2D Desktop Quality

We loaded up a 1600x1200 image (modified for 1680x1050) used in previous video card reviews. I also pulled up several word documents with various sized fonts to judge the text rendering. The documents used white text on a black background, and vice versa. The screen resolution for all tests was 1680x1050 @ 60Hz on a Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW LCD.

Scores are subjective, but having worked with many video cards the last few years, I got a pretty firm grasp on what card renders 2D better than the others. The scores will be out of 10, with 10 being excellent.

	All-in-Wonder 2006 PCIE	All-in-Wonder X600	XFX 6600
Black Text (12Pt)	9	9	9
Black Text (6Pt)	8	7	8
White Text (12Pt)	8	8	8
White Text (6Pt)	7	7	6
Bitmap Quality	8	7	8

All the cards were fairly close, with the only real problem being 6Pt black and white text.

TV Out Quality

AIW 2006 PCIE	AIW X1800 XL	Sat Receiver

As we've typically experienced with TV-Out with most video cards, the TV output was something of a mixed bag. Movie playback was very good, but the 2D Windows was not terribly strong and will hinge greatly on the supported resolutions of the television.

Capture Quality

We setup a prerecorded trailer of The Village on our satellite PVR and via a S-Video cable, ran the feed to the AIW 2006 PCIE, an AIW X1800 XL, and an ASUS TV Tuner (from the ASUS P5WD2 kit).

AIW 2006 PCIE	AIW X1800 XL	ASUS Tuner

The two ATI tuners share have similar image quality, with no discernable advantage between the two. The ASUS tuner had some colour issues and "patches", though nothing too terrible. Keep in mind that we used the same S-Video cable (from Monster) for all the feeds. Cable quality matters as we'll demonstrate in a moment.

Capture Quality - Cable Specific

Video quality is going to rely heavily on the type of (and the quality) of input cables. Out of the box, the AIW 2006 PCI Express supports three input options for video capture which are COAX, Composite, S-Video. Clicking the thumbs below will open 1.3MB bitmaps, so 56k users beware.

COAX	Composite	S-Video

In order of quality, COAX will give you the worst quality, with Composite in the middle and S-Video as the best. The differences are quite obvious on a decent HDTV or computer monitor, though older CRT-type televisions may not display the differences very clearly.

Final Words

We only had about 5 days to test and compare the ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express with other products, but given that the main difference between this product and the ATI All-In-Wonder X1800 XL is the VPU, we can draw some conclusions we're comfortable with.

Gaming Performance and Image Quality
Image quality was excellent, though the gaming performance is not going to be enough to satisfy gaming enthusiasts. Casual gamers should be fine, and while the All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express can handle the latest games on the market, we don't recommend going over 1024x768. Compared to their last mainstream AIW part, the 2006 PCIE card is far superior to the X600 Pro. However, the XFX 6600 is still a quicker gaming card, but it can't record TV, can it?

As with the All-In-Wonder X1800 XL, CrossFire support is unknown at this time. The problem with the All-In-Wonder cards is due to the multimedia aspects of the parts, they won't play very nicely relegated to slave mode. With the All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express, this could potentially change since the Master and slave component is not required with X1600 and X1300 hardware as two of these cards will be able to communicate across the PCI Express bridge. This is not confirmed for the All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express though, and is merely speculation on our part.

Multimedia Summary
As usual, the multimedia features of the All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express are quite strong given the price. Capture and output quality is very good and should be sufficient in most cases. You will need to spend a little more if you're interested in outputing HD content as the required output block is not included with this model.

The software suite is a strong point here as everything you need for editing and capturing video is included out of the box. It's not as capable as the more advanced software tools, but those will cost more than the entire All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express package.

As already mentioned, we didn't have enough testing time prior to today's announcement, but yesterday ATI released their . While there are benefits for their entire product line, ATI X1000 family owners (this includes the AIW 2006 PCIE and AIW X1800 XL) will be most interested in the as well as making Avivo work a little better than at the initial launch.

Value
We've covered this on a few occasions, but to pull our thoughts from our All-In-Wonder X1800 XL review:

One question or comment that has always come up whenever we publish an All-In-Wonder review is, "why not pick up a dedicated gaming card and TV tuner instead?", which is actually a valid concern. A TV tuner is something you can conceivably move from PC to PC or video card to video card over the upgrade life-cycle of your setup.

However, there are a few drawbacks to this. For one thing, a good TV tuner that is also supported by XP Media Center 2005 (which the post mid-2003 All-In-Wonder products support) is going to easily run you around $100 or more.

It will also eat up one PCI slot as well. This can in turn cause issues if a) You only have one PCI slot (such as setups in SFF PCs), or B) If you have multiple peripherals using slots up. Nevermind the fact that there is some extra legwork keeping different drivers up to date (and possible breaking your primary display drivers).

The All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express' MSRP is $199 USD. Street prices are typically lower. The MSRP of the Radeon X1300 256MB card is about $129, so ATI is charging an extra $70 for an input and output block, extra cabling, Gemstar GuidePlus+, Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 and a voucher for a $50 remote. Compared to the All-In-Wonder X1800 XL, it's not quite as good a value (they charge about $30 more), but that card is close to double the price.

Pros: Good price value compared to the vanilla X1300. Plenty of extras, plus strong multimedia features.

Cons: Not suited for serious gamers. CrossFire support unknown.

Bottom Line: The All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express won't break any records in gaming benchmarks, but it's a much stronger performer than its previous generation brother. It does have an edge in several ways though, mainly with the much improved multimedia features. As far as the competition goes, nobody offers a similar product, so if you're looking for a do-it-all product without breaking the bank, it's hard to go wrong with the All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express.