The All-In-Wonder 8500 comes choked full of built-in features on the card itself, but it is also vital that the proper software and peripherals are included to support all of these features. ATI doesn’t fall short when it comes to this arena, that’s for sure. Included within the package are all of the cables, adapters, and instructions needed to use each and every possible feature of the All-In-Wonder 8500. The “Installation and Setup User’s Guide” shows you how to connect what, and where. It goes through the setup of every type of connection possible, from simply hooking a cable line to the 8500, to setting up the unit to capture audio and video from a camcorder.

     The package also includes the “ATI Multimedia Center User’s Guide” which goes through the installation and configuration of the multimedia center software. If you want to know how to do it, this is the place to look. I can easily say that these two guides are by far the most detailed ones I have ever come across for a graphics card. There is also a small fold out guide that goes through the installation of the various cables and such in color, instead of the black and white that is seen in the other manuals.

     

     Next up, we come across the series of S-Video In, and Out cables, along with the ATI input adapter. The S-Video Out cable includes a 1/8” mini-plug in case you plan on using the TV Tuner feature with you PC. If you want sound, then you’ll have to plug this into the Line-In or Mic jack of your soundcard, whether it is onboard sound, or an external PCI soundcard. The ATI input adapter provides for four external connections, those being S-Video Out, Composite Video Out, L. Audio Out, and R. Audio Out. This can accommodate for nearly all products you could want to hook up to your PC.

     

     Last up, we have the included software and one feature I have come to love, the ATI Remote Wonder RF remote control. The All-In-Wonder 8500 comes along with the ATI Driver Disc, MatchWare Mediator 6, Ulead Video Studio 5.0, and a CD containing full versions of Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic, and Half-Life: Uplink. This is a nice inclusion on ATI’s part, especially when you consider the popularity of such games as Half-Life, not to mention the fact they can use ATI’s TRUFORM technology. The RF remote control is one that I have come to love. Just as with any other remote, you can control the DVD Player, TV, CD, etc with all of the controls, along with having the ability to control the mouse. Did I mention there are even programmable buttons on the Remote Wonder? Also, as a side note, for all of you wondering, the package does include a DVI to VGA adapter for use with analog monitors.

     Well, as we can see, ATI does not cut short on the package contents for the All-In-Wonder 8500, in fact it seems as though they though of everything. Now, let’s take a better look at the card itself to see what hardware features we can bring to the surface.