G200 & DVD

[matrox4ever]

Hi,

I have an 8MB (SGRAM) G200 and a Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM drive. It runs DVDs very smooth on my Celeron 300a o/c 450MHz but only at 16bit color resolution. I'm wondering if adding another 8MB SGRAM memory would help. I would like to leave my settings at 24bit or 32bit without having to set it to 16bit whenever I play a DVD. I'm using Cinemaster '99 to play DVDs. Or should I buy the DVD module instead? Thanks.

[Kruzin]

The extra RAM won't help.
The DVD module would, but due to some software issues in the Zoran software (which must be used to take advantage of the module), you would be restricted to using old 4.xx series drivers.

If you are going to spend money on it, spend it on a g400.

Otherwise, you'll want to switch to 16bit. If you make up some display schemes, you can use quickdesk to jump from 16 to 32bit very quickly...

[This message has been edited by Kruzin (edited 28 December 1999).]

[Brian R.]

I take you to mean that you are unable to run DVD at 32 bbp smoothly. If so, that is no surprise. The G200 is not great at DVD without the addon card. I have the addon card on one of my computers and it runs 1024x768 at 32 bbp fine (450 MHz PII).

I think that I would invest in a G400 instead of the addon card. The G400 is worth it in my opinion. The addon card is very difficult to find anymore and was never cheap ($100). That is about the cost of a G400 SH. Get a DH and get huge flexibility.

Forget 24 bbp. Not usable.

[matrox4ever]

Thanks, I'll consider buying a G400. I really hate to let go of my G200 cause it's worked really well for me but I've been wanting to get a G400 for some time now so I guess this is a good excuse.

[Motoki]

Hi,
I've got a G-200 and a Hitachi GD-2000 DVD-ROM. I was all set to buy the soft-DVD at Matrox's site for $10 and then I saw it says it doesn't work with AMD cpus. Is this true? Anyone have experience with this? I have a K6III 450 cpu and want to play DVDs but don't want to have to get a different processor to do it. As far as this AMD incompatibility, does this go for the G200 hardware DVD add on module as well? For the G400? I know they all use Zoran so I want to make sure before I go buying anything or upgrading.

Thanks

[mynx]

It's true for the hardware add on also. If you want to fool around alot, a work around was posted. I gave up and just used the cinemaster player with the G200.

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Matrox G400 32mb DH, K6-2/450 448@112, Epox MVP3G-M, 128 mb PC 133, WD 8.4gb, Pio 32x CDROM, LS-120, Adaptec 2940U2W, Yamaha CDRW4416, Pio DVD-303, Diamond S90, 3COM 3c509, HP 712c, HP 6200

[Motoki]

Hmm, is the Cinemaster a software only player or do you need to buy a hardware board for that as well?

[Brian R.]

Cinemaster is a software DVD program which needs no separate DVD hardware. It is provided with the G400 which has no hardware DVD decoding.

[GlowStars]

Software Cinemaster 99 works great with AMD K6 cpus - in fact its the only one that's fast enough, IMHO. I use it with a K6-III 400 and a PCI G200.

Cheers

[Bixler]

Motoki:

The DVD Hdwe module from Matrox will work with the G200 on an AMD...it does on mine, but the Zoran interface is buggy, and Matrox can't get any driver support since Zoran was swallowed up in an acquisition. Even though I've got one (DVD Module-->G200 Marvel), it's hard to recommend it. In theory it is a wonderfully elegant solution/approach to computer DVD. You don't need an IRQ, no pass-thru cables to degrade picture quality, no load on the processor (true multitasking is a snap!). But the interface software is crap!!! And you're stuck with older drivers. Even though it isn't apparent, Matrox IS trying to resolve these problems.

If you can get one with the clear understanding that you can RMA the sucker, you might want to see if it'll work. Just don't expect one of those snap installations if you do.



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AMD K6II 333
on SOYO SY5EMA
128M 8ns PC100 SDRAM
Marvel G-200 TV
w/DVD HW Card
Promise Ultra 66 HDD Controller
Win 98--running 98 Lite
(A GREAT program)