Dvd decoder cards

are they worth it nowadays?

i have a Creative Dxr3 card and i'm thinking of putting it in my system (see sig) when i get another dvd drive, would it be worth it, i remember seeing a little picture quality reduction on my old computer when using it.

Thanks, Digital

if ur system is not really old then just go for one of those software decoders

ie. windvd, powerdvd

the software decoders are just now catching up in picture quality.

i use a decoder card more for the flexibility than the picture quality. considering my decoder card (yours in different packaging) was designed several years ago and are still on par with the latest software decoders. plus i'd love to see Windvd/PowerDVD export audio/video

I always thought modern computers software decoding was superior in quality to hardware decoding. However the last hardware card I saw was a dxr2 (looooong ago). The only benefit I could see is if you were needing to do something CPU intensive while watching a movie (like running folding@home or seti@home for example).

It's pretty easy to check. Just load some software DVD decoder and compare it with the playback you get from your dxr3.

cheers!

Well if you have an ATI card you don't need a DVD decoder code since it's built in to the core.
If you got one and it's free, hey just jam it in there. It helps take what ever the load is off the CPU which is always good.

If you're looking for a fairly good card there's the RealMagic XCard. My friend bought to use in a 233MMX, believe it or not, he gets full frame with 10% processor load.