DVD player and decoder advice!!

[HOTRODk62]

I am purchasing a dvd player and decoder card for a friend who has a k62 400 system, 128 mb ram, and a 32 mb viper v770 ultra video card. I'm sure he has plenty of guts to run it, but he's wanting to use the decoder card's tv out to run his dvd movies to his 60 inch big screen tv. Is this possible, and if so, how would the picture quality be as compared to say a 25"inch or normal sized tv. Which dvd drive is the best, I've heard Toshiba's are good, and I know to get 3rd generation, but other than that I don't know which brand is best. Also is the Hollywood decoder cards the best out there? are there special kinds of hollywood cards to look for, etc etc. All advice would be appreciated, I have never fooled around with dvd before, thanks in advance :P

[Stan]

Hi

I am currently using the Pioneer DVD 6x/32x Cd-rom. I have never had any problems. This system is built on a Asus P5A-B mobo with an AMD K6-2 400MHz, 128Mb SDRam.
The graphic card is the Mystique G200 with DVD decoder add-on card.

I do think that the Viper 770 is enough to play DVD, but on a 60" TV, maybe not ??? Don't know, to be honest...

Stan

[JerseyJoe]

If his 60" tv has component input, a decoder card with component out would give the best picture. The second best picture would be S-video (provide the run was less than 10 ft otherwise composite might give a better picture.
You did not mention sound, AC-3 is the best for getting the movie experience with prologic second.
joe

[Vidfreek]

Seriously? I would tell your friend to get a real player for his TV, because decoders do not come with a component out as far as I know, plus the TV out options on those things dont offer very good picture quality compared to a real DVD Unit. Plus its not worth the money to buy a package and then go and hook up your computer to your TV. I have them both and I replaced my DVD in my computer for a good ol Cdrom drive because it was absolutely useless while having a real player. Plus your going to have to have a soundblaster Live or something similar to that to get true dolby digital output. If he already has a system, which im guessing he does with a 60 inch TV, a DVD unit for the TV would be a much better value, and again I can tell you this from experience.