Hollywood Plus VS SBLive and TV out? (1 Viewer)

[Dan_D]

hey all. Im planning to put the server in our apartment into the living room to server MP3s as well as for DVD. What would be the best way to do this?
A) buy a Hollywood Plus decoder which has a digital DD 5.1 output as well as a Svid output.
B) buy a SBLive 5.1 with a vid card w/ a TV output
what would be the pros and cons of each?
thanks in advance,
Dan
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[CharlesDu]

The hardware decoder has the advantage of the audio and s-video outputs, plus it will run on a less powerful CPU (300MHz+). I've heard the Hollywood card is quite good, but the best software players have better image quality (when configured correctly).
It looks like the best software players are WinDVD and PowerDVD. WinDVD getting the best quality, while PowerDVD is slightly easier to use, and supports more soundcards. Software players can have better quality, and they are cheaper if you already have the right sound and video card. The software decoders claim they will run on a 300MHz machine, but I'd stick with 500MHz plus. Some video cards have built in Mpeg-2 acceleration, so you might want to look at the Geforce 256, the newer Geforce 2 and 3, or the latest from ATI (best for video, but can't keep up with the newer Geforces in 3D games). I think the software solution is more likely to cause setup difficulties, so you might want to decide on the easy way (hardware) or the hard way (software).
Good luck with either way you go, and let us know what you decided and how it turns out!

 

[Dan_D]

OK thanks for the info.
well in our apartment we have a central server computer so we can all share the internet, mp3s, etc. Its a pII-400 w/ 64mb ram. Beign a bit on the slow side i think ill go for the Hollywood card. This computer is also currently soundcardless and has a real low end vid card w/o TV out so its probably the cheapest solution as well.
For my personal computer (1.1ghz Tbird) I think ill use a SBlive 5.1 w/ my geforce GTS and see how that goes. Using the SBLive i can still play 3d games and stuff which i assume i couldnt w/ the Hollywood.
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[CharlesDu]

"Using the SBLive i can still play 3d games and stuff which i assume i couldnt w/ the Hollywood."
Yep, the Hollywood card's goal in life is just to play DVDs.

 

[Richard Cooper]

The cards also seem to have a built in dis-like for TV tuner cards. I've tried different cards with different tuners, and they all eat each others drivers.

 

[Dan_D]

ok thanks for the info
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[Will Ernst]

If you are outputting to a standard analog set, the Hollywood+ is the ONLY way to go. It will look as good as any mid-level set top DVD player. If you try and output the picture via the TV-Out on a video card, you'll be disappointed I guarantee. While the analog signal is servicable for MP3 manipulation, the picture quality is pretty poor. You should get a low cost sound card with digital audio out for your MP3 playback, that way you use the DACs on your receiver. Plus your signal stays digital until it's outside the 'dirty' environment of your computer.
-will

 

[Dan_D]

hrm good point. so i guess theres no way to output other sources thru the hollywood+? (mp3s, etc)
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[Will Ernst]

Not unless you want to run Linux

There's some talk about MP3 support in Eugene's player, but I think it's on the drawing board. I haven't really tried Eugene's player so I don't have anything to add on that.
-will

 

[Eric Gan]

Go with the advice here. I would only add that if you plan to go front projector or HDTV, that's when you MUST switch over to software decode. Fortunately, that's an easy upgrade. When outputting to a regular TV set, the video out on any DVD decoder card will beat any TV-out on video cards.
Cheers,
Eric

 

[AndyVX]

I'd just like to throw in a question here...
If I went out and bought a Soundblaster Live 5.1 Platinum w/Live Drive and I'm using Win/Power DVD is there an optical and/or coaxial digital out to run to my receiver to get the Dolby Digital sound from DVD's?
I'm building a new computer soon, so I thought that I would ask before buying, that way I can look at other options if what I've listed above isn't the case.
Thanks a bunch.
Andrew
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My Anime on DVD List

 

[CharlesDu]

The LiveDrive has both optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs.

 

[AndyVX]

The LiveDrive has both optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs

So, since it has those, it is able to output the Dolby Digital audio stream from DVD's via Win or PowerDVD?
Thanks again.
Andrew

 

[Dan_D]

yes
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