One of my favorite little gadgets that I have is a small ATI USB TV Tuner. It’s pretty handy for many different occasions. Like if you ever wanted to record video from a game system or a VHS player this would be an essential tool.
ATI TV-Wonder 600 out of the box:
Included in the box:
ATI TV-Wonder 600 (obviously)
Short USB Cord
Portable Unscrew-able Coaxial Antenna
Plug in Composite/S-video Input Adapter
IR Remote ( IR Sensor on ATI TV-Wonder 600 )
Installation Software and Driver CD
For those with the pondering mind of what a Hybrid TV Tuner actually is…
Basically, this small device can receive Analog (NTSC) and Digital (ATCS) broadcasts. As most of you have probably already heard, on February 17, 2009 the United States will be switching to all digital broadcasting. With this Tuner you are ready to go! The cool thing about that is that you can get high definition channels directly to your Desktop or Laptop, and the quality is simply amazing.
Software I have Used it with:
ATI Multimedia Center
Windows Media Center
Roxio Easy Media Creator 10
I have used this device for many different tasks, and so far I don’t have any regrets. I can watch TV anywhere when I use it on my laptop and it’s really easy to carry around. Since it receives digital channels you don’t have to struggle to get good reception because the channels are always there. It can be a bit slugish at times when changing channels but not to a point where it makes you impatient. If you aren’t a big fan of USB devices I believe there is a PCI version for Desktops; I like this one because of the portability.
Price
When I bought my tuner I bought it at BestBuy.com and was lucky enough to get a $10 discount simply because they made me wait when I went to pick it up. It cost me roughly about $70.
ATI has put out a new version that allows HD input which is something I wish mine had. It looks exactly the same but the price went up about $20.
Current Version and Price:
ATI TV Wonder 600 HD @ Best Buy
ATI TV Wonder 600 HD @ Amazon
