Introduction
The Canadian graphics chip and graphics card manufacturer presents a new flagship product in its ‘All In Wonder’ Series, the All In Wonder RADEON 8500 DV.
This is a name with tradition. ATI has been offering cards of the All In Wonder flavor for a long time, which strive to be more than just your simple graphics card. These cards are equipped with a wide variety of multimedia components. A TV tuner, for example, turns the card into a TV center for the household.
Other inputs include S-video and composite video, as well as the newest feature, two IEEE 1394 FireWire ports, which allow DV cameras to be connected digitally for the first time. For sound playback, the integrated sound card is used.
| Graphic Card Comparsion | ||||
| Chip Name | AIW RADEON |
AIW RADEON 8500 DV |
RADEON 8500 |
GeForce3 Ti 500 |
| Core | – | R200 | R200 | NV 20 |
| Manuf. Process | 0.18 Micron | 0.15 Micron | 0.15 Micron | 0.15 Micron |
| Chipclock | 166 MHz | 230 MHz | 275 MHz | 240 MHz |
| Memoryclock | 333 MHz (DDR) | 380 MHz (DDR) | 550 MHz (DDR) | 500 MHz (DDR) |
| Memory Type | SDRAM/SGRAM | SGRAM | SDRAM | SDRAM |
| Memory Bus | 128Bit DDR | 128Bit DDR | 128Bit DDR | 128Bit DDR |
| Memory Size | 32 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| RAMDAC (S) | 350 MHz | 2x 400 MHz | 2x 400 MHz | 350 MHz |
| Businterface | AGP 1x/2x/4x | AGP 1x/2x/4x | AGP 1x/2x/4x | AGP 1x/2x/4x |
| T&L | 2nd. Generation | 3rd. Generation | 3rd. Generation | 3rd. Generation |
| DirectX Generation |
DX7 | DX8 | DX8 | DX8 |
| Pixel Shader | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vertex Shader | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Truform | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Render Pipelines | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Texturen per Pipe | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| TV-Tuner | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Video In / Out | Yes | Yes | TV-Out only | Yes* |
| TV-Out DualView | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| IEEE 1394 Firewire | No | Yes | No | No |
| Remote Controll | No | Yes (RF) | No | No |
* Optional, depends on the model
In addition to the S-video and composite video outputs, there is also digital S/PDIF output, which allows connection to an external AC-3 decoder for Dolby Digital sound with DVD playback.
Introduction, Continued
A conveniently compact input/ output block, which is attached to the card through a special plug, acts as the connection for external video devices. Thanks to a strip of double-sided tape (included in the package), it’s possible to attach this box to the PC case or a desk without a problem. One of the FireWire ports can be found on the input/ output block, and the other can be found on the slot bracket of the AGP card. The latter is even capable of becoming a power supply. For FireWire functionality, ATI only provided its AGP cards with an AGP to PCI bridge.
Another new feature is the remote control, which lets you operate the ATI multimedia software. A device that is attached via USB acts as the reception base, and because the remote control operates through radio waves, there’s no need to have direct visual contact with it, so you can even operate the software from another room. This could come in handy when the TV is located in an adjacent room, for instance.
Just as with the normal RADEON 8500 boards, the All In Wonder has two RAMDACs, which allows for dual view capability. Unfortunately, a second monitor can’t really be used with the All In Wonder, since this functionality is limited to TV-out only. The TV image on the second monitor can be adjusted completely independently of the resolution and the refresh rate of the primary monitor.
The RADEON 8500 3D core, which has recently been discussed in various articles (“See the Related Links box to the left”), ensures that the necessary 3D gaming requirements are met. However, the All In Wonder is clocked significantly slower than the standard 8500s. Instead of 275 MHz, the chip runs as 230 MHz. Also, the memory is only clocked to 190 MHz (380 MHz DDR), instead of 275 MHz. The reason for this is the memory module, which, at 5 ns, is pretty slow. According to ATI, faster memory modules would have made these cards much more expensive, and therefore less attractive.
