DVD Hardware or Software Decoder

[yuris]

I am configuring a new PC I am about to buy. It is going to be based on 733MHz Pentium and will most likely have 32 MB GeForce 256 video card. This PC is intended to be used by a student, it will be with him in his dorm, and he wants a DVD to be able to watch a movie on occasion. My question is: should I include DVD hardware decoder card, or with 733Mhz Pentium and a good video card it is really would not make a difference?

Would appreciate all opinions. Thnx in advance.

[MOF]

I've seen a PIII 733 with software decoder for DVD and it looks pretty good but not as good as my PII 350 with hardware decoder. Most notably in high motion scenes on the PIII you will notice a slight loss in frame rate. But for the occassional movie it is fine.

Regards MOF

[yuris]

Would you recommend a specific decoder card?

Originally posted by MOF:
I've seen a PIII 733 with software decoder for DVD and it looks pretty good but not as good as my PII 350 with hardware decoder. Most notably in high motion scenes on the PIII you will notice a slight loss in frame rate. But for the occassional movie it is fine.

Regards MOF

[Gasman]

Have a pop along to this site.
http://www.7thzone.com/

I have a geforce card and also a Hollywood based dvd card.
And I would say that yes the dvd card is better than the geforce at picture quality and also speed. But only if your quite picky about these things.
To use the dvd card to display movies on your monitor it uses a pass thru cable from the geforce, which lowers the quality of the image to your monitor.Whether your playing movies or not!
The dvd card cannot handle the high refresh rates that the geforce is capable of producing.
What I do is only use the dvd card to send a signal to my widescreen tv, using an s-video cable. And ignore the pass thru cable altogether.
If I want to watch a dvd on my monitor I use WinDVD which performs very well with a geforce.
The cpu you are using is plenty fast enough to get good results from using Windvd.
So for occasional use I wouldnt bother. If you do get a dvd card then I can reccomend the Hollywood card for good performance and price.


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P3600e@800 with Alpha PEP66
BF6 Mobo
CreativeGTS
Vortex2 sound
Iiyama VisionMaster Pro450

[miha76]

For waching movies on the PC monitor you don`t need hardware decoder MPEG II card, it while only scruw up your 2D picture from graphic card.

For better frames in the movies try Power DVD they are very good and movies was smout on my old K6-2 450@518

If you planig to wach movies on the TV then it must be hardware decoder, cous it hase better quality picture.

So conclusion,.. for waching on the PC monitor you don`t neeed hardware decoder card.

[Luis G]

On a friends computer we saw the differences between his dxr3 card and PowerDVD, no differences at all, video quality was perfect and smooth in both modes. Now he use dxr3 card to watch movies in his TV, and PowerDVD to watch them in his monitor.

BTW, he has a PIII 450MHz, 128MB of RAM, and an i810 video card.

[drjohnsn50]

If I buy a hollywood decoder card will I be able to use its tv out for more than watching DVD movies? I have a lot of Divx movies and other formats of movies on my hard drive so could I watch them on my tv also? Thanks

Jared

[BB2K]

DXR3/Hollywood Plus cards can only output: MPEG, MPG, DAT and DVD's.

If want to output MOV, ASF or AVI get a graphic card with a TV OUT.

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The PC is only a tool make great use of it

Current System:
QDI ADVANCE 5/133E
128MB PC-100 Ram
PIII 700E
Guillemont 3D Prophet 32MB AGP
Sound Blaster Live Value
ADAPTEC 2904CD SCSI CARD
TEAC CD-R56S-600 6x24 CD Writer
18.2gb Maxtor Diamond 36 UDMA 66
Creative DXR3 + 6 x DVD-ROM
CTX VL950ST 19" Monitor

Why not give my site a visit Urbanhype2k

[MOF]

I've got the PC-DVD setup where the DVD decoder uses the feature connector on my TNT2 card and there is no signal degradation because there is no double looping of the video signal. Pity they don't make the Lux Sonor card anymore, it is a great setup and works well. On my PII 350 while playing a DVD at 1024x768 fullscreen the processor usage is at 5%!

Regards MOF