My ATI TV Wonder HD 750 USB brief review
 

I've already made a post, but it magically disappeared or just didn't go through. Bummer because I wrote a lot. Well, this time I will be very brief.

I decided to purchase the card because I have heard that it is similar to ATI USB 600 but on top of it it has 3d comb filter.


Capture

User drivers from the installation CD and user of course VirtualDub 1.9. Using drivers from the website will result in inability to select video source. The card will be recognized but the list for video source will be empty. Once you hit capture button it will take a bit less than 10 seconds to adjust. During adjustment it drops frames anywhere from 2 to 7 (minimum 2 and maximum 7 from my observations). Also it adjusts gain from blown up whites to normal. Once 10 seconds pass the image is very similar to that of ATI 600 USB.

However, there are slight differences. This card is more tolerant to unstable (uncorrected) VHS. While during unstable VHS ATI 600 USB can drop a few frames or lose the color to black and white for a few frames (yes, it can), ATI 750 USB takes it pretty well and better.

Another thing is that ATI 600 USB image is way more wavy than that of ATI 750 USB. What I mean is that if there's a vertical bar in the image from a worn out VHS, ATI 750 USB displays it more or less as a straight line, whereas ATI USB 600 displays at a loose vertical rope (wavy). But what I notice is that ATI 750 USB has some selected frames with fields (half frames) way more apart than ATI USB 600. Usually almost every other frame.

I am attaching 2 frames in sequence for ATI 600 USB and ATI 750 USB. Notice how 750frame0.jpg has its fields way too apart whereas 600frame0.jpg has its fields very close to each other. And then next frame 600frame1.jpg and 750frame1.jpg are very similar. Is it some sort of TBC built-in? Anyone has any idea?

600frame0.jpg
Attachment 3480

600frame1.jpg
Attachment 3481

750frame0.jpg
Attachment 3482

750frame1.jpg
Attachment 3483


Gain

I didn't notice way too much problems with AGC except for the 1st 10 seconds. However, in the white level for 750 is a bit whiter than that of 600 and black is just a bit blacker. I am sure it can be adjusted with contrast.

As I previously mentioned ATI 750 is more tolerant to unstable VHS. However, if VHS is too unstable (vertical sync problems) it may or may not drop the frame. But even if it doesn't drop the frame it again takes a few seconds to adjust gain. During that time you will see image with blown up white level which gradually goes back to normal. This is not good.


3D Comb Filter

Contrary to the claims that this card doesn't have 3d comb filter, it actually does. However, this filter is weak. The filter settings are in proc amp are adjustable only visually. I.e. you can make different settings in the dialog box, but they don't take any effect at all.

Also if you select 3d mode, once you click OK or Apply button it goes back to 2D mode. The settings for Adj Line, Adj Frame and so forth don't have any visual effect on the image. However, the filter is there.

It fully eliminated dot crawl. And it does better job than ATI 650 or 550 USB eliminating dot crawl. Because for 650 and 750 it takes 3 frames to get rid of dot crawl. 750 does it with the very 1st frame. It does not eliminate rainbows even on still objects. However, it does reduce rainbows on still images. I have included screenshot for 3d comb filter.

Attachment 3484

Don't delete. :)

I disagree that it's better with unstable VHS. You may be right about waviness; I haven't compared that yet.

Here are a few notes that I made when I was comparing it to Diamond's other USB offering:

• only works in Preview mode for me
• always drops frames at start of VHS capture
• poor vertical sync (jumpy)
• loses sync on RW. FF is fine

I believe the problem you're referring to is how it takes fields from completely different frames and combines them. This was also mentioned on a VideoHelp thread. If you view your video with bob-deinterlacing it should show that it suddenly jumps back in time and then back to normal. It's how the device responds to unstable sources.

Any screenshots or video samples for this? Mine doesn't. Please use the 4:3 test pattern rather than the letterboxed one if possible...

Before I tested it with VHS, I was of the opinion that it's a suitable still-being-sold replacement for the 600 USB, but I changed my mind after that.

I did in fact have the problem when it was jumping to a past frame when I was using very weak laptop with poor performing slow hard drive. But when I used more or less modern Lenovo laptop, I stopped noticing the problem. It sometimes does work with overlay mode for me. Sometimes it doesn't.

I will redo shots from different test patterns and repost them.

What do you mean by RW and FF? Rewind and Fast Forward?

Yeah. Was rewind not unstable for you?

I can't say since I wasn't rewinding and fast forwarding during video capture. :) And why would you do it?

Another thing is that audio is ahead of video by 478 milliseconds during the capture. So I always had to shift it.

During preview.

First post edited for style and presentation. Thanks for sharing it! :congrats:

I'm still not convinced it's superior to either the ATI All In Wonder Radeon cards or the ATI 600 USB cards. I read with interest.
Thus far, in-depth reviews (by video users, not generic know-nothing consumers) seems to be mixed.

EDIT: This thread has crossover with this one. http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...-sale-ati.html

For those that find it via search, or are new to the conversation, read both.

This topic should be renamed to My ATI TV Wonder HD 750 USB brief review. I am about to post My ATI TV Wonder HD 750 PCIe brief review.

Renamed. Thanks for sharing your reviews. :cool2:

I have already reported AGC problems with both 750 PCIe and USB. LaserDisc Video Essentials triggered AGC problems during some scenes for both of these cards. Over the weekend I did capture about 30 minutes of what used to be commercially available factory made VHS of a live concert. I used ATI 750 HD USB. I didn't notice any single AGC problems. What's going on? Could it be that LD Video Essentials sends some weird pulse signals that cause AGC problems?