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DVD question?


Sam_D

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Hollywood+???

just a sugg.

I know my dvd is a little slower, but i got a toshiba 8x and spinning or any other noise is totally non-existant.

I was surprised myself at how quiet this thing is, which leads me to believe it is worth it to get a reputable brand dvd player.

(actually mine wasn't to much. $165 cnd)

Also i read somewhere about somebody complaining about his "slot load" dvd player scrathing his dvd's. (might even have been this board, i don't remember)

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I've never heard about such a product. ATI is the only company can could make something like this, but it dont think it's out yet. You can get a ATI TV WONDER to get the TV In... But the TV Out can only be on the video card. And cheap? Well, I dont think that a prototype TV OUT PCI would be cheap... Buy a good video device with TV Out, gonna be cheaper.

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???

I'm talking about the "Hollywood plus mpeg decoder card" from Sigma Designs.

Maybee you don't need hardware decoding but it does have a "tv out" (and reviews rate it better than any vid.card tv outs)

and for 80.00cnd or so it's plenty cheap.

Also capable of ac3 (you need ext. amp for this i think)

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The RealMagic Hollywood + Card is a good way to go. Really clear DVD playback on the monitor and looks even better on a TV, pumps out AC-3 Dolby Digital Surround, or Dolby ProLogic surround (of course stereo sound). Supports; DVD, MPG, DAT (Video CD), VBS and ABS files. Goto the realmagic website to find out more specs. I'm happy with the card, except for the fact that they haven't come out with any new drivers in a while. If you want to watch DVD on a tv, you won't get anything better the a Hardware Decoder card. The DVD quality is much higher than a TV-Out on a graphics card using a software decoder.

Here's the link. Again PC-Gamer and Maximum PC both rate this card pretty high.

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/hollywood_plus.htm

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There are certain DVD's that don't function fully with that card, those "isssues" should all be fixed when their new drivers come out. (Anytime this or next month) On my setup, my Hollywood + card is hooked up to my VCR, which then transmits the DVD video to a twenty something year old TV via Coaxial cable, and I'm still surprised of the image quality, imagine if it was connected via an S-Video or component video, OH MY!!! If there's any more questions about this card, we should start a new post in the computer section or something. Seeing as this is the Promedia section and all!

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I would just like to add.

I rent an av. of 2 to 3 movies a week and own 50 dvd's so far. The only movie i wasn't able to watch on my H+ was the last 007 movie and the odd special feature section on certain movies (happened about 4 times so far) this has been a little over a year now.

So i think this card is pretty good biggrin.gifbiggrin.gif

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Good Point Baz, I haven't watched that many DVD's on my Hollywood +, but I've never had any problems. There was the thing about Sigma Designs disabling 4-Point surround with 1.82 drivers but found a way to fix this. Other than that minor technicality, the card works like a dream!

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Nice catch Datsun83Z - thanks for bringing that to everyone's attention.

That is really weird. I don't know what Pioneer was thinking when they did that one I was in such disbelief that I looked up the specs DVD-A06S pdf and sure enough, bottom of page 2 in red "Digital Audio Output for Slot Models"

That is really wack. The only thing I don't like about slot is the possibility of dust etc. getting inside.

------------------

1GHz TBird

Abit KT7A-RAID

FOP38 & CuShim

Kingmax 256MB PC150

Annihilator2 32MB GTS

Intel Pro100+Management NIC

Promise Ultra100

IBM 75GXP 45GB & Maxtor DMP6800 27.2GB

Plextor 16X10X40A Sony 12X DVD

SBLive! 5.1

Sony CPD-G400 19" Triny

ACS295

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Getting back to the TV-Out thing. I connected my Hercules Prophet GTS to my SHINY NEW 50" HDTV biggrin.gifbiggrin.gifbiggrin.gif (I don't mean to brag but goddamn I love that thing) via S-Video cable just for the hell of it and was shocked at how good the picture was. It didn't look quite as clear as with my regular DVD player but it still looked damn nice. I don't know how it would compare to an H+ card since I've never tried one but if you have a TV with an S-Video connection than I doubt you would be dissapointed with a Geforce2.

