A real-time audio webcast of the presentation will be available at http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/conflobby.zhtml?ticker=AMD&item_id=1473686

A replay of the webcast can be accessed at this site approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live event and will be available for 30 days after the conference. The webcast will also be available at www.amd.com for 30 days.

Hi folks. Yup....I missed Sunday. I was out of town all day. I'm here at work now, actually on special assignment for 6 weeks on day shift, Monday thru Thursday. Been so long since I worked those hours I dunno how to act!

OK, by now you know the drill:
Hi there. Let me take a minute to introduce myself. I'm Uncle Bob, a Mod here at PC Perspective. We will be running a series of articles within the forum that will be called Mod Interviews. I ask revealing, embarrassing, stupid, probing questions of Mods and hopefully you get to laugh with us at ourselves and in the process get to know some of us better. Beware, not all the Mods are as forthcoming as you may like, I do my best to uncover the truth, but haven't always hit the mark!
Here we have a fellow old fart and a personal friend of mine. Brad has tried (to the best of his recollection) to be honest and forthright....(insert trumpets, 21 gun salute and tickertape parade). I am pleased he agreed, it could only be that he was feeling pity on another old fart, i suppose.... I give you number 9 in the series: BWM

1. I realize many of the mods here are in a witness protection program of some sort, but can you give us your real name?

Brad.

2. Why did you join PCPer/AMDMB?

I came here first in late 2001 looking for info on MSI motherboards. I liked what I saw and haven't visited any other forums since. This is my home in the PC market/industry.

3. Which forums do you mod?

Storage, MSI, Folding, and Trading.

4. Why do you keep coming back?

Everything I need to know about the consumer PC industry and market is right here. No need to go anywhere else except to the websites of component manufacturers for official information. The credibility of other sources has disappointed me greatly.

5. What was your first experience with a computer?

Back in the D/ARPANET days. Can't go into further detail.

6. Do you prefer to be called a "geek" or a "nerd"?

I like old fart better but geek will do in a pinch.

7. What exactly do you do here at PC Perspective?
Try to help people as best I can, recruit members for the Folding program.

8. What do you like most about your “job�? I realize it’s actually a rudimentary form of slavery or servitude, but you are still here…can you explain this to our readers?

It's all about the people, members and fellow mods, helping people fix problems, making PCPer better, and bust'n spammers .

9. OK, we all know this is coming… What do you like least about your job?

Having to deal with unruly members from time to time. Thankfully I haven't had to infract one yet. That's not my idea of fun, but it is a responsibility.

10. How long have you been active in PC Perspective?

Since joining in December of 2001.

11. Where are you most active here? What is it you suppose that draws you to that particular area?

The folding forum. Its special for me because many of us have or have had real life experiences that bind us together in and for the cause. I also like the hot babes bar

12. What interests do you have outside of PC Perspective. Don't be shy, if you don’t have a life outside of here, many readers would like to know!

My sons and their families, electronics engineering, metrology, folding, shooting, hand loading ammunition.

13. OK, it’s hardware time! Let’s start with your most, or current favorite piece of hardware. Tell us about it.

Has to be my folding farm consisting of four rigs with dual-core processors that fold 24/7 come hell or high water.

14. Software? Hey, if you are a closet Linux user, now’s the time to come out. (If you are a closet Microsoft user, don’t be afraid, we can keep a secret!)

I hate M$ junk with a passion but I run win-xp in order to try and be more helpfull here at PCPer.

15. OK, let’s get real personal. Witness Protection Program be damned… Can you tell us something about yourself you’d like us to know?

I'm a hell-raising old fart and dirty old man.

16. What can you tell us about your job? Hey, if you do something illegal, now’s a good enough time as any to make a clean start!

I'm retired. Served 10 years in the USAF as an Avionics Technician, much of it in Vietnam and Thailand. Graduated from college as an EE, spent the rest of my working life as an electronics engineer in aircraft flight test instrumentation, telemetry, and metrology. I maintain several FCC, FAA, and NBS/NIST certifications and membership in three standards setting bodies.

