I'll cut out your gizzard!
Written: Sep 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's a 12x Creative with hardware decoding!
Cons: Early shipments require installing the Dxr3 driver manually.
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| Guildencrantz's Full Review: Creative Labs PC-DVD ROM kit |
This is a delayed addition to my chain of reviews about the computer I built. For those of you that haven't followed my work I built machine for hard work, but also to act as a full entertainment center.
Since I am a movie freak (god bless ebay and movie auctions!) I had to get a DVD player. (Granted I can't watch my VHS movies, nut I'm lookin into a TV tuner card so I can fix that too.)
Well I have some good speakers an a nice video card, so I decided I wanted a DVD player that would keep things crisp and smooth. While I have a CD-RW I figured that a DVD-RAM wouldn't hurt to have.
Unfortunately these two requirements are mutually exclusive. Most DVD-RAM drives have dreadful play speeds (around 2x - 4x). Since they are also quite a bit more expensive I opted out of the RAM drive for the ROM.
Of course which ROM drive was the new question. Pioneer makes a great drive, and it has the really cool slot loading feature. But I shopped around (buying computer components is all about pricewatch.com and pricescan.com).
Shopping around has to include a stop at Creative Labs. To check out their technology. Well, I wasn't surprised. Pioneer has the 16x DVD player, but Creative has the 12x. The benefit of the Creative was that I could get it with the Dxr3 card, and it would still cost less.
The benefit of the Dxr3 is that it is a hardware decoder and takes stress off of the computer (as compared to a software decoder). This way my movies play more smoothly (I won't miss a single frame of Sophie's face) and my memory won't burn out.
Also it helps to remember that Creative Labs has a strong track record for a reason. They use good components, top of the line technology, and are always ready to help fix problems.
Of course I had to mention that ast part because some f you may have had trouble installing the Dxr3 driver (or, you may in the future.) Creative is aware that the Dxr3 driver does not get installed automatically, like it should (and they have fixed this on later shipments). Because of this if you get one of the early shipments you have to manually install the driver from the CD. No big deal, just good to know.
To test the player I had to look through my DVD collection (Remember that ebay statement? Well I had problems with UPS delivering my DVD player so I got about 13 DVDs before the player came. I really love ebay.) Well I decided that I couldn't live with my self if the first move I watched was respectable (like Breaveheart or Shawshank Redemption). Instead I decided that cheese was the way to go. So I dropped Bruce Cambell's defining role into my machine: Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness.
You think it's funny to watch on a sketchy VHS, try crystal clear widescreen DVD. Wow that movie rocks! (In that sucking kind of way.) The DVD played crisp, didn't miss a frame, and the surround sound was awesome.
For $198.00 (Buy.com, I really love pricescan; almost as much as ebay) this drive was a great deal. Easy to install, software is great, and I know it will last.
If only BeOS had a DVD player, I'd be in heaven...
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Guildencrantz
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Boulder, CO
Reviews written: 405
Trusted by: 160 members
About Me:
My coffee cup has Smurf escape instructions in it.
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