This sort of a negative post, so if you're in a bad mood I would skip it.
My experience with my SIGM Hollywood decoder and first generation Toshiba DVD:
Now the pamphlet says you need a Pentium 133, that may work for some titles, but with two out of 5 of my DVD titles forget it. Tried the package in an Intel 166 overclocked to 200, frames jumped and constant death. Then tried a Cyrix PR200L, same thing. Put them next into in an Intel 200MMX and it worked good, Finally, ended up in a system with a AMD 233, which works very well. I noticed in the first instance with the non-MMX Intel 166 the Hollywood actually worked better with a 4Meg Virge card, than an 8Meg ATI Rage PRO.
Anyway the conclusion here is that, unless you have a really fast socket 7 setup, I wouldn't waste the money. With that conclusion narrowing the field for upgraders like me, I'm thinking DVD is really going to be reliable and satisfying in Pentium II setups, due to the speed required. Using that conclusion, then why buy a Hollywood for a Pentium II system when STB, ATI, and now Intel (using Zoran soft-DVD) have a software solution for DVD decoding on AGP cards for use in +266 Pentium II systems. My feeling is this will take about 18 months for purchaser to gravitate away from the socket 7 boards, with declining Hollywood sales and pricing during that period. But then, I've been wrong before. I was long SIGM for a few weeks, caught a 1/4, and now just a lurker. |