Hardware – The Card In Detail
The first thing that catches your eye is the silicon TV tuner (1). Below that, ATI has placed the Rage Theater Chip (2), which is responsible for the the video inputs. Under the R8500 GPU (6) is a special ATI AGP to PCI Bridge (3), which communicates with the FireWire chips FW323-05 from Agere (4). The floppy voltage connector (5) is designed only for FireWire devices that require power supplied via the bus and can by no means be compared to the voltage source for AGP! According to ATI, the voltage is only available at the slot bracket. Other interfaces include the cable connection (8), VGA/DVI (9), and the antenna connection.
The entire 64 MB of memory has been placed on the back of the card and is made up of four Samsung chips with 5 ns each (1). A component from Micronas (2) is responsible for stereo sound functionality of the tuner signal.
The external input/ output block offers both video-in and video-out on each side of the case. In addition, there is a second FireWire port, as well as an S/PDIF digital-out.
Hardware, Continued
The remote control makes a solid impression. Thanks to radio transmission, it’s not necessary to be in direct visual contact with the USB receiver (detail above left), and reception remains unhindered, even by thick walls. The large round button with the adjacent mouse button lets you emulate mouse controls on your computer via remote control.
The FireWire port at the slot bracket is next to the massive interface for the external connection hub.
Instead of a standard analog tuner, the R8500 DV comes equipped with a chip tuner, which heats up to considerable temperatures during operation (more than 58 degrees Celsius on the back of the card).
ATI Software
The control center of the the All In Wonder is the ATI Multimedia Center v7.5, which is the latest version. In comparison to the previous versions, this version not only features new functionality, but sports a new look as well. The following programs are included:
- ATI-TV – As indicated by the name, this software is for TV playback and recording;
- ATI-DVD – A DVD player from ATI;
- ATI-VCD – Plays video CDs;
- ATI-CD – A CD player from ATI;
- File-Player – For video clip playback;
- Library – Software for organizing videos, images, etc.;
- Teletext – Can make really fast video text!
As with the standard RADEONs, Hydravision is used to control the dual display function.
In the test, however, we ran into problems with the image quality of the TV tuner, which was only able to display a highly distorted image. Even after switching to another All In Wonder card, the problem persisted, and the TV tuner still had problems displaying the cable signal correctly. In contrast, there were no problems at all with the playback of composite and S-video signals.
The TV tuner had problems with cable reception.
In any case, ATI describes this new All In Wonder as a beta version, at least to the big software dealers. The final version is slated to appear in January or February, which should be enough time to smooth out the kinks. However, we found that using a TV with the same cable connection and an older version of the All In Wonder RADEON, the playback image was just fine. So the exact cause for the disturbance could not be determined in this test, but it’s possible that it hasn’t quite been adapted to German cable TV.
ATI Software, Continued
Innovative optional feature: the video signal can be displayed as a transparent layer over the desktop.
This card can render videos in MPEG 1&2 formats, as well as in a proprietary ATI format. Data compression is performed entirely by the CPU. Hardware compression is not available with this card. According to ATI, a 5 GB hard drive can record up to 5 hours of MPEG1 video (1600 MBit/s) or 3 hours of MPEG2 video (3800 MBits/s).
The FireWire interface is automatically detected by Windows 98 as well as Windows XP. Movie Maker, part of Windows XP, had no problems with delivering flawless video playback from an attached DV camera. With Windows 98, you have to work with Ulead Video Studio or other bundled video capture software. In this case, the DV camera is operated as just another capture device.
Video Features Of The RADEON 8500
ATI calls the video features of the RADEON 8500 “Immerson II”, which we have introduced in a previous article GeForce3 Under Attack: ATi’s Radeon 8500 Previewed. Therefore we will only discuss this briefly here.
