Creative 12X DVD ROM with Dxr3 decoder board: Turn your PC into a theatre
Written: Mar 14 '01 (Updated Mar 14 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great DVD movie playback... ability to read the most common CD formats... Dolby 5.1 capability.
Cons: Requires a free PCI slot as well as a 5.25" bay.
The Bottom Line: If you want theatre quality DVD movies on your computer, this is possibly the kit your looking for. It is also great for slower computers.
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| Gr8ful's Full Review: Creative Technology Dxr 3 Decoder PCI Video Card |
Introduction
The Creative Encore 12X DVD ROM drive kit comes with it's own DVD decoder card using Dxr3 technology. What this means to the consumer is you don't have to have a really fast processor with a lot of RAM to enjoy DVD on your computer. The decoder board takes the job of decoding the DVD playback so your processor doesn't have to do quite as much work when playing DVDs. Of course, many video cards (especially the ATI brand) come with built in DVD decoders but for those who prefer the G-Force cards and others that don't support DVD hardware decoding, this Dxr3 decoder can help DVD playback tremendously.
The Drive
The drive itself can read DVD discs at 12X under perfect conditions and CD media at 40X under those same perfect conditions. It can read DVD, CD audio, CD-R, CDRW and video CD formats. It comes with a 40-pin IDE data cable, mounting screws, analog CD audio cable, DVD playback software and manuals. The drive is capable of digital audio extraction up to 8X speed and is easy to install.
The Dxr3 decoder card
This decoder board can be used with the Creative Sound Blaster Live! series of sound cards and any digital speaker system with Dolby 5.1 capability to get full Dolby 5.1 digital audio from your DVD movies. You can literally turn your PC into a home theatre system. You do not have to have a Sound Blaster Live! to use the DVD and decoder card, but it will greatly enhance your sound experience with this drive.
You can send a signal out of the decoder card to your home stereo amplifier to the digital coaxial input to get the Dolby 5.1 experience as well. Either of these methods work great and sound awesome. If you do not have either of these you will still be able to get stereo sound out of any ordinary 16-bit or better sound card but you won't get the benefit of digital sound.
The card fits into any open PCI 2.1 compliant peripheral card slot and has a VGA extension cable that is used to pass the video signal from the video card through the decoder card. Your monitor will be plugged into the decoder card instead of the video card. You will not loose any video quality or 3D ability by using this cable and decoder board. The card actually enhances the ability to play full screen DVD movies with full 32-bit color at high resolutions like 1024x768 and even higher. The highest resolution you can get is reliant on the ability of your video card and monitor.
Video out
The card has composite and S-video out ports for sending the video signal out to a television or VCR. So you can watch the DVD movies from your PC on your big screen TV and have the digital Dolby 5.1 audio come through your stereo and really have a true home theatre system. Unfortunately there is no digital video out but the S-video works great for this purpose.
Installation
You install the DVD drive just as you would any CDROM device. Simply fit it into a 5¼" bay and screw it into place. Attach the CD audio cable if desired and digital cables if you are using the digital output for CD audio discs.
Note: You do not have to use a CD audio cable to be able to hear DVD movies, this cable is only for CD audio.
Next, install the decoder board into any empty PCI slot and attach the VGA pass-through cable from the VGA out on the video card to the VGA in on the decoder. Once the computer is back together install the drivers for the decoder card, the DVD playback software and your ready to watch a DVD movie. It couldn't be easier. Just don't forget to plug your monitor into the new decoder card instead of your video card.
System Requirements
* 400MHz Pentium II processor or higher
* Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0
* 32MB RAM (64 recommended)
* 10MB available hard disk space for PC-DVD Player software
* SVGA graphics adapter (at least 256 colors at 640x480 resolution)
* Available PCI rev. 2.1 expansion slot for Dxr3 decoder board
* Available Enhanced IDE connector on motherboard for PC-DVD drive (Bus Mastering DMA-enabled IDE connector recommended)
* Available half-height (5¼") drive bay for Creative PC-DVD drive (drive rails not included)
* Sound Blaster or compatible audio card
* Speakers or headphones (Digital speaker system needed for Dolby 5.1 digital audio)
* Connection to TV requires a composite or S-Video extension cable (not included)
I hope this helps you decide if this kit will fit your needs for a DVD drive in your computer. Thanks for reading.
Gr8ful :-)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $199.99
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