TV out DVD playback hardware 1

[braddds]

Hi All

I'm looking into upgrading a pc to a TV-out vid., so as to watch DVD's or any video media, ie: SVCD, VCD, AVI, MPEG but mostly DVD's.

The pc is:
Abit BH6
PIII 500
256 mb sdram
SB16 sound
40x cdrom
W2K

With my current setup I'll be adding a dvdrom upgrading the sound card and adding ram.

My questions are what card(s) or what feature(s) are most important? Is hardware vs software playback an important issue? I'm not interested in the 3D capabilities. I can use either pci or agp. It has to operate in either a W2K (current OS) or XP Pro. The TV out can be either S-video or composite.

Any help, comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



Cheers

Thx for all comments and advice given

 

[dakota81]

There's a couple options. Start with a good video card. I've been using Sapphire's Radeon 7000 w/ 32meg DDR for several tv-out media computers I've built, they're really cheap, ~$40, and offer both s-video & composite out. ATI cards will offer you very good tv-out adjustments like screen size & positioning.

I've read reviews that SiS's Xabre video cards having even better video out options for optimal viewing, and will use one if I build another computer, but haven't used one yet.

For dvd playback, you can use software programs (I'd recommend upgrading your processer, though) and have reduced quality (little extra fuzzyness) over a stand alone dvd-player, but it's still very good.

I've had one of Creative Labs dxr3 decoder boards hooked up to the tv once, and the video quality is exactly equal to if you were using a stand alone player. The downside is unless your tv has two s-video inputs you'll be switching the cables often. Also, you'll have to memorize the keyboard shortcuts for Creative Lab's software because you will not have a mouse pointer when using the s-video out from the decoder card.

 

[braddds]

Thanks for the info dakota81.

I wasn't able to get either card you mentioned (sold out of the ATI 7000 card). So I went with the Asus 5200 Magic (Nvidia based card) had the same features as the ATI solution (except much newer technology) along with impressive 3D capabilities (not required but find a card without these days). Installed an old SB128 sound card, Lite-on DVD/CD-RW combo drive and Asus Video card into the above system. Worked without a glitch.

The only complaint is the desktop is too fuzzy to really be workable but the DVD and other video file playback is excellent! The drive came with PowerDVD 4 and seems to work as advertised. Don't know if there are any adjustments I can make to help with the desktop but haven't played yet! Will let you know if anything new comes up.

Thx again

Cheers

Thx for all comments and advice given