DVD Software Decoder

[misle]

What is a good Software Decoder for a 12X DVD drive? Is Hardware Decoders really that much better? How much is a good hardware decoder?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[bigbootydaddy]

if you got a strong system you dont need a decoder.

PowerDVD.

 

[madthumbs]

I second that... PowerDVD, and no hardware decoder... the software decoders have surpassed the hardware even for a sub midrange PC.

 

[Soccer55]

I got PowerDVD 2.5 with my video card, and I was wondering if it works under Win2k. For some reason I don't think it does, but if in fact it does, then my dual boot is going out the window and I'm just going to use 2000 seeing that I just keep Win98 around for the DVD and older games that I hardly ever play anyway.

-Tom

 

[barlav]

Again,
Power DVD is the way to go. Great App!!

 

[Zucchini]

intervideo windvd 2k 2.3 has slightly better picture and better sound then powerdvd.

 

[Zeph]

I just got me a 12x DVD and watch all movies on my 19" Sony screen. I have both WinDVD and PowerDVD and use Win2000. The quality of WinDVD and PowerDVD is almost identical...however I think WinDVD has the better picture overall (it's very close). PowerDVD is a little too dark and I can't for the life of me find a brightness button on it anywhere. I almost always use WinDVD.
However, PowerDVD generally fowards and reverses much smoother as well as having a great ScreenCapture utility.

PIII 733
P3V4X
256mb PC133 SDRAM
Voodoo5 5500

 

[Taz4158]

I prefer WINDVD as well.

 

[RossMAN]

misle - Read this WinDVD or PowerDVD thread. I prefer WinDVD's picture quality but PowerDVD has more features like screen capture, etc.

 

[madthumbs]

Whoah!

Picture quality is arguable at best. The only supporters of WinDVD for picture qualitie's arguments as I've seen is for color depth. There are gamma sliders in PowerDVD's settings to adjust these. This reminds me of when video card picture quality was being judged based on the default gamma settings of the drivers! PowerDVD has more options it seems as well. With WinDVD you will want DVD Genie for more options. If anyone argues that WinDVD is better in anyway do it with some comments as to why directed at their latest which is 3.0 I believe. In the past I think WinDVD was better, but now I prefer PowerDVD for the options and the 4 speaker surround is awesome!

 

[Aihyah]

digital-digest.com has reviews of both. windvd wins

 

[madthumbs]

It looks more like they lost to me;


PowerDVD and WinDVD (latest release versions) Comparison Table
Video Audio Features
Quality Performance Support * Quality Performance Support * Captions Capture Interface Internet Zoom
PowerDVD 3.0 A B+ A+ A B+ A+ A A+ A B A
WinDVD 2000 (v2.3) A+ B A+ A+ B A A B+ B+ C B+


Digital-Digest

 

[Nefrodite]

Not really, windvd is still king, look a little harder at this link.

Digital - Digest again!

 

[madthumbs]

Ok, it may be system dependant;

>>&quot;but anyone who can get good quality in PowerDVD might think twice before changing over to WinDVD.&quot;<<

PowerDVD seems better on my system. But I really haven't tested both exhaustively. If I had either one, I wouldn't go out and buy the other.

 

[Aihyah]

I have both Powerdvd is good for watching dvds at multispeed(read subtitles).. something i do sometimes for masses of anime episodes etc. windvd has better sound, it has the subchannel, so it makes my promedias go boom.

What kind of videocard are you running anyhow? I had a hercules prophet ddr, ran dvd overlay at 1600x1200 just fine, now i'm using a radeon. I run these on a sony g400 monitor. I've been using windvd and powerdvd since powerdvd 1.3. and every revision to current.

 

[Turkey]

I tried WinDVD 2000 on my computer and I thought it was pretty good, until I got a HW+ decoder. That thing rules. I thought WinDVD playback was smooth and the sound was good (I have Yamaha YST-MS30's and an AIWA bookshelf system hooked up for bootstrap surround sound), but the HW+ really is amazing. The sound is clearer and better placed, and the playback is incredibly smooth. It's hard to think you'd notice the difference when WinDVD looks smooth, and maybe some people won't notice, but for me it made all the difference. Notice, though, that my video card has no semblance of DVD acceleration. The HW+ also has a TV out if your video card doesn't, and it has DTS output via S/PDIF if your sound card doesn't.

 

[Aihyah]

turkey,

thats probably why,.. cheap videocard = bad dvd playback.. long ago i had a hardware decoder card.. it sucked for playback on monitor. What hollywood+ cards are for is tv output.