Adaptive Deinterlacing: a video image is composed of two half-images, one each for the odd and even-numbered lines of the screen. The quick-moving horizontal movement of the video is easily recognized when displayed on a clear PC monitor. Filter methods, such as “bob” for frames with lots of motion, or “weave” for frames with less motion, works against this. The 8500 capable of applying both filters to individual pixels, therefore creating a clearer image.
DVD Features: the R200 chip shows a mastery in hardware acceleration IDCT (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform), motion compensation and subpicture decoding.
According to ATI, the load on a PIII 750 MHz CPU during DVD playback with the R8500 is only 20-25%. Depending on the DVD player software used, the CPU load with the GeForce3 is anywhere from 25% to 40%.
Differences between the North American and the European versions
In addition to the TV tuner differences, due to the NTSC and PAL standards for TVs, there are also differences in the software. The European version offers Teletext software, while the North American version has a subtitle function as well as a TV program guide (Gemstar Guide Plus+).
Bundled Software
With Ulead VideoStudio 5 in the package, ATI gives their card the added value of complete video editing capabilities. This software can also operate DV cameras that are connected by FireWire. After a short time of learning how to use the software, you’ll find that it is very easy to use.
MPEG-2 videos created with this software can be used for video CDs for playback on your home DVD player (of course you would need the appropriate CDR software for that). A user’s manual and tutorials can be found on the CD.
Mediator 6 is an extensive program for creating websites and multimedia presentations. Again, the user’s manual is only available in electronic form on the CD.
Test Setup
| Hardware Socket 423 |
|
| CPU | Intel Pentium 4 1800MHz MHz 400 MHz QDR FSB |
| Motherboard | ASUS P4T Intel i850 |
| Memory | 256MB 400MHz RDRAM (2x128MB) |
| Hard Disk | Seagate 12GB ST313021A UDMA66 5400 U/min |
| Graphics Cards | |
| NVIDIA GeForce3 | Chip Clock: 200 MHz Memory: 64 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 230 MHz NVIDIA Referencedriver v21.85 |
| NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 | Chip Clock: 175 MHz Memory: 64 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 200 MHz NVIDIA Referencedriver v21.85 |
| NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti500 | Chip Clock: 240 MHz Memory: 64 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 250 MHz NVIDIA Referencedriver v21.85 |
| ATI RADEON 8500 | Chip Clock: 275 MHz Memory: 64 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 275 MHz ATI driver: V4.13.7206 |
| ATI AIW Radeon 8500 DV | Chip Clock: 230 MHz Memory: 64 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 190 MHz ATI driver: V4.13.7206 |
| Driver and Software | |
| DirectX Version | Windows 98 SE 8.0a for Nvidia 8.1 for Radeon 8500 |
| OS | Windows 98 SE, Version 4.10.2222 A |
| Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Quake3 | v1.17 OpenGL with HW Transformation Support (Demo001) |
| 3DMark 2001 | Synthetic DirectX 8 Benchmark |
Benchmarks
Here’s a brief comparison of the All In Wonder RADEON 8500s versus the 8500 retail version.
As expected, the performance is a bit lower, due to a slower clock speed than that of the retail version. Still it is perfectly acceptable.
The All In Wonder is on approximately the same level as the GeForce3 Ti200.
Overall Impression
No other card on the market offers such comprehensive multimedia capability, together with respectable 3D gaming performance. Only the tuner problem somewhat dampened the positive impression that we got from it. Granted, we used the North American version, which could very well be incompatible to European standards – in any case the European version won’t be out on the market until next year, so ATI should have enough time to rectify the problem. Another cause for worry was the large amount of heat generated by the TV tuner. ATI says that this is due to the construction of the silicon tuner, which has a significantly larger power intake than conventional tuners, but brings with it the advantage of image quality.
The range of functions for the All In Wonder RADEON 8500 has grown significantly when compared to its direct predecessor, the All In Wonder RADEON. Users who are looking for an inexpensive way to become familiar with digital video, or those who simply want something to replace their TV, should be perfectly content with the RADEON 8500 DV.
