ATI/AMD

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ATI Technologies, or simply ATI, was a designer and supplier of many video graphics and multimedia products. In October 2006, ATI became a subsidiary of AMD, and continues to operate as the parent company's graphics and multimedia division.

Notable ICs

Digital demodulators:

  • Nxt2000, Nxt2002, Nxt2004 (ATSC)
  • Nxt6000 (DVB-T)
  • Theater 300 family (311, 312, 314, 316) (ATSC)

ATI aquired NxtWave Communications, a designer of DSP semiconductors geared for application within in digital TV terrestrial and cable receivers, in June 2002.[1] In August 2008, AMD sold their DTV business line to Broadcom, resulting in the transfer of ownership of assets such as the Xilleon, NXT and Theater 300 IC product families. [2].

Decoders:

  • Rage Theater
  • Rage Theater 200, Theater 200 (likely the same as the prior IC, but with the "Rage" dropped from the name, though its possible that its a newer slightly tweaked variant)
  • Theater 550 Pro
  • Theater 650 Pro
  • Theater 600 Pro

Devices

Note: ATI has used the word "Wonder", and often "TV Wonder", in the branding of a wide variety tuner devices over the years. Unfortunately, this seems to be causing some confusion with those who may be unaware. Please be sure to make further distinction between these highly varying models, else you run the risk of obtaining an unsupported device.

Analog devices

Model Standard Interface Supported Comments
ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XL PCI Express NTSC, FM radio PCIe ? Unknown
ATI TV-Wonder (bttv) Yes
ATI TV-Wonder VE (bttv) Yes
ATI TV Wonder Pro (cx88) Yes
ATI Theatre 550 Pro No
ATI TV Wonder Elite No
ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0 USB 2.0 No

ATI graphic cards with TV tuners or capture facilities

Most ATI graphic cards with TV tuners are supported by drivers from the GATOS project -- see a list of supported cards and check the announcements forum.

The Gatos development effort is in the process of moving to X.org. Patches are available for TV-out; see the development forum.

If you want to be able to receive television with your ATI card, you may be able to do that simply by installing X.org 7.0. What follows are some details of an unusually poorly documented project; further clarifications are appreciated.

Support for TV reception is implemented in three ways:

  • A Radeon TV-input driver
    • Merged into X.org 7.0, now released
    • Supports Rage Theatre and Rage Theatre 200 cards
  • A Mach64 v4l Linux kernel module
    • Based on km and bttv
    • Integrates ATI Mach64 cards with the v4l framework
    • Supports both v4l and v4l2
    • Under relatively active development
    • Vbi currently hardcoded for NTSC (closed captioning)
    • Works with AMD64 Linux distributions
    • Now available through the gatos cvs on sourceforge, cf. gatos v4l project page
  • km -- a Linux kernel module
    • The older solution, now being phased out
    • Provides a v4l interface to the video capture capabilities of Mach64, Rage128 and Radeon cards
    • Requires ati.2 (since merged into X.org 7.0)
    • AVview is used used to tune and display the TV signal

Digital devices

Model Standard Interface Supported Comments
HDTV Wonder ATSC PCI Yes Comes with a antennae
TV Wonder 650 PCI ATSC PCI No
TV Wonder 650 Combo PCI Express ATSC PCIe No
TV Wonder HD 600 USB ATSC USB Yes
TV Wonder 600 PCI Express ATSC PCIe No
TV Wonder 600 PCI ATSC PCI No
Older All-In-Wonder graphics cards DVB-T AGP or PCIe No Some of the later All-In-Wonder graphics cards which featured DVB-T receivers
All-in-Wonder HD ATSC PCIe No Graphics and tuner combo card; hence, "all-in"
TV Wonder Digital Cable ATSC USB No OCUR (Open Cable Unidirectional Receiver) devices

External links

Forum threads