Best MPEG-2 decoder for Sage and DVDs

[natesneat2000]

Budget is small, so cheap or maybe OEM preferred. Would prefer not to work with Sonic, but will if no other good options.
thanks for opinions.

[flashbacck]

I think many people swear by the NVDVD ones. They were selling it at some point on newegg.com. The next version of NVDVD is coming out though, so I don't know if you want to wait for that.

[stanger89]

Why not Sonic?

[natesneat2000]

I would try Sonic's, but I bought DVDit awhile back, and their support sucks. It took weeks to get a refund; it didn't work right.

Any idea on timeframe of NVDVD 4, and how to obtain it? I'm actually probably buying an fx 5200 with new dvi projector, so that shouldn't be problem.

Thanks.

[kny3twalker]

nvDVD do produce the best video quality BUT
the audio decoder sucks
the decoders are not the most stable

over all
I still think sonic has the best deal
cause they are stable as a rock like SageTV
and the video quality is damn close except the color when using VMR9

the Cineplayer Surround seems to eb the best bet unless you buy TheaterTek then you most probably need another decoder for audio decoding anyway

[mightyt]

I have used WinDVD since July with Sage and can't say anything bad about it so far ... It's been stable and I don't experience the constant crashes toehr mention in this forum, but not sure how it stacks up quality-wise to the other decoders. I have an Std. TV so my limitation starts there ...

[willemse]

Which version of WinDVD ? 4, 5 or 6???

Thanks Jos Willemse

[stanger89]

Well WinDVD (any version) is a pain in the @$$ to set up outside WinDVD.

[natesneat2000]

For audio, I need to stream DTS and DD out and decode tv audio.

[stanger89]

You mean DD/DTS over S/PDIF? And what do you mean by "decode TV audio?" If you mean Prologic, just send the audio over S/PDIF and let your decoder do it.

[natesneat2000]

Yes, and I mean the recorded audio - i think it's mepg audio. Receiver can handle everything.

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by willemse

Which version of WinDVD ? 4, 5 or 6???

Thanks Jos Willemse

Yes ... Actually, I've used 4, 5 & 6, but both 5 & 6 with Sage ...

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

T.

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Well WinDVD (any version) is a pain in the @$$ to set up outside WinDVD.

Huh??????

Sorry, has not been my expreience ... What exactly do you mean?

T.

[kny3twalker]

most setting require registry changes to take effect outside of winDVD itself
I do like it for WMV HDs though

and after trying out SageTV 2.1 nvDVD video is the best
VMR9 is not perfect but so much better

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by kny3twalker

most setting require registry changes to take effect outside of winDVD itself
I do like it for WMV HDs though

and after trying out SageTV 2.1 nvDVD video is the best
VMR9 is not perfect but so much better

Maybe so, but I have never had to make registry hacks for WinDVD.

For me it seems to work well with SageTV, and VMR9.

So, I am not sure why we have had different experences, only can report what I've seen ... I guess I am also going by the ol'if it ain't broke ....

T.

[kny3twalker]

changing sound outputs, Trimension DNM and enabling DXVA
and adjusting things are not just quite as easy

nvDVD still produces much higher quality anyways

[natesneat2000]

If I buy an Nvidia card with nvDVD now, do you think this upcoming upgrade will be free and easy to get? Should I wait? Getting DVI projector in a month.

[stanger89]

If you're talking nVDVD 4, it won't be free, but all indications are that it should be easy to get (supposedly next week is what I've been reading). I'd guess it will be sub $20 like the rest of the decoder packs.

[Ryokurin]

well, heres my experience.

powerdvd - does not work at all. pops up a big active movie screen. xp and 5 tried.
windvd - 6 works fine with registry changes. with dxva and hardware acceleration on low cpu usage too.
sonic - it still is rather struggleing on my machine even with dxva and hardware acceleration. and to me windvd looks slightly better. HOWEVER sonic is much better than windvd working with individual files. I use zoomplayer so I can use custom graphs and with windvd I would make one and it would work with one file but then fail miserably on another especially with ffdshow in the graph. sonic just works.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Ryokurin

well, heres my experience.

powerdvd - does not work at all. pops up a big active movie screen. xp and 5 tried.

That's a known problem with PowerDVD and VMR9.