Advice on DVD drives and decoder cards

[darrell]

im about to get my first DVDROM for my computer and was wanting some advice. first, what is the difference between 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation? I want to watch DVDs/VCDs and plan on using a decoder card to output it to TV. A 2nd gen drive i can get for about $25 or so compared to the newer drives costing a lot more. will a 2nd 2Xdvd play movies fine without skips and jerks, or should i go with a faster/newer one? I was planning on getting a Toshiba or Creative. which is better?

as for a decoder card, i plan to get a Hollywood Plus. Is this a good decoder card for playing them back on the TV? or should i just go with a DXR3 (i think thats what they are called).

System Specs:
PCChips M577 MB
AMD K6-2 500
96MB PC100
3DFX Voodoo3 2000 AGP

any advice and help is much appreciated.

darrell

[Warthog]

First and second gen are almost bound to have annoying problems. When those "older" drives were introduced, the DVD technology was relatively new. It's the same deal with CD-RWs. Go for the latest and greatest. You won't regret it at all.

Warthog

[drn]

dont wast your money onthe decoder card as your sys will play them back just fine i have one and i use power dvd 2.55 on two sys with pioneer 6x dvd one it k62 500 and the other is atlon 1.155 gigs the both work great with just the cpu in fact the cpu plays back better than the decoder on my rage fury maxx

if you need power dvd just e mail me and i will send it to you as the demo only plays for 6 min

hope this helps

[Warthog]

Oh yeah...the card.

What system do you have now?

That will determine if you need one or not.

Warthog

[Gomer]

Kind of hard to playback to TV without a card. Just bought the Pioneer 16x40DVD, Hollywood plus kit for $155 ($175 with SH) and it rocks. It is great. Supports both composite and S-video out. Has digital and line out for audio. I watched Saving Private Ryan on it and it was awesome. The nice thing about the card is I can surf the web, use Office, or whatever while watching a DVD on TV without any problems whatsoever.

[johnl_006]

With my computer about 2 years ago i had Zoran's Soft DVD on it, but I haven't been able to get it to work and there was no Software reinstall CD with it! Now all it says is a load of jibberish in a pop-up box and won't start. I have never got it to work. Please help!

[darrell]

thanks for the advice. I think i might go with a newer generation drive but im on a budget so i might try one of the older ones to see how they work.

As for the decoder card, i know i dont need one to be able to play it on the computer. im watching VCDs just fine without any jerks or stutters using WinDVD. but.. like i said in the first post, i want to be able to watch the DVDs/VCDs on the TV so that is why i want the card. I want to get one that will get good quality on the TV. i heard good things about the Hollywood Plus so im just gonna go ahead and get one of those. being able to watch movies on the TV and doing other stuff on the computer at the same time is what i will be doing so the decoder will come in useful.

thanks again for all the help.

darrell

[jak]

i bought the aopen dvd 1640 pro and love it. it has the slot load design and is one of the fastest yet, 16x dvd and i think 40x cd-rom. go to www.myaopen.com (http://www.myaopen.com) im not sure if it is still on sale for $135 but i think youll like it. as for the decoder card, mine is built into my all in wonder 128 which frees up more slots for other ****.
aopen will always rock and is the best brand out there , their motherboards will kick anyones ***. oh dont get the 1040pro their because it is only a buck cheaper and it is only 10x not 16x.

[This message has been edited by jak (edited 08-04-2000).]