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to settle this geforce vs. radeon...

the consensus so far is that the Geforce 2 GTS pumps up a couple more fps (something like 10 or so, depending on the review, the machine, the brand of the Geforce card, etc...) more than the Radeon.

however, the Radeon, still according to reviews, has a bit better image quality, and more importantly, IT IS MUCH CHEAPER!!!!

ATI Radeon 64 DDR: $297 @ microbytes

Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS Pro: $516 @ microbytes

I'm sorry but I didn't think the extra fps warranted the additional $220...

As for the Geforce 2 MX, it has less performance and less image quality, to varying degrees again depending on the review, machine, and brand of Geforce 2.

SO

in my case, the obvious choice was the Radeon, as I was not willing (as in NO FREAKINGWAY!!!) to pay more than half a grand, much less $700 for the Ultra, for a friggin' video card that I'm gonna upgrade in a year or two.

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Let's check this out once and for all!

www.tomshardware.com

Prices : (All taken from Microbytes and canadian)

ASUS V7100 GeFORCE-2 MX 32M PURE (Geforce II MX) = 166$

ASUS V7700 GeFORCE-2 64M PURE = 502$

ATI RADEON SDRAM 32M = 164$

ATI RADEON DDR 32M = 237$

ATI RADEON DDR 64M = 297$

Well I have to admit that for a non-video based card, ATI quite leads right now. BUT, if you need a TV OUT, forget about ATI you'll only get a Radeon ALL IN WONDER for 400$ minimum. So if you want a TV OUT, go with an MX with the TwinView chip.

And as far as I'm concerned, I trust a lot more NVidia than ATI for 3D games. Especially because of NVidia's drivers... Look at the last benchmark to have an idea of what I'm talking about.

And if you want the best kickin *** card, NVidia gets it, not ATI this time....

Final Decision :

Little budget and dont care about TV OUT : ATI

Little budget and wanna TV OUT : NVidia

Good videocard without paying thousands of dollars : ATI

Want the best image quality possible for 2D only : ATI

Want the best image quality possible for 3D : NVidia

Able to laugh at anyone's video cards : NVidia

I think that's quite it

------------------

I'm the real Mike, and proud of it!

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I like nVidia and will stick with them. I love my GF2 GTS 32MB it works.. great.

Anyone see the motion blur demo on the web? IMHO, it sucks. I would not want to stare at a half dozen figures trying to make it look like motion blur - would drive me nuts.

Anyhoo.. both ATI and nVidia are great products and there are nitpicks about each product.

I was born on a PII300 64MB Riva128 4MB etc. 3 years ago - top-o-line then. Now I have what is listed below - it is better than my previous system so I aint complaining. There is always time for upgrades in the future when upgrades are needed.

------------------

1GHz TBird

Abit KT7A-RAID

FOP38 & CuShim

Kingmax 256MB PC150

Annihilator2 32MB GTS

Intel Pro100+Management NIC

Promise Ultra100

IBM 75GXP 45GB ATA100 & Maxtor DMP6800 27.2GB ATA66

Plextor 16X10X40A Sony 12X DVD

SBLive! 5.1

AOpen HX08 Full Tower 300W

Sony CPD-G400 19" Triny

ACS295

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If you are running windows 2000 nvidia is the way to go. ATI's drivers under windows 2000 suck. Check out the comparison they did at www.anandtech.com recently.

Under win98/ME it's debateable. Running apps in 32 bit colour, radeon wins out imo. Plus the radeon has the upper hand in image quality and the added features with one heck of a price. Basically if you're wanting a all in one card get the radeon. If pure framerate is priority then the GF2 GTS will fit the bill. That's the way i see it.

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