DvD decoder? Sigma or Creative!!?

[XxSKSTEVExX]

Hey, I plan on replacing my old DXR2 board, I was curious to which decoder looks the best..
I have a 5x dvd-rom drive..

Theres the Sigma Designs Hollywood Plus Decoder Card, or theres Creative's DXR3 card (both cards look simliar)
Anyone have either of these cards? Comments/Advice?

Thanx in advance
-sTeve

 

[Tonec]

Same card, both can use the sigma drivers

 

[XxSKSTEVExX]

can sigma use the DXR3 drivers?

 

[raz]

I'd caution against using Creatives Dxr3 card. It works great and all...but, the damn TV-out port and the plug where your monitor cable goes is so close together I can't use them. My monitor cable is so wide with those damn screws on either side of the plug it's too wide to plug the cable into the TV-out port. Somebody told me the Dxr3's are known for this and that the Hollywoods don't have this design flaw.

 

[Souka]

Uh...the Sigma and DXR are different cards...just because one set of drivers may work on another card doestn' make them the same card.


From what I read when I was looking, the Sigma delievers better image quality...things like more accurate shadows, better data rate capacity (important with complex audio streams), etc....

Problem with the decoder cards is that they require a pass through to watch on your computer monitor. This isn't an issue when using the TV out directly from the decoder card.


I have a decent vidcard and processor...the quality using PowerDVD vs the Sigma decoder was very hard to tell apart...you could see differences, but I couldn't make a determination of which was more accurate......I ended up returning the DVD Card (got all money/shipping back), and still use software decoding for my computer and TV out on my vid card.


My Two Cents....

 

[IamDavid]

I have the DXr3 and like it. The only problem is that the tech support from Creative sucks big time.