DVD newbie.

[EvilDonnyboy]

I just got a Toshiba 16X DVD drive for my rig with a Mattrox G400 32mb. So I'm wondering, if I've missed anything for maximum DVD quality on my desktop. I'm currently using PowerDVD 2.55. I only plan on listening to DVD's using headphone's or a 2.1 speaker setup. Is it worth it to upgrade to version 3.0 for PowerDVD?


I got DMA enabled on the drive and everything. Task manager says PowerDVD is only using about 33% of cpu time when playing DVD's; DVD's run at a nice 29.9fps. So speed isn't a problem.

But image quality seems kinda sketchy. Maybe it's because my expectations are too high, or Matrox kinda sux at playing DVD's (overlay, upscaling, all that crap). Mabe it's just because the DVD i was watching (I've only watched James Bond: TWINE special edition as of yet).

Just mention any tips you think that might help me out.

[dZeus]

imho WinDVD and Cinemaster (the one available from shop@matrox) have a 'cleaner' image than PowerDVD. Though it's difficult to compare without 2 identical monitors and graphic cards side by side.

[SteveC]

See if you can get hold of A Bug's Life or something like that where the picture is totally computer generated and see what the quality's like then. In Bug's Life especially the picture is so fantastic that any poor qualities will show up then.

[EvilDonnyboy]

Ok ty. I'll see if I can get myself a copy of winDVD, Bugs Life DVD and/or Cinemaster.

edit: I just took a look at the trial version of winDVD, and with the TWINE DVD, it looks worse than PowerDVD. I'm just guessing, but maybe it's because PowerDVD uses weave de-interlacing and WinDVD is using Bob.