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  • #1

    DVD... which one?

    Hi!

    I will purchase a DVD-ROM drive in the near future, and I want a hw decoder.
    Should I buy the Matrox DVD module or should I try another hw decoder like Sigma Hollywood etc.?
    Anyway I have a K6-III/450, G400DH32.
    (I would choose the Matrox DVD module because of the slot I'd save)

    Thanks,
    Janos
    Tags: None
  • #2
    The DVD module does not work with the G400, the retail G400 has a bundled DVD player on the CD, it consumes relatively little cpu time and the picture quality is great.

    Rags

    Comment

    • #3
      Get a creative package - I've got the DXR3 card with 6X DVD drive - okay it's not the fastest, but the DXR3 card is a creative version of the Sigma Hollywood DVD+, and as far as I can see, DVD playback is faultless - you can even have multiregion playback via Remote Selector - avalible at www.visualdomain.net I'm writing this emil whilst watching Startrek VI on DVD using beta hollywood drivers under Win2K - system multitasks perfectly!
      What do you want a signature for?

      Comment

      • #4
        Do on search on this. There's been tons of postings on this subject in past months.
        <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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        • #5
          Here's another opinion. I threw out my Creative DXr3 card once I got my G400 working. The video from the G400 is superior to that from the decoder card (no pass-through cable needed with the G400).

          Comment

          • #6
            If you want the fastest/best DVD, then get a Pioneer 15x. Either that, or Aopen(supposedly a Pioneer with different firmware). I recommend the Slot version of the Pioneer(not sure if the 15x comes in one yet, tho).
            I bought the 6X SCSI DVD Slot load drive from Pioneer. I haven't regretted it one bit since.

            Oh yeah, your CPU is pretty good, so I would recommend using the software DVD player you got with your G400(if you don't have it, I am sure someone here is willing to send you one). It really is a great picture.

            ------------------
            Tyan Thunder 100 BX, Celeron 300A@450, 128 ram, G400 MAX, SB Live, 3COM NIC, Hauppauge WinTV(dbx)w/remote, Pioneer 6x SCSI DVD, 100 mb ZIP.
            Epox 8RDA+
            AMD XP 2500+ w/ Alpha PAL 8045
            512mb Samsung PC2700 DDR
            ATI 8500 64mb
            Hercules Fortissimo II
            Tekram DC-315U
            Pioneer DVD 303S
            Pioneer DVR-106
            Zip100 Internal
            Logitech MX 500 Mouse
            Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro
            Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 80 gig HD
            Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40 gig HD
            LG Flatron 795FT+
            Sennheiser HD 570 Headphones
            Altec Lansing 641 Speakers

            Comment

            • #7
              Grail,
              Just to nitpick, the new Pioneers are 16x...
              I've got the the slot load 6x SCSI drive as well, very nice drive.
              Which software comes with the retail G400? I bought an OEM card, and registered the latest version of MGI's SoftDVD MAX this morning. I don't own any DVDs (yet), so I'm off to rent some.

              DS
              Games Box
              --------------
              Windows 2000Pro, ASUS A7Pro, Duron 750@950, 192MB Micron PC133, OEM Radeon DDR, 15gb Quantum Fireball+ LM, Fujitsu 5.25gb, Pioneer 32x slot load CDROM, SB Live! Value, LinkSys LNE100, Altec Lansing ACS45.2, Samsung Syncmaster 955DF, Sycom 300va UPS

              Video Box
              ------
              Windows 2000Pro, PIII700 on ASUS CUBX, 256mb Micron PC133, Vanilla G400/32 (PD5.14), Hauppage WinTV-DBX, LinkSys LNE100, 8.4gb Maxtor HD, 40gb 7200 Western Digital, Diamond Fireport 40 SCSI, Pioneer 32x SCSI Slot load CDROM, Pioneer 10x Slot load DVD, Yamaha 4416s burner, MX300, Panasonic Panasync S70

              Feline Tech Support
              -------------
              Jinx the Grey Thundercat, Mischa (Shilsner?)(still MIA)

              ...currently working on the world's first C64 based parallel computing project

              Comment

              • #8
                the new pioneer drives, including the ten speed recently are all region locked. Previously on the 10 speed it was possible through a firmware update to remove the region coding completely but all the drives now come with locked firmaware. Try and get a pioneer 10speed with a firmware version that begins with a 1 and not a 2. The six speed was always region free so there fine. you may be able to get a scsi one but i reckon all the ide ones are gone due to their greatness.

