I actually have a REAL question :)

[Helevitia]

Since I have never owned a DVD player and I am looking into buying one, I have some questions:

1. Do I need a dvd card or will the Matrox support the drive? If so, how does it connect to the card? or IDE port? or ?

2. Why would it be beneficial to get dxr3 over dxr2? I know it's faster but what for. It's not liek the movie plays slower

3. Do most of you have a CD-ROM and DVD drive ro just DVD?

4. What do you guys have and do you like it? What problems or experiences did you encounter?

Thanks,

Dave

[Haig]

Hi Dave,

1 - Playing it thru software, you need a DVD drive and the dvd player.

Playing it thru hardware, you need a DVD drive, dvd card and its dvd player.

3 - Most DVD drives will read regular cd's.

When you get your dvd drive, make sure that it's very recent because older dvd drives do not support CSS and cannot be updated either eventhough they have a flash bios. The sad part is, the end user will never know whether the dvd drive supports CSS because it is never indicated on its box, packaging, manufacturers web site, etc.

The only way you will know that you have an dvd drive with no CSS support is when you insert a DVD title with copy protection and it won't play.

As most of you know, there will be no dvd module for the G400 cards. Instead, we will release a list of compatable 3rd party dvd cards which will work with our bundled softDVD app along with it seeing the SPDIF out on the 3rd party card.

4 - At work, I have a dvd drive and a cd rom on one system and a cd burner with a dvd drive on another system. Both sets are set up as master/slave with no problems. They are all IDE.

If your dvd drive is scsi, you will run into problems with some dvd setups whether it's software or hardware.

You can get more info from:

http://www.dvdresource.com/dvdfaq/dvdfaq.shtml#1.11

http://www.dvd.com/stories/splash_page/mainpage.asp

Haig

[SteveC]

How can I follow up on the Master of DVD himself? I'll try:

1) Some dvd decoder cards have their own IDE interface on board which you may use, otherwise, it's IDE or SCSI.

2) I don't know. (Haig seemed to casually skip that one too....) Maybe the faster it is, the better quality? Just guessing.

3) I have removed my CD-ROM drive. The DVD Drive I have is a 6x DVD and a 32x CD Drive and so I have no need for a CD-ROM Drive as well. Besides, I don't have the room.

4) I have Pioneer's 6x IDE DVD Drive (103s). Lovely drive! Playing through the G200 gives a lovely picture on a fast system, playing through the G400 is mindblowing! The picture sharpness and colour vividness is amazing, and, of course, there's the DVD MAX!

A few notes:

If you do get the Pioneer 103s, It likes being on it's own on the IDE channel. Also, don't remove the region select jumper on the back! Otherwise you start the 5 region count down. Even putting it back on wont fix it!

NEVER USE ZORAN'S SOFTDVD!!! (Haig will back me up there!)

Um, that's all I can think of at the moment...

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Cheers,
Steve
It's Only A Graphics Card!
(But a damn good 'un!)

[Filmgeek]

Regarding 2.

I assume you're talking about Creative Labs DVD kits when you say the dxr3 and dxr2? I believe this is referring to the MPEG decoder card and not the DVD drive itself. The DVD drive speed in these kits is probably different as well. I don't know what the differences between the dxr2 and the dxr3 are (aside from their price) but it may be in visual quality. But if you're planning on playing thru software, you wouldn't buy one of these decoder cards.

Filmgeek


[This message has been edited by Filmgeek (edited 06-30-99).]

[Filmgeek]

Ok, yeah you're basically talking about Creative's old DVD decoder card (Dxr2) and their new one (Dxr3). Here's some links for the specs on the dxr2 and the dxr3.

Dxr3:

http://support.soundblaster.com/specs/cdrom/interface/ct7240.html

Dxr2:

http://support.soundblaster.com/specs/cdrom/interface/ct7120.html


Filmgeek

[merchant2]

i own the 5x dvd cl drive and dxr2 card. the dxr2 decoder looks good but your desktop display should be set to 256 colors or you get text and bitmap distortions out put to tv is unefected by desktop color depth settings.

the dxr3 fixes this by suporting up to 32 bit desktop color depth. also the dxr3 suport higher resolutions. the dxr2 is recomended to be used at 800x600.

curently my dxr2 is sitting on a shelf and the 5 x drive is in my system waiting for the g400 to show up.

movies played through the dxr2 look great (way better than vcr's even supper vhs.) but if you want something to play just movies on i highly recomend a proscan stand alone dvd player. they come with all the monster cable needed to hook them up s vidieo included too.
and over the dxr2 system it made my jaw once again hit the ground. color was even more clear pitures were even more sharp than before. alien aliens ext.. never looked so good. and the sound well it rocked my world too. i don't know how good the 400 is going to look yet ill let evrey one know when i get mine.

over all for movies i highly recomend a 2nd gen stand alone dvd player and for tyhe few dvd titles out thire and watching a movie on your desk top pick up a 5x 6x dvd drive and use the software decode of the g400. becuase unless yourcomputer sits right next to your tv running video cable s video or composit more than 15 to 20 feet leads to signal distortion i know i ened up putting together a system just to sit on the floor next to my tv. for movies (i had the extra parts except for a case so i used it for movies and burning cd's


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I spend way too much time and money on my 3 systems, and I can't spell worth a dam either

noel

[Helevitia]

Thanks everyone for all of your input. So, from what I understand:

1. I don't need the DVD add on card because Matrox(g400) supports Software DVD, right? Add-on card would take some load off of the CPU?

2. I'll have to so some more research

3. The new creative Dxr3 plays 8X DVD and 32X CD-ROM

Thanks again

Dave

[merchant2]

yes (you don't need an addon card

yes an addon card would releave cpu load

im not sure about cl dxr3 drive being 8x 32x
i thought it was 6xdvd 32xcd rom.

on a side note. for just watching movies from my own personal use. a stand alone player looks better than old tech dxr2 decode card.
i dont know about g400 i don't have it yet.
i will keep you posted.


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I spend way too much time and money on my 3 systems, and I can't spell worth a dam either


noel








[This message has been edited by merchant2 (edited 07-01-99).]

[OrangeJulius]

Am waiting for a bit less than a year when the Kenwood TrueX 80-160X TrueX drives come out in conjunction with Zen Research.

Some more silly standards will be finalized, prices will be lower, everyone will be happy then.

Until then, I just watch DVDs at my friend's house. She just got some incredibly cool DVDs from http://www.dvdinternational.com, one called Tender Loving Care, the other Earthlight. Check 'em out if you're a DVD fan!

[casket]

Helevita,
The DXR3 has a 6x dvd rom and a "custom Sigma Hollywood DVD decoder". Sigma made a better product, and Creative bought it.
6x DVD's offer lower CPU Utilization and sometimes Busmastering capabilities. With a DXR3/Hollywood card, minimum requirements are around a P166, while with a G400, min req. are around a PII-350. Also, DXR3 can decode AC-3 sound(5.1). Only some soft-players can do this...while others downmix to Dolby Pro-Logic/Stereo thru your old sound card. AC-3 requires you have a Sound Card with AC-3 out. As far as I know, although the regular SB LIVE has an SP/DIF... it is not optical... making this card useless. If you have the SBLIVE value... you can pay $45 for an add-on card with optical SP/DIF, that can connect to AC-3 recievers. Also, check out www.x10.com. If your computer is far from your TV... this can be a real bonus. There is a review at www.agn3d.com. Only problem with x10 is it does not support SP/DIF... and is not microwave friendly