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I'm getting a DVD Drive, anything I should know?

M

MrGrim

Golden Member
Hi, I just realised how cheap DVD drives are so I decided to get one. I'm thinking about getting the x12x40 Hitachi DVD . Apart from the drive do I need a decoder card of some sort? I know that you don't with some video cards, I own a V5 5500. What do you guys think?

Thankx in advance
 
With current CPU's being so fast you really do not need a seperate decoder card. Those were almost a necessity when CPU's were slower and they couldn't handle decoding the stuff, reading it off the DVD and playing it all at the same time.

I use a Celeron 550 for my testing and that will play decode DVD's fine at 1024 x 768.

See if the kit you're buying has any sort of software. Otherwise pick up a copy of WinDVD or something similar. All are pretty good.
 
Thanx for your quick answer. 🙂 So is there a difference in performance between drives? I have a pretty decent CPU so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
I have the same video card with a duron running at 1ghz. Dvd's play perfect. I have a toshiba dvd drive that I got from buy.com. It is good but it does not come with software. You will need something like windvd or powerdvd.
 


<< Apart from the drive do I need a decoder card of some sort? >>

You need a *decoder* of some sort. It doesn't have to be a card though, Software decoders are avaiable. For use on a monitor I highly recommend WinDVD 2000, (see John's link) it's a fantastic player.

The only advantage to hardware decoders is that the TV-out quality is very very good on a Hollywood Plus compared to most video cards.
 
Unless you dont have a dvd player for your tv, why would you buy a dvd drive to begin with? Not trying to crap on your decision, to me it just doesnt seem like a worthwhile investment since there is no software that is out on dvd. I'd rather watch dvds on my tv that on my computer.

--Ben
 
Thank you all for you replies. I'm a student with not much money to spend. I have a small 14&quot; TV in my room but a 17&quot; monitor, that's why I'm not bothered about &quot;hard&quot; decoders and TV out quality.

Thank you all for your help
 
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