work but I ultimately failed. I followed the directions, made sure my chipset/PCIe bios and drivers were up to date, hardware specs met system requirements after a power supply upgrade to 460w etc.. Vista recognized the card but not the TV tuner. Even the Catalyst control center did not recognize the on-board TV tuner. I made sure that I had the mpeg2 codec and installed ATI's update for Vista2/catalyst (anything I could think of to rule everything out). The hardware device manager did not see any issues though I actually got a blue screen and a hung install several times when installing Catalyst. 39 Vista errors were generated and I sent a Vista-generated report but there were no solutions forth-coming from MS. Even when I finally won the crap-shoot of installing Catalyst on Vista the general stability of the OS went into the toilet. I noticed that Catalyst was initially trying to install components two at a time. Catalyst causes Vista's boot-up to be about 10-15% longer and seemed to slow the OS down considerably after boot-up. Uninstalling catalyst and using the base ATI drivers without catalyst resulted in a return to OS stability but Media Center does not recognize the AIW's TV tuner.
It has been my experience through my last ATI purchase (AIW 9700 pro) that ATI's catalyst software is somewhat problematic and buggy. I figured that ATI would have fixed those issues but even with the Vista patch for Catalyst, the AIW x1900 is not a viable option for users who want TV tuner functionality with thier graphics card. The video card worked fine outside of the TV tuner and without the Catalyst software but that's like saying my new off-road vehicle worked great aside from the fact that it wouldn't go into four-wheel-drive. Why isn't the TV Tuner recognized by Catalyst and how can I get Vista media center to recognize the TV tuner? I would be thrilled if ATI had a solution for this but I suspect the technology is too new and I will end up purchasing another video card with separate windows media compatible TV tuner.
Updated
I was able to finally resolve the issues that VISTA was having with this card in a very obvious way. The CD that comes packaged with the AIW X1900 includes drivers and Catalyst software that did not work for my PC and Vista B2. Neither did the ATI XP MCE drivers or ATI's Vista "Beta 2" drivers. There is another set of drivers that DO WORK that ATI provides. I am unsure what the differences are between these and the ones that come bundled on the CD but the drivers I downloaded from the following ATI link DO WORK. (https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27)
XP Drivers and Software/All In Wonder/Catalyst 6.7 Windows XP - Driver Download.
Install them in order i.e. .Net 2.0, CCC, WDM, etc..., then (optionally) the AVIVO package. I had an several errors during the install that I ignored and the installer popped up with a restart option that I ignored as well because it was clearly not done with the installation.
After this I am able to use MC to manage the fully functional TV tuner.
Updated
Apologies. It appears that the link I provided wasn't posted clearly.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

Then click "Windows XP Drivers and Software" then "All-in-Wonder" and finally the "Catalyst 6.7 Windows XP - Driver Download" link.
The specific files you want in order are the first 2 and very last download files on the page:

Microsoft .NET Framework- dotnetfx.exe

Catalyst Control Center Package- 6-7_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_34826.exe

*optional* Complete AVIVO Package (under "Additional Downloads") 6-7_xcode_34826.exe

Keep in mind what build of Vista you have, I'm using build 5231 so I can't vouch that this will work for another Vista build.
Updated
Apologies. It appears that the link I provided wasn't posted clearly.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

Then click "Windows XP Drivers and Software" then "All-in-Wonder" and finally the "Catalyst 6.7 Windows XP - Driver Download" link.
The specific files you want in order are the first 2 and very last download files on the page:

Microsoft .NET Framework- dotnetfx.exe

Catalyst Control Center Package- 6-7_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_34826.exe

*optional* Complete AVIVO Package (under "Additional Downloads") 6-7_xcode_34826.exe

Keep in mind what build of Vista you have, I'm using build 5231 so I can't vouch that this will work for another Vista build.
User Rating:
2.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

comment onlyby Screwyluie - February 1, 2006

Pros: top of the line card

Cons: theater 200 chip

Review: I can't believe something that costs $500 is running such old technology, ati has had the theater 550 chip for sometime now on a tv tuner card that costs less then $100, but this $500 graphics card doesn't have it.

the theater 200 chip is ancient, and while it is a decent chip, it is no comparison to the 550, and no competition to the standalone tv tuner cards out there right now.

I'm very dissapointed with ATI. my suggestion, spend 400-450 on a straight up graphics card, and spend the rest on a theater 550 pro stand alone card for your tv needs.
User Rating:
3.5 stars

out of 10 user reviews

Too bad. Very high price. Where's my 550?by Michael Vasovski - February 1, 2006

Pros: Killer fast 3D rendering...

Cons: Sub-par tuner...

Review: I'm using the AIW X800XT. It's great for gaming. But it's using the Theatre 200 chip for tuning. I was hoping that w/ the X1800 AIW, we'd get a bump... nada. I thought for sure that w/ the X1900 we'd get the Theatre 550... sorry. The difference between the 200 and 550 is supposed to be night and day. And for guys buying the AIW series, they're obviously concerned about TV image quality as well. For a $500 card, I would've expected that little notch up.

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ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 specifications

  • General
  • Device Type Graphics card
  • Bus Type PCI Express x16
  • Graphics Processor / Vendor ATI Radeon X1900
  • Max Resolution 2560 x 1600 at 60.0 Hz
  • Max Monitors Supported 2.0
  • Interfaces 1.0 x TV antenna input - 29 pin combined DVI , 1.0 x VGA - 15 pin D-Sub (DB-15) , 1.0 x Composite video input , 1.0 x S-video output , 1.0 x Composite video output , 1.0 x DVI-I , 1.0 x S-video input
  • API Supported DirectX 9.0 , OpenGL
  • Memory
  • Video Memory Installed 256.0 MB
  • Technology GDDR3 SDRAM
  • Bus Width 256-bit
  • Video Input
  • Type TV/FM tuner
  • Analog Video Format NTSC
  • Digital Video Format MPEG-2
  • Video Output
  • Supported Display Graphics 1152x864 , UXGAW (1900x1200) , VGA (640x480) , SXGA (1280x1024) , SVGA (800x600) , 1920x1440 , 2560x1600 , HDTV (1920x1080) , UXGA (1600x1200) , XGA (1024x768) , QXGA (2048x1536)
  • Colors Max Resolution (external) 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
  • Analog Video Format NTSC
  • System Requirements
  • OS Required Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition , Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 , Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Peripheral / Interface Devices USB port , CD-ROM
  • Miscellaneous
  • Included Accessories Remote control
  • Software Included Drivers & Utilities , Adobe Photoshop Elements , Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ , Adobe Premiere Elements
  • Microsoft Certifications Certified for Windows Vista
  • Manufacturer Warranty
  • Service & Support 1 year warranty
  • Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year
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