The Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend this decoder to anyone who is seriously thinking about using their computer as their primary means of DVD playback due to it's exceptional performance and quality.
drno01's Full Review: Sigma Design REALmagic Hollywood Plus PCI Video Ca...
On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up the RealMagic Hollywood Plus DVD decoder along with my Pioneer SCSI DVD drive.
Just for comparison I decided to hook up the DVD player and use only software compression to start with. I made a mental note of the quality of playback, system resource consumption and multi-tasking abilities (not that most people would need to do this, but I thought what the heck). I then shutdown my system, which by the way is a P2 450/128MB/SCSI, and proceeded to install the RealMagic Hollywood Plus.
At this point I grumbled a little because I had forgotten that all of my PCI slots were used. I transferred my NIC to an ISA (yuck!) temporarily and installed the decoder. I was happy as a clam when the installation (along with the NIC) was quick and simple.
After re-booting I started up my DVD Station and was blown away by the enhancement in both quality and system performance I experienced.
I would definitely recommend this decoder to anyone who is seriously thinking about using their computer as their primary means of DVD playback.
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