Can you send a letter to the nbc folks. They should revise it if its incorrect.
Also, I have to post the part on hard vs. soft DVD. Hopefully this will put to rest the soft DVD argument.
nbcnews.com
SOFTWARE VS. HARDWARE DVD
In PC Magazine's Dec. 16 First Look of a Compaq
Presario 4850 with a DVD-ROM drive, we noted the
Presario 4850 relies on software to decode MPEG-2 video
and AC3 audio signals. This system provides a good point of
comparison between software and hardware DVD, as it, like
the Dimension, is a 300-MHz Pentium II PC.
The Presario was able to play back all of the DVD titles
that we threw at it. However, we did witness jumpy and
jerky motions due to dropped frames in slow motion and in
wide pan shots. While we were pleasantly surprised by the
quality of playback, it didn't quite match the quality of the
hardware-aided DVD playback of the Dimension machine.
This is because the maximum frame rate that the Presario
can achieve is 25fps (through software decode and motion
compensation conducted by the system's graphics
accelerator), while the Dimension's CineMaster board can
handle 30fps completely in hardware.
Another drawback to software DVD is that it uses all of
the CPU's bandwidth. Conversely, the Dimension's
CineMaster board only uses an average of 20 percent of
CPU bandwidth during MPEG-2 video decode. Granted, if
you're watching a movie, it's highly unlikely that you're going
to be doing anything else. However, if you're using a DVD
software title, you'll likely have trouble running anything else
at the same time on a fully software-DVD-decoded system.
Until now, the argument for software DVD has been
cost: Hardware DVD typically adds a few hundred dollars to
the price of a PC. But while the Presario 4850 and the
Dimension XPS D300-DVD both cost close to $3,000, the
Presario's price doesn't include a monitor (a 17-inch Compaq
monitor will cost you an additional $700).
If you're like me, waiting for a DVD machine, this is THE machine to get ( for now anyway )! |
