DVD drives

[LORDDCT]

I was wondering what is a good scsi dvd rom drive to get so far I see a good priced scsi dvd rom drive is the http://www.goroyalpc.com/CD.asp?id=547 for about 179.99 not certain if it's a 10x or a 6x Can anyone plz tell me which dvd is good to purchase the apex one sounds pretty good but I can't find one around orknow if it's scsi thanks sorry if I'm not allowed to post this stuff new to this

[ProMinx]

i would recommend getting a dvd before 5x because after that speed, there were special chips put in to disallow watching DVDs from areas outside of zone 1 (north america), so you can't watch asian or european DVDs...not that i've felt that urge yet, but there is the chance, and there isn't a noticeable difference between high speed DVDs. Even the 5x's dust any CD-Rom (after spin-up, that is). Just a suggestion.
ProMinx

[LORDDCT]

Thanks Prominx I'll take a look into that should I get the drive online or at a computer show?

[ProMinx]

i always prefer online because there is (usually) a little better support...in my opinion. Just don't buy it from some of our black-listed sites (valueamerica, computers4sure, and definitely not STAPLES)
ProMinx
ps - even e-bay is a decent place to pick up older drives like 5 speeds.

[LORDDCT]

k thanks is there any matter of what brand? like toshiba alfrey or whatever?

[ProMinx]

i'm not so sure abo the brand qualities.
you'd have to ask someone else.
ProMinx

[darb18]

the pioneer 6x scsi is a great drive...ive had it for about 8 months and its great and its region free too!

[LORDDCT]

Thanks so what is the difference between the fast dvd-rom drives and slower ones then any better quality or not really they just want the consumer to believe it's better faster?

[LORDDCT]

Thanks darb I'll try and get one of those then

[LORDDCT]

is the drive the DVD-303s?

[darb18]

after 4x, speed isnt really a factor especially since there are no games or much software on dvd...and that pioneer drive is the DVD-303s version

[Mike_N_Ike]

Just out of curiousity Prominx,
What must a site do to make it to the black-list?

[Thorin78]

faster dvd-rom speeds also mean faster cd-rom speeds. I read that Philips has made a 12x dvd and 52x cd read on a single chip. There are also programs that allow u to switch the region. So if you're going to use a dvd drive as a cd drive then getting a faster dvd is better. I heard that Gateway is selling 16x dvd drives with their new computers. Tho i've never seen them on the real market. If you're worried about quality, I would also get a hardware decoder, instead of relying on software decoding.

[ProMinx]

yeah, hardware decoders are a necessity; software decoding blows and slow down your system incredibly.
The way to make it to the blacklist is to fail in honoring a posted deal, or to maintain an extremely lacking CS department. A good company MUST have a good set of CSRs. Staples made it to the black list by consistently reneging on orders and deals. Oh well.
ProMinx

[LORDDCT]

The pioneer dvd rom drive is slot loading is that better or worse then tray loading I was also wondering what dvd-decoder card should I get for this drive?

[Thorin78]

I always liked tray loaders. Altho I don't think there is any performance difference, more of a personal preference. I haven't really researched on dvd decoders, altho nowadays, most graphics boards come with a dvd decoder.

[LORDDCT]

Oh k thanks for the information so I'm guessing hardware decoders aren't all that good then

[LORDDCT]

Thanks for the Info I don't have a good enough video card yet arh Only have the maxtor guillemont gamer xentor 32 so I probably need a decoder card still hope someone here can help me out thanks

[Leon]

What's your current video card and CPU?

I was running a Celeron 504A and a Creative TNT 16MB card. My CPU processing power never went over 24% while playing a DVD.

[LORDDCT]

My processor speed is a p3 450 128 megs of ram abit be6 motherboard 2 cd rom drives, 2 ide hd drives 2 udma 66 hd drives video card is the maxi guillemont xentor 32 tnt 2 other cards that I have in my system is a video capture card, network card, scsi card, and sound card diamond mx300. Thanks. And kinda wondering about this because when I run it on my friends comp who runs a amd k7 500 with a 10x dvd rom it at times freezes or stuff like that thanks

[LORDDCT]

Oh I also was wondering would performance matter if I put the scsi devices connected to an external unit would speed decrease or still same speeds?

[Leon]

Hmm... Your system/vid card can handle software decoding without a hitch. This is provided that you are not multi-tasking at the time. When I tested my setup, nothing was running in the background except the Cinemaster DVD decoder software. It played just fine.

In a way, software decoding can be better. I had a Hollywood+ hardware DVD decoder once, but the passthrough cable gave me some image quality degradation because of the analog passthrough cable. Software decoding is digital all the way until your 15 pin monitor cable.

I'm not sure why your friend's computer froze. What software was he running?

BTW, I ran it using a SB Live soundcard, which uses less CPU time as the MX300.

[ProMinx]

i definitely prefer hardware decoding because it allows you to do other things while you watch the DVD (i know that most of us don't do that, but some do). Without a decoder, the rest of your system goes through a massive slow down, but it's really your call. They will both work.
ProMinx

[LORDDCT]

Prominx what type of decoder card do you use then?

[sbp]

The last SCSI Pioneer DVD-Rom was the DVD-303S. Pioneer has not announced any plans to produce a higher speed version SCSI DVD drive. The 303S's performance will be satisfactory LORDDCT.

I prefer software decoding. You save an IRQ, a PCI slot and possible blurriness due to the passthru cable.

In addition I also prefer slot loading drives.

If your going to get a hardware decoder card then the best is Sigma Designs Hollywood plus decoder card. http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products.htm#HollywoodPlus

My suggestion is to try software decoding and see if you like it. If not then get the Hollywood Plus. Your system is almost exactly like my older one was: a Celeron 450, 2 IDE drives, 128MB, TNT, MX300, NIC and I found its DVD decoding performance to be good. I used the Cinemaster DVD decoder software.

<u>Places to buy:</u>

http://www.carrarasystems.com/dvd.htm is where I got my slot loading Pioneer 10X DVD-ROM.

<A href="http://www.computer123.com/searchcx.asp?did=123&act=catlist&name=cattree&val=COMPUTER%3ACD%5FDRIVE&sec=featured&cattree=COMPUTER%3ACD%5FDRIVE" target="_new">Computer123 has the Pioneer 303 for $130.</a> Click on DVD drive on the right.

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<A href="

[This message has been edited by sbp (edited 05-14-2000).]

[LORDDCT]

Thanks for all your help

[bri]

can someone check the post in the hardware forum? i had a few questions. thanx. http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

[LORDDCT]

I just went searching for the pioneer 303s there are many different brands of that. there is the hi-val version and the standard pioneer one anyone know which I should get?

[sbp]

Its the same drive so get whatever is cheaper LORDDCT.