It looks like a tiny basketball arena, and will make you feel like you’re always rooting for the underdog.
Your Mac is already great at Web surfing, but the ATI TV Wonder HD 650 lets it surf TV channels too. If you have a fast system, the USB TV tuner feeds fluid broadcasts from analog and digital over-the-air channels, cable TV, or another source. The device even buffers live TV and saves shows like a standalone digital video recorder. But even with a high-end computer, the included software sometimes disappoints—and it has a confusing interface. Plus, the tuner can bog down a midrange Mac, slowing down all other apps in order to keep the video smooth.
The included tvPORTAL software controls the tuner. A channel scanner picks out the analog or digital stations you receive through cable or antennas, and then you can start watching. But the floating remote control never feels right. For example, if you click to rewind a live show, there’s no Play button to stop backtracking; you have to hit Pause to restart playback. Many other software inconsistencies stray from the intuitive Mac-style interfaces we’ve come to expect in polished software.
Worse, the tuner slowed down our midrange MacBook (2GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM) to the point where other apps became unresponsive. HDTV shows only displayed smoothly when we let the tuner run in the foreground or quit other apps. Minor graphical glitches occasionally appeared, but HD video usually remained sharp and fluid. On a powerhouse 2.66GHz Quad Core Xeon Mac Pro, we easily ran a few taxing apps.
The TV Wonder 650 also misses many features that should be included in a Mac TV solution. Program guide data is only pulled in through broadcasts. Compared to a guide that’s downloaded from the Net, this didn’t allow us to plan very far in advance when scheduling recordings. The export option gives no way to trim commercials or convert shows for iPod playback, instead just dumping out an MPEG-2 file that iTunes—and your iPod—can’t natively play.
Used with a high-performance Mac, the TV Wonder 650 adequately mimics a typical digital video recorder, but it’s missing some crucial features, making it impossible to recommend.
Records in HDTV in its full, native resolution. Analog and digital tuners can record simultaneously. S-Video and component inputs digitize analog sources. Universal binary.
Inconsistent, unattractive software interface. Sometimes buggy. Requires a high-end Mac for ideal performance. Only exports MPEG-2 video. Requires power outlet.
