what to look for in a dvd drive?

[chipbgt]

OK, im lookin around for dvd drives. now I found some sony 6x drives for 78 bucks. I ready something about being able to read 8.5 gb per side or something. All I wanna do is watch movies. What specs should I look for? Thanks.
PS- heres the link to the one im looking at:
http://www.allstarshop.com/allstarshop/itempg.icl?secid=4&subsecid=79&orderidentifier=ID9402186267963E29764E39126A&dirpage=dir2&itmid=1 029&eflag=0&curitempos=3&numitems=6
And I dont know why the link isnt working but oh well.

[This message has been edited by chipbgt (edited 10-17-99).]

[Vampiel]

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Thats all the info I saw, is this a DVD drive? Although 1 thing to look for is the *Drive Only* this means that it comes with no mpeg2 decoder, witch you CAN get software decoders for free, but hardware ones are alot better but they cost a bit, so if the one that isnt ONLY the drive is about 25bux xtra, you should go for it. Just something to look at. btw a 2x DVD is fine for just watching movies. Getting 6x DVD would be like buying a 50x CD-ROM to just play CD's.

[chipbgt]

apparently I put the wrong link up. stupid sites. anyways, you answered my question. All I need is a 2x at most to watch movies. when you buy a dvd p[layer for your tv, what speed are those considered?

[daveleau]

I believe it is 1x. A 32x cdrom reads a cd 32 times as fast as a audio cd player. If you d=get a 2x, they read cds at 20x. I would go for something in the 4.8 to 6 range (3rd generation) because they read cds at 32. Also you need to consider what video card you have. If it is a POS then you will get a nice but slow picture. Also if you have a tv out you can watch it on tv too. You can also get one w/ a dvd encoder card which is ideal but expensive. i have a Tosh 1200 DVD player (4.8x 3rd gen without a card) and am using a Voodoo 3 3000 w/ TV out. It is good. I get better video than what I say w/ my CL Banshee. Good luck. dave

[bigslammer]

don't know if this helps you but I've got a 2x dvd drive with an old ati rage pro agp 2x video card and all dvd movies run fine at 800x600 resolution and 85mhz refresh rate. so really you don't need much to play movies.

[Donkey]

You should really go for at least a 4.8 or 6X drive. These aren't that expensive and it will good for ages not so sure about the 2nd generation ones. Hardware decoding is by far a better choice than software.

[chipbgt]

OK, I have an ati rage fury agp 32mb. It says it has dvd decoder ability, so hopefully that should be enough. I guess i should get a 6x bcause it if reads cds fast enough I can just take out the plain jane cd player. Thanks guys!

[RobRich]

Since you have a Rage Fury, you do not need an mpeg2 decoder card. The Fury does complete hardware based dvd acceleration, that was one of its major selling point. Just make sure your dvd software can directly utilze it. If its not already installed, check you ATI cd that came with your video card for the ATI DVD Player. This will give you full support for the advanced decoding options on the Rage chipset. For more info check this out:

www.atitech.com/ca_us/showcase/dvd/ (http://www.atitech.com/ca_us/showcase/dvd/)

Also, for more utils plus reviews for almost every dvd drive out there, try:

www.dvdutils.com (http://www.dvdutils.com)

[This message has been edited by RobRich (edited 10-18-99).]

[chipbgt]

Ok, I went to the site you posted about ati dvds, and i looked thourhg my cd..but I didnt see any mention of how to install the program? is it alreayd installed? I cant find it anywhere...HELP!

[RobRich]

Ati didn't include the program on some of their cdrom, they make you order an upgrade (basically at cost). Go to the utilites site I listed above. They should have some freeware/shareware dvd software that is compatible with ATI Rage cards.

[chipbgt]

this is just crazy; why do they make dvd players that cant even handle dvd's on there own? wouldnt that make sense?? but I downloaded the ati player, the update, and the cinemaster deal. Ill try em once the player comes. All this just to watch the matrix...

[RobRich]

If your watching the Matrix on DVD, it's well worth it. It has to be the coolest dvd movie of all time.