Stepping Up to DVD (PART TWO)
Poor, Alfred
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11/18/97
PC Magazine
Page 186
(COPYRIGHT 1997 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company) Copyright 1997 Information Access Company. All rights reserved.
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We found most of the kits currently on the market relatively easy to install as long as you're not afraid of opening your PC.
1. Slide the DVD -ROM drive into a standard 5.25-inch half-height drive bay. You can replace your CD-ROM drive with the new drive, or make the DVD -ROM drive an additional drive with its own drive letter.
2. Connect the drive to your PC's IDE controller ribbon cable.
3. Connect the stereo pass-through cable from the DVD drive to the decoder card.
4. Insert the MPEG-2/Dolby Digital decoder card into a free PCI card slot.
5. Attach the VGA loop-through cable to your graphics adapter's output connector. (Not all decoder cards use this feature, and you don't need to use it if you intend to watch DVD material only on a television screen and not on your computer's monitor.)
6. Attach the stereo patch cord to your sound card's line input jack. (Not all decoder cards have this feature.)
Check the clearance you have and the size of the card in the kit. Some of the full-length PCI cards may be too long for some cramped PC cases.
Check your version of Windows. Windows 95 Version 2.1 and later versions include full DMA (direct memory access) support, which makes for less choppy video.
Remember to set the IDE jumpers to the appropriate setting. The most common configuration is to have your hard disk set to Master and the DVD drive set to Slave.
Diamond Maximum DVD Kit
Sporting clever features, a generous software bundle, and a reasonable price ($400 street), the Diamond Maximum DVD Kit offers a lot for a little. Although it has a few shortcomings, it represents a good value among the current crop of competitors.
The package includes the same Toshiba DVD drive used in the Dynatek and Utobia kits in this roundup, and although this first-generation drive can read standard CD-ROMs, CD-R disks are not compatible. The differentiating factor is the Diamond MPEG-2 decoder card. This full-length PCI card has cutouts along the bottom edge to help it clear the CPU heat sinks that block slots on some motherboards. It also has a cleverly perforated blank section at the end of the circuit board, which you can break off if your computer's slot won't accept a full-length card. The kit includes an attractive bundle of games and other DVD titles.
Installation was straightforward and well documented, and the automatic alignment of the analog window worked well. After we adjusted the alignment, however, the auto-adjust function was not able to bring it back to the original settings. Manipulating the DVD navigation software was fairly easy, although the subtitle and language options are only displayed as numbered choices instead of showing the language associated with each number. The slow-motion and single-frame controls are fun additions to the interface.
The decoder board is based on the Auravision decoder chip set for MPEG-2 decoding and, as with the other kits in this roundup, relies on an analog overlay to display DVD images on the computer screen. It uses a VGA pass-through to send the computer image to the card before the image is sent to the monitor. In addition, the card has an internal connection for the DVD drive's stereo output (for audio CDs) as well as a stereo line output to plug into your computer's sound card.
Playback on a computer monitor showed numerous aliasing artifacts, but motion was smooth with no apparent "combing" effects. The 16:9 window image appeared slightly squashed at the automatic settings but looked better when viewed full-screen--although the full-screen image leaves the Windows title bar visible at the top, detracting from the image.
Although playback could be better and the interface has a few flaws, the Maximum DVD Kit remains one of the more attractive bundles in this group. Its affordable price makes it all the more tempting for those who need DVD now.--Alfred Poor
Diamond Maximum DVD Kit. Street price: $400. Diamond Multimedia Systems, San Jose, CA; 800-468-5846, 213-933-4959; www.diamondmm.com.
The Diamond Kit is the most recommendable one we tested, with an easy installation and a good software bundle.
Dynatek DVD -471TII Upgrade Kit
Easy to install and bundled with attractive software titles, the Dynatek DVD -471TII PC Upgrade Kit ($560 street) is a mid-priced offering aimed at home users and PC enthusiasts. Performance and playback amply kept pace with the competition.
The kit is built around Toshiba's first-generation drive, which cannot read CD-R disks. Installing the hardware and loading the driver and player software took no longer than 15 minutes. The manual is comprehensive, with pictures and easy-to-follow instructions. The kit includes a Quadrant International PCI MPEG-2 decoder card and six movie, game, and reference titles.
When we ran the video signal over the PCI bus to our graphics adapter, we experienced ragged video and excessive artifacts during movies. For much cleaner playback, either hook the card up to an external TV or get a pass-through cable for your graphics adapter. With a pass-through cable--or the decoder's direct S-Video or composite output--the picture was clearer than with the best VHS decks. Sound quality was excellent in stereo, and it approached theater quality when using a Dolby Digital receiver and compatible speakers.
The Dynatek is a good buy if you want a robust, quality home-theater kit that comes with a few titles to start off the family DVD library.--James Karney
Dynatek DVD -471TII Upgrade Kit. Street price: $560. Dynatek Automation Systems, Bedford, NS, Canada; 800-461-0052, 902-832-3000; www.dynatek.ca.
The Dynatek upgrade kit was an able performer but slightly pricier than the competition.
HiVal DVD Entertainment Solution Kit
The HiVal DVD Entertainment Solution Kit ($700 street) clearly beats the competition in terms of packing the most product into the box. Filled with software titles and advanced hardware options, the HiVal kit brings a lot to the table for its top-of-the-line price.
The package includes all the usual kinds of items: a Toshiba DVD IDE drive, a Quadrant International MPEG-2 decoder board, drivers, DVD player software, and a manual. The kit includes seven cables (IDE and various audio/video styles), a WaveCom Sr. wireless transmitter/receiver (for sending the DVD feed to a remote TV), an A/B switch to change between TV and DVD operations, an IR receiver, and six game and educational titles. HiVal also sells an economy kit without the wireless peripherals and associated cables for a street price of $500, which is right in line with other kits in this roundup.
Installing the drive, card, and software was a snap. Both hardware components are Plug and Play, so once we rebooted the machine, everything was up and running. Setting up the wireless connection was more of a challenge, however, partly because of the confusing user manual. The wireless connection is a nice touch, especially if you want to watch DVD movies in a separate room away from your PC. The only drawback is WaveCom's lack of a Dolby Digital jack: The IR units have only video and standard RCA audio jacks. The card itself has S-Video, mini-stereo-out, and RCA composite video-out on the rear plate, along with CD-ROM-in and CD-ROM-out internal connections. About the only other cable the company could have possibly included would have been a video pass-through for the PC's graphics adapter.
As with all the kits shipping with Quadrant International cards, on-screen video is very choppy if you run the signal over the PCI bus to the display card and out to the monitor. We hooked the card up via the S-Video on our graphics adapter with excellent results. Output to a TV monitor was also free of the combing effects, choppiness, and jaggies seen without the pass-through arrangement on the monitor. Sound quality was on the mark with regular PC stereo speakers and excellent with a top-quality Dolby Digital receiver.
If you're looking for a DVD upgrade kit that won't send you running to the local electronics store looking for a cable during installation, this is probably the one to buy.--JK
HiVal DVD Entertainment Solution Kit. Street price: $700. HiVal Inc., Santa Ana, CA; 714-953-3000; www.hival.com. Circle 443 on reader service card.
The HiVal kit includes a wireless transmitter/receiver system so you can play DVD on a TV in another room.
Pacific Digital DVD -ROM Kit
At first glance, Pacific Digital Corp.'s PDC DVD -ROM Kit ($550 street) looks just like the other bundles in this roundup. It comes with a Quadrant International MPEG-2 decoder card, an IDE DVD drive, cables, software, and a