DVD playback

[psuedo-HiPP]

this may sound a little dumb but;

i am trying to get my secondary system set up to play DVD movies on here are the specs

Pentium pro 300mhz,
64mb ram
8mb sis video card (agp)
sound blaster 4.1 digital sound card
dvd-rom 16x drive
windows 98se

now the 'beast' will play dvd's but playback stutters a high amount, and i was wondering if a 'hardware' playback card or improved video card would help at ? the only reason i am pursuing this is that the system is alot quieter than my main athlon system and (assuming that i can get reasonable playback) would be better for watching movies on due to much lower levels of sound pollution
any feedback will be appreciated

i have stripped the system down to having the bare minimum programs running on start up, systray, and explorer, so i dunno what else i could do to squeeze the last bit of performance out of it without proper upgrading of it

[tricktx]

For DVD playbak. Fist close all applications in the background. Press CTRL ALT DEL and close evrything except Explorer and Systray then start the dvd app.

If this still doesnt work then there are two options. A decoder card or a graphics card.

The decoder card is a solution. I have a Creative DXR3 decoder card and it is fab but with cheap graphics cards now out they have become obserlete.

So for graphics your best bet is a ATI RADEON VE card which has "SUPERB" dvd playback and is around £30-£50 depending where you get it from. I own one and can assure you they are very good at DVD playback+TV -out. So this is your best bet.

So you can
1. Get one one ebay for around £20 ish if you want or
2. Get one from retailer

http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-search.asp?action=search&stab=ref&ob=manufacturer&cs=Home

for £35.

The choice is yours......


Richard

[psuedo-HiPP]

thanks i'll give it a go

[RayH]

Any ATI, even Rage graphics, have DVD hardware accelerators that work. I have one in a P2-233. It works with no problems. But if you get an ATI card, make sure the DVD player comes with it.

But if you are going to pump too much into it, you might be better off getting a stand alone unit!

[psuedo-HiPP]

so far i've spent £20 on the soundcard i got the main part of the system as a 'hand me down' and i swapped the dvd-rom from my main system so another £40 or so being spent on a better graphics card won't bother me, i'd just like to have the system (and the speakers i have hooked up to it) getting used for something more than just mp3s.
so any ati made card? this seems to be the general opinion, also price isn't to big a concern as i am going on holiday to thailand next week - this is where i intented on buying the card so the price will be further reduced *hopefully*

[Lycia]

Originally posted by psuedo-HiPP
this may sound a little dumb but;

i am trying to get my secondary system set up to play DVD movies on here are the specs

Pentium pro 300mhz,
64mb ram
8mb sis video card (agp)
sound blaster 4.1 digital sound card
dvd-rom 16x drive
windows 98se

now the 'beast' will play dvd's but playback stutters a high amount, and i was wondering if a 'hardware' playback card or improved video card would help at ? the only reason i am pursuing this is that the system is alot quieter than my main athlon system and (assuming that i can get reasonable playback) would be better for watching movies on due to much lower levels of sound pollution
any feedback will be appreciated

i have stripped the system down to having the bare minimum programs running on start up, systray, and explorer, so i dunno what else i could do to squeeze the last bit of performance out of it without proper upgrading of it

Off topic, but where did you get a Pentium Pro 300mhz???

Hollywood makes an add in Hardware decoder for about $55

[psuedo-HiPP]

dunno where the cpu came from originally, however that is what it says on the my computer properties tab but on start up it claims to be a celeron so take it as u will - it is still a 300mhz intel machine. the processor i have is a slot one so it is more likely a celeron than a P pro but i didn't really thiink about that when i posted

also i tried using a tnt2 graphics card in it today and playbac was still stuttering (just as badly) so do ati cards have much better dvd decoding features ?

[tricktx]

In my view an ati card is just as good as my decoder card, so 55 for a decoder or 30 for a graphics card which also has 100's of other features. also does it stutter on al your dvd's or just some

[Lycia]

Originally posted by psuedo-HiPP
dunno where the cpu came from originally, however that is what it says on the my computer properties tab but on start up it claims to be a celeron so take it as u will - it is still a 300mhz intel machine. the processor i have is a slot one so it is more likely a celeron than a P pro but i didn't really thiink about that when i posted

also i tried using a tnt2 graphics card in it today and playbac was still stuttering (just as badly) so do ati cards have much better dvd decoding features ?

LOL! sorry, you own a celeron. The first PII's show as a PPro in properties..I forgot about that...

Yes, ATI is better at DVD playback than nVidia, especially that early of a card. Newer cards, or cards released recently have probably closed the gap some, but I'd still pick ATI over nVidia for DVD playback..