I seem to have a problem with DVD playback on my computer (Formerly: What is the best DVD decoder out there?)

[avi85]

Edit: See my post, a few posts down.

What is the best DVD decoder out there?
I'm looking for a nice quality picture, dolby/dts decoding and deinterlacing (software if possible).

 

[almach1]

i heard the nvidia purevideo one is the best if you have nvidia cards. expensive though i think if you want all the dts ect..

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: almach1
i heard the nvidia purevideo one is the best if you have nvidia cards. expensive though i think if you want all the dts ect..

I have a 7600GT and I tried the trial version, but the picture looked pretty crappy, could there be some other problem with my pc which is causing it to look bad?

 

[Auric]

PowerDVD. No doubt. Basic versions are included with many graphics cards and DVD drives which may then be upgraded at lower cost to more feature rich versions (such as DTS, AVC and VC-1 decoding). All the decoders can also be used with any DirectShow player such as Media Player Classic. The video decoders can take advantage of your GPU's hardware acceleration which is especially nice for HD if not olde timey DVD.

'nutha option would be a basic free software video decoder (libavcodec/ffmpeg based) included in MPC, VLC, &c. combined with the audio decoders included with Creative (or other?) sound cards which themselves may be had at very little cost.

I'm not aware of any "free" DTS decoders. Receivers can be had cheap though.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: Auric
PowerDVD. No doubt. Basic versions are included with many graphics cards and DVD drives which may then be upgraded at lower cost to more feature rich versions (such as DTS, AVC and VC-1 decoding). All the decoders can also be used with any DirectShow player such as Media Player Classic. The video decoders can take advantage of your GPU's hardware acceleration which is especially nice for HD if not olde timey DVD.

'nutha option would be a basic free software video decoder (libavcodec/ffmpeg based) included in MPC, VLC, &c. combined with the audio decoders included with Creative (or other?) sound cards which themselves may be had at very little cost.

I'm not aware of any "free" DTS decoders. Receivers can be had cheap though.

I tried power DVD and the picture was interlaced, so when I tried to turn on deinterlacing, software was grayed out and hardware deinterlacing made the picture look worse...

 

[Auric]

I think the trick is to disable hardware acceleration to access the advanced de-interlacing mode options for hardware, set that to none, then re-enable hardware acceleration.

I usually use MPC and CyberLink video decoder's de-interlacing setting accessed from there reflects auto with options for manually forcing bob or weave. Generally that should be unnecessary but given a video-only source it could be set to bob (especially if its flags are problematic) or otherwise for film could be set to weave (same as off and thus saving some CPU).

Additionally, there are some optimization options for inverse telecine and NTSC/PAL in the Nvidia CP (new) under Video colors but I have those at off & none as the former is supposedly not supported for HD on my card and as for the latter I view content in both standards.

Be sure to try different sources while testing.

Nvidia's PureVideo software is ridiculously overpriced and underfeatured ($50 for just MPEG-2 and AC3/DTS). An even worse joke is TheaterTek which just repackages that with another player interface for $90. Avoid.

 

[almach1]

I'm trying the demo purevideo nvidia ones. (my first nvidia card) and they are way better than the ones Vista Prem come with. I get choppy video and audio from those. Went to the trial and all problems fixed. and i get very little cpu utilization also.

 

[Auric]

CPU ultilization should be virtually negligible for MPEG-2 SD given a DXVA decoder since hardware assist has been a standard GPU feature since before they were even called GPU's Even HD (15Mbps 1080) only uses around 10% of my humble rig. I have no experience with Vista's but it seems more likely the configuration was wrong.

 

[bigsnyder]

If you have something like AnyDVD, then Dscaler 5 is excellent. As far as I know, it is entirely CPU dependent, doesn't GPU acceleration.
Something to keep in mind.

 

[craftech]

I have three Sigma Designs Hollywood Plus DVD Decoder cards that I bought at a computer show years ago for around $35 each. They have been transferred from PC to PC and have worked flawlessly under all circumstances with no CPU load. They even worked in a 486.

Sigma Designs no longer makes them but I believe you can still find Creative Labs versions (made by Sigma Designs) on liquidation.


http://liquidationetc.safeshopper.com/47/15402.htm?927


http://liquidationetc.safeshopper.com/47/cat47.htm?927

John

 

[nrb]

If you ask an AV geek rather than a PC geek you will probably be told that TheaterTek is the best DVD player.

 

[Cabages]

I am totally noob to these kinda things, but will these programs also up the quality of video files, and not just DVD videos?