Home Theatre Computing: What Video Card Do I Need? Introduction Building your own HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) is the newest craze. Enthusiasts everywhere are looking to build an HTPC. If you are interested in building an HTPC, there are a few qualities you need to look for, and at the top of the ladder is that itself, quality. When you want to sit down and enjoy a movie or watch some cable TV, you want good picture quality and good sound quality. Of course you want it all to look good and all that good jazz, but what does it matter if the video quality sucks? Let's take a look at one of the best performance video cards on the market and see how well it does in the world of television.

What You Get Taking a look at the Radeon 9700 Pro All In Wonder's package contents, you'll see that there is no shortage of bells and whistles. The package we received was an OEM package, so there's no need to show the packaging. However, here's a look at all the goodies you'll receive. Note - The manual and driver CD are not shown in these pictures.

Specs and Features TV and beyond on your PC: · Stereo TV Tuner with 125 channels. · TV-ON-DEMANDT · The power to pause live TV, get instant replays, record live broadcasts for later viewing. o Stay on top of the live action while in TV-ON-DEMANDT mode with the Live Preview window. · THRUVIEWT - click thru the transparent live TV window to access yourdesktop - no more moving the TV window display to get to your other windows! · VideoSoapT - next Generation filtering options for Personal Video Recordings that improve captured image quality, particularly when capturing to low bitrates. · mulTViewT - the ability to add a second tuner for PiP , PoP , and many more features. · Gemstar GUIDE Plus+T Interactive Program Guide- allows user to view and search TV listing by category, actor/performer, or date. Schedule and record programs at the click of a mouse - all the benefits of a PVR without the monthly fees. Home Theater on your PC: · Superior quality DVD playback with AC-3 Digital Audio output to enable Dolby® 5.1 Surround Sound. · ATI's VIDEO IMMERSION II technology integrates industry leading digital video features for unprecedented video quality. Component Output Support: · Watch DVDs, TV-ON-DEMANDT on an HDTV ready television using component output. Easy Digital and Analog Video Editing: · Capture still images and video for use in your own creations. · Add effects, transitions, and sound to video footage. · Save your authored videos to VideoCD and DVD formats. · Bundled with Pinnacle Studio 8.0 RF Remote Wonder: 1. Controls the TV, video, DVD, Interactive Programming Guide, Internet, and gaming features of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO. 2. No need to point the remote control at the receiver. Connect your PC to your TV and search TV channels, watch DVDs, surf the web, or record TV shows from your couch. Industry's Best 2D/3D Graphics Technology: · Industry's first 8-pixel pipeline architecture, providing twice the rendering power of any competing product on the market. · Complete Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 support and AGP 8X support. · 128MB DDR memory accelerates the latest 3D games. · 256-bit memory interface removes hardware performance bottleneck and provides users with faster 3D graphics. · THEATERT 200 provides exceptional video quality viewing during live TV, video input and capture. · ATI's new FULLSTREAMT and VIDEOSHADERT technologies provide sharper image quality and better-looking visuals.

Next, we'll be taking a quick look at the benchmarks and performance of this video card.. but remember that word quick...