What's the best DVD decoder software? Or card?

[Macro2]

I was thinking about adding a DVD ROM drive. Is software good enough or should I opt for a decoder card or?
Athlon 900 w/128 MB Ram, Toshiba 16X/48X DVD drive.
Voodoo 3 3000.

Thanks, MAc

 

[Noriaki]

The only reason you might want a Decoder card is for TV-output.

The TV-output on a Hollywood plus is much better than the Voodoo3s and GeForces I've seen. The Rage Theatre chip on the Radeon is close...but since you don't have a Radeon it's moot.

If you just want to watch on your monitor go software. You need about a 400Mhz CPU and a video card with good 2D output.
Various video cards have various hardware assist functions, but as long as you have a fast enough CPU you can run in pure software mode and then the only thing on the Video card that matters is 2D quality.

Ed: on a monitor hardware vs software is very close in display quality.

I would recommend WinDVD 2000, with a runner up of PowerDVD 3.

WinDVD has 2 key advantages in my mind:
[*]Nicer laid out right click menus, which you use for control in full screen mode
[*]Downmixes LFE channel so you get all the bass effects in 2 or 4 speaker mode.

If you are using 5.1 analog mode or SPDIF passthrough to an external decoder the sound one doesn't really matter.
Another benefit of WinDVD is that it supports the hardware playback functions of the Radeon, but we already agreed you don't have one, so that's moot to

PowerDVD 3 does have a nicer interface panel, but I always find myself using right click menus for controls (play,stop,puase,etc), and I find the right click menus are more nicely laid out in WinDVD.

 

[ledzepp98]

i like windvd2000 also and with your system you shouldn't have any problems with software

 

[Macro2]

Thanks.
What about ZingDVD or isn't there one called Cinemaster?

Mac

 

[ledzepp98]

i've never used zing but i didn't like cinemaster. it worked fine but i just prefer the layout of windvd2k (especially the right-click menu as noriaki pointed out)

 

[Pariah]

I think he means Xing DVD player. It's quite old and not very good. I prefer PowerDVD vs WinDVD simply because PowerDVD has better play controls. PowerDVD has variable fast forward/rewind controls which are quite useful for browsing through DVD's or backing up a bit if you missed a line or something.

Ed: To answer the original question, if you plan to use TV out or AC3 out to a receiver, a hardware solution is highly recommended, otherwise, software is fine.

 

[Lucky]

Huh...so on a monitor a DVD decoder doesnt help squat? (with a 600+ processor/256 ram?) Im running a voodoo 3 3k too.