                Get a hollywood+ card. they're superb and you can get a remote for them aswell. The creatives are based on the same board but there are incompatibilities with the hollywood drivers that have to worked around so the generic boards are easier and in most cases cheaper. If you only want to use your DVD through the tv and not the monitor then you can ditch the pass thru cable completely so it doesn't mess with your picture quality.

                You may find that using the g400 for dvd puts quite a strain on your cpu. 400mhz is the very least required for smooth dvd playback so you're only just above the limit. I could be talking from my rear tho

                ------------------
                Coppermine 600E @ 828mhz (138mhz FSB). Globalwin HSF (the hooge one with the air duct set to blow cold air in)Abit Bx6r2.128mb Winbond pc133, Iwill 2930u scsi, USR Message Modem external, SB Live!, pioneer dvd104s, hollywood plus dvd card, plextor 40x cd rom, Yamaha 8x4x32 CDR, Maxtor Diamond Max 30GB!!@ 7200rpm, G400 @ max settings. Win98/w2k Dual boot. All wrapped up in a big case with loads of fans. Belinea 10 30 40 17" monitor, FPS100 sound system.

                1st system

                Athlon AXIA Y 1Ghz @ 1.40Ghz, coolermaster hsf, Elite K7s6a, 512 MB Crucial DDR RAM, 20GB IBM 7200RPM Hard drive, Radeon 8500le 64mb, SB Audigy, 3 com 10/100NIC, 300w PSU, midi tower, FPS 1600 Surround, Belinea 17" monitor, Intellimouse explorer USB

                System 2

                Athlon TB 1.4 @ 1.5, Zalman Flower in silent mode, Elite K7S6A, 768MB DDRAM, Ati Radeon 8500le 64mb ddr, SB Audigy, 3Com 10/100NIC, 80GB IBM 7200rpm, Liteon 16 speed DVD, Lite-on 24102b CDRW, Songcheer Superwide, USB scanner, Intellimouse explorer, Microsoft keyboard, 19in iiyama Monitor, FPS1600

                system 3
                Abit ST6 RAID, Celly 1.2 @1.4 ,512MB SDRAM, Zalman Flower HSF noisey mode, ATi Radeon 8500le, SBLIVE, 3com 10/100 NIC, 80GB Seagate barracude HDD, 40GB IBM120GXP, 60GB IBM60GXP,Extra highpoint controller card, 16x Pioneer DVD, Pioneer DVR-104 DVD-RW, ATX Full tower case. 300w psu, 17in LG monitor, 20in Samsumg telly, epson stylus colour 880, 200W RMS Surround sound amp with Mission M71 Speakers.
                .

                System 4
                Elite K7S5A, Duron 1.0, 128mb sdram, Coolermaster hsf, 80GB 120GXP IBM, Liteon 16x DVD, Radeon 7200 64MB DDR, SBLIVE.

                Linksys 4 port router/firewall

                512k Cable modem. nice

                Comment

                • #9
                  the new pioneer drives, including the ten speed recently are all region locked. Previously on the 10 speed it was possible through a firmware update to remove the region coding completely but all the drives now come with locked firmaware. Try and get a pioneer 10speed with a firmware version that begins with a 1 and not a 2. The six speed was always region free so there fine. you may be able to get a scsi one but i reckon all the ide ones are gone due to their greatness.

                  Get a hollywood+ card. they're superb and you can get a remote for them aswell. The creatives are based on the same board but there are incompatibilities with the hollywood drivers that have to worked around so the generic boards are easier and in most cases cheaper. If you only want to use your DVD through the tv and not the monitor then you can ditch the pass thru cable completely so it doesn't mess with your picture quality.