17. Where do you live? (Be fearless, your secret is safe with us..)

The South Bay area of San Diego California.

18. What can you tell us about your family??

I'm a widower with two sons, both are in the US Navy.

19. Here’s a delicate one… How old are you and where did you grow up?

I'm 58, born and raised in San Diego California.

20. Well, we are getting to the end of it, it’ll all be over soon, I promise. What would like to say to our forum members, go ahead anything. Get it off your chest. We have all day here.....

Join us in making PCPer a better place, more vibrant, more alive, more helpful, more enticing, and more welcoming to new members. And if you're not folding, then get yer arse in gear!!

A reader posed a question to me recently in regards to the ATI Updates Vista Driver article: what about the All-in-Wonder line up?

In its current state, the All-in-Wonder cards from ATI, such as the X1900 AIW card I reviewed as recently as February 2006, will play your games, but not your TV.  Any of the features you loved for your TV inputs or video capture using your All-in-Wonder cards are not functioning under Windows Vista at all.  But why??  With Media Center Edition such a prominent part of the OS release, how could AMD have left out the AIW series from support?

As it turns out, the issue is more complicated than that.  Here is an initial quote from AMD's team:

Due to an architectural issue in Vista, TV/Capture functionality is not supported in Windows Vista Media Center (and all other applications that run as a service).  As a result, we have not been able to qualify a WDM capture driver for All-in-Wonder products under Vista.

We are working hard with 3rd party software vendors to ensure compatibility with All-In-Wonder products.  Snapstream, for example, will shortly release a version of BeyondTV for Vista that works with All-In-Wonder.  The current POR is to use this application to qualify the All-In-Wonder capture driver.

Being the ever-inquisitive person I am, I tried to find out more about this "architectural issue" that was causing the users of AIW cards to forfeit their TV and capture functions in Windows Vista.  It turns that with DX10 in Vista, Microsoft no longer allows an application that runs as a service (typically one that runs in the background without user knowledge) to call or access Direct 3D to make a 3D surface. 

This causes a problem for the ATI All-in-Wonder card because it uses a D3D surface to capture video from hardware; basically anything that is displayed from the graphics card is being rendered on a 3D plane, even if it is two-dimensional video.  So, since Vista's Media Center application runs as a service, the AIW capture drivers can NOT access D3D and won't function.  The upcoming BeyondTV app that AMD mentioned above does not run as a service, and thus the AIW driver should then function. 

In terms of applications, another interesting note is that ATI has discontinued the development on Multimedia Center (MMC, their current Windows XP software offering for TV and DVR features) and have created a new application dubbed "Catalyst Media Center" for upcoming multimedia products.  AMD/ATI is planning to have this software ready sometime in 2007, but because CMC runs as a service, it would have the same issues with All-in-Wonder cards that we are talking about here under Windows Vista. 

Another interesting note is that this limitation does not affect AMD's stand alone TV tuner/capture cards.  These devices use AVStream drivers to capture video and thus don't require the Direct 3D interaction to function.  This problem only affects AIW cards because it is a combination graphics/capture device and has to use a different driver model. 

AMD has told me they are actively looking for a work around do the AIW issue, but that the real solution would to have "Microsoft fix D3D."  If it does happen, we probably won't see it until the first Vista service pack, planned for late in 2007 or early 2008 as I hear it. 

So for now, unfortunately, for users with All-in-Wonder cards and Windows Vista, you are out of luck.  Since we heard in late August of 2006 that ATI was going to discontinue the line, we knew support moving forward for existing AIW card users was going to diminish but certainly didn't think that Vista would eliminate the main purpose of the product completely.  Hopefully ATI can find a solution (or hell maybe even Microsoft) so that ATI fans can get back to watching and recording their TV shows. 

Please jump into our forum to talk about this new revelation in the world of Windows Vista....