I just bought the I/O Magic DVD 16 and must say that I'm really happy. I have always wanted a DVD-Rom in my computer, so when I was looking at the local store and saw the I/O Magic with all of it's features, I just had to have it. The cost was $69.00 and it comes with a 1 year warranty.

Let's start off with all of the features. It is a 16X DVD player that will also play CD-Roms at 40X. This drive also is compatable with the following formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, Video CD, Photo-CD, CD-Extra, CD-Text, and a few others. If you don't need a cd burner this could be the only drive you need in your computer next to the hard drive. The I/O Magic drive also has a headphone jack and volume wheel located on the front of the drive. Included with the drive is DVD decoding software. The software makes it possible to watch DVD movies on your PC, with out the software you would need a decoder card for movies.

Installation was pretty simple. I first removed the side panels to my case and placed the drive into a 5 1/2 inch slot and screwed it into place using the supplied 4 screws. Next I hooked up the supplied audio cable to my sound card from the DVD. From there, I attached an IDE cable to the motherboard from the back of the DVD drive (IDE cable was not included). Last thing I did was to hook up a power cable from the computers power supply and put the side panels back on my PC. Bottom line, 4 screws and hook up 3 cables to the drive and it is installed!

After the drive was installed, it was time to boot up the computer and see if it was going to work. Right after boot up Windows XP detected the drive and said that it was available to use. To test out the drive, I inserted a music CD and it started playing as it should-so far, so good. Next I installed the DVD decoder software as per the instruction manual and was ready to try it out using a DVD movie. A few words about the instruction manual, it is really good. The manual has pictures of where the cables go, and does an excellent job of describing the drive and how to install and operate the drive. I feel that first time computer installers would have no problem installing this drive because it is simple and the manual is so good.

Now for the real test. I inserted one of my favorite movies, Star Trek: First Contact, and it started to play. Success! Playback was smooth and has great sound. I have also watched Saving Private Ryan and love the clarity of movies on my computer monitor.

There you have it, a simple drive to watch movies on your PC that was easy to install and not too expensive. Good Luck.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 69.00
Operating System: Windows