ATI's brand new A-I-W 9600 Pro now includes an integrated FM Radio built into the TV tuner module... AT LAST!!!
There are now two antenna inputs for the little silver box in the card... one for the TV & one for the FM radio.
Reviews that I have read say the radio is very quite indeed (must be the shielding).
The 9600 is selling as fast as ATI can produce them. It is one hot card... both in sales & in performance; almost as fast as the 9700 Pro but with an addition of the FM Radio and a new Remote Wonder II all at a very reasonable price of around $240.00 (US).
As Philips (the maker of the little silver TV / FM Radio box on the A-I-W card) now has a standard TV / FM Radio tuner, I think that ATI may very well include an FM radio in all future A-I-W video cards as it has been the one big missing item in ATI's multimedia approach to video cards.
Soooo... Where is all this leading ?
As the biggest video card maker on the planet now includes an FM Radio, is it time for JRiver to reconsider adding FM radio function to Media Center ?
Adding this function to work with ATI's new 9600 Pro would be a first in the industry of media players & would really enhance Media Center 10.
The experience gained by JRiver could then be applied to adding FM radio functionally for other cards that also have FM Radio.
What do you think?