ATI MMC version review

[admin]

ATI MMC 7.7 and 8.7 are the two most stable versions of ATI MMC.

7.9, 8.1 and 8.5 were alright on most systems.

7.6 and below are useless for MPEG-2 for DVD. The interlace is flawed, and the quality is not there. Options are lacking too. Almost all older cards can be forced to use 7.9 at minimum, or 8.7 if hacked properly.

8.6, 8.8 and 8.9 are buggy beyond belief. I suggest you avoid these versions at all costs on ATI All In Wonder series cards. Seems to be more failure than success. It may be okay for TV Wonder series cards.

That's my "official" statement, for whatever it's worth to you.

I use 8.1 and 8.7 on my two systems, and I have zero plans to upgrade. If it's not broken, why "fix" it?

The only "value" to the 8.8/9 series was 704x480 MPEG-2 ability, which is the supposed true output resolution of the card (in addition to the half-size 352), but we'll probably have to wait for ATI MMC 9.x series to see it work properly. Other functions from 8.8/9 did not work properly (in addition to install purgatory), and the MPEG-4 capture was useless because it dropped frames (CPU overhead too high).

[indolikaa]

Hello!

As an AMD user, I'll offer my 2¢, since I use ATI MMC on multiple AMD-based computer systems.

I recommend MMC 8.1, which seems to be more stable than MMC 8.7 in an AMD environment. I run Win2000 Pro SP4 and have encountered no problems, even on very long captures.

[lantern]

I have been using 9.0 since it came out. I haven't had any problems with stability, but then I usually only capture in 352x480 or 480x480 for svcd. I will have to try MPEG-4 captures with 9.0. My system is a P4-3.0c XP-home.

[admin]

My review of DIVX from ATI MMC 8.9 is as follows: YUCK. Never.

I love the ability of 704x480 MPEG from MMC 8.9, worth an upgrade IF .. big IF ... the update installs correctly. It took me 3 days of random attempts, one of them about 7 hours long, to get it on without problems. The biggest issue was it refused to acknowledge my tv tuner for the first 2 days.

Glad to hear 9.0 is working strong. I may play with it in the near future on my test machine. It sort of slipped in silently, and 9.0 appears to only be for Windows XP as I last saw it.Edited by: lordsmurf

[lantern]

Anybody have any luck with 9.1? I can't get it to install.

[admin]

Highest I've gone is 9.0 ... which is great.

[Shadow]

Hi,

I'm using the latest from ATI's website (9.1, I believe) and it's working great, although I've yet to try capping any macrovision-protected tapes (I don't do much of that but some of the home videos I cap have sync problems which set off the macrovision). Once I do, I'll try to report back.

I WILL say, however, that it seems as though you have to do a complete, utter and thorough uninstall and removal of every single bit of data on your PC related to ATI (both card and software) before the new software will install correctly. But it's worth the effort.

CORRECTION...actually it might be 9.3..Edited by: Shadow

[admin]

ATI MMC is currently on version 9.03

I am running 9.02 right this minute. It seems to work very well.

For as many years as I can remember, it has always been suggested to completely remove previous drivers and software for many devices. ATI cards are especially important to perform this operation. Not all software, unfortunately, comes in update/upgrade form.

It is unlikely that you will be able to capture copy-protected tapes without hacks or external devices like a TBC.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Version numbers are a funny thing. When you get right down to it, they don't mean much in terms of quality or stability. Newer is not always better.

Some naming/numbering quirks to consider:

- Windows 98SE probably should have been called Windows 2000 to stay in the same naming scheme.
- Windows ME should have been Windows 2001.
- Windows 2000 should have been Windows NT 5.
- Windows XP could have been Windows NT 6 and Windows 2002.

- Nero Burning ROM 6.x.x.x is often considered inferior to Nero Burning ROM 5.5.10.x because of all the new bugs it has in regards to DVD-Video burning.

- Pegasys Inc's TMPGENC encoder had a quirky way of numbering software. It was all version 2.5.x ... where "x" was a number noting the new update. HOWEVER, it did not use leading zeros. Version 2.5.2 was 18 versions before 2.5.20, because they used 1,2,3 ... etc ... 10, 11, 12 ... etc ... up to 20, 21, 22. They should have done 2.5.02 for the second edition of v2.5, or jumped to 2.6.01 after 2.5.9 to fix the naming errors.

- ATI used up the version 8 numbers too fast. They went from v8.0 to v8.9 in about a year's time, and the software barely changed. While v7.x is HUGELY different fro 8.x, 9.x is almost the same as 8.x. They should have started using 8.xx or 8.x.x versions, but seeming waited for v9 to implement a v9.xx system.

- Sonic DVDit! went from 2.5 to 5.1 with no in-between versions!?

- Adobe and lots of other companies are doing screwy things with versions, instead using cutesy names like "CS" and "Elements".

[admin]

An update. For 7000-9000 series cards.

Windows 98/98SE/ME users:
ATI MMC 8.9 is last update

Windows 2000/XP users, with 7000-8000 series cards:
ATI MMC 9.02 is last update

Windows 2000/XP users, with 9000 series cards:
ATI MMC 9.03 is last update

Looks like "legacy" systems and hardware is finally getting cut off.





Edited by: admin

[Shadow]

I noticed on the ATI website that MMC is now up to 9.06.1....should I upgrade to this new one from 9.02? I've been having problems getting my Remote Wonder II software to work correctly and it was suggested that upgrading both the Remote Wonder software and the MMC might fix the issues (I have a 9600XT).

Any feedback on this new MMC yet?

[admin]

Have not moved past MMC 9.02 as of this time.