                  You may find that using the g400 for dvd puts quite a strain on your cpu. 400mhz is the very least required for smooth dvd playback so you're only just above the limit. I could be talking from my rear tho

                  ------------------
                  Coppermine 600E @ 828mhz (138mhz FSB). Globalwin HSF (the hooge one with the air duct set to blow cold air in)Abit Bx6r2.128mb Winbond pc133, Iwill 2930u scsi, USR Message Modem external, SB Live!, pioneer dvd104s, hollywood plus dvd card, plextor 40x cd rom, Yamaha 8x4x32 CDR, Maxtor Diamond Max 30GB!!@ 7200rpm, G400 @ max settings. Win98/w2k Dual boot. All wrapped up in a big case with loads of fans. Belinea 10 30 40 17" monitor, FPS100 sound system.

                  1st system

                  Athlon AXIA Y 1Ghz @ 1.40Ghz, coolermaster hsf, Elite K7s6a, 512 MB Crucial DDR RAM, 20GB IBM 7200RPM Hard drive, Radeon 8500le 64mb, SB Audigy, 3 com 10/100NIC, 300w PSU, midi tower, FPS 1600 Surround, Belinea 17" monitor, Intellimouse explorer USB

                  System 2

                  Athlon TB 1.4 @ 1.5, Zalman Flower in silent mode, Elite K7S6A, 768MB DDRAM, Ati Radeon 8500le 64mb ddr, SB Audigy, 3Com 10/100NIC, 80GB IBM 7200rpm, Liteon 16 speed DVD, Lite-on 24102b CDRW, Songcheer Superwide, USB scanner, Intellimouse explorer, Microsoft keyboard, 19in iiyama Monitor, FPS1600

                  system 3
                  Abit ST6 RAID, Celly 1.2 @1.4 ,512MB SDRAM, Zalman Flower HSF noisey mode, ATi Radeon 8500le, SBLIVE, 3com 10/100 NIC, 80GB Seagate barracude HDD, 40GB IBM120GXP, 60GB IBM60GXP,Extra highpoint controller card, 16x Pioneer DVD, Pioneer DVR-104 DVD-RW, ATX Full tower case. 300w psu, 17in LG monitor, 20in Samsumg telly, epson stylus colour 880, 200W RMS Surround sound amp with Mission M71 Speakers.
                  .

                  System 4
                  Elite K7S5A, Duron 1.0, 128mb sdram, Coolermaster hsf, 80GB 120GXP IBM, Liteon 16x DVD, Radeon 7200 64MB DDR, SBLIVE.

                  Linksys 4 port router/firewall

                  512k Cable modem. nice

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    I think I'd better forget about softDVD at least on my K6-III. I've seen a Sigma Hollywood Pro 2 card in my machine and it performed much better than the sw decoder came with my G400...
                    I'll try to get a pioneer 6x dvd, and a sigma holly pro card. Maybe a creative kit.. who knows?

                    Thank you all!

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Yanee, I don't know about your CPU but DVDs play flawlessly on my 450 MHz platform w/ Matrox DVD player and Cinemaster engine update.

                      ------------------
                      • ASUS P2B-S, PIII 450MHz, Award ACPI BIOS v1010, 128 MB RAM
                      • MYLEX FlashPoint RAID+ (BIOS v2.02N) running RAID 0 on two 9 GB IBM DDRS 39130D Disks
                      • Diamond MX300 sound card, now with MX25 S/PDIF output
                      • Matrox Millennium G400 Max Dual Head - English
                      • NEC 5FG monitor
                      • Logitech MouseMan Wheel
                      • YAMAHA CRW4416S and NEC Multispin 3x CDs
                      • 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100Mb TX NIC (3C905B-TX)
                      • US Robotics 56K Voice FaxModem Pro
                      • Pioneer DVD-303S SCSI
                      • Note--All SCSI devices (except disk drives on RAID) are connected to onboard AIC7890 U2W SCSI
                      • Mainly running Win98 v4.10.1998




                      [This message has been edited by xortam (edited 08 May 2000).]
                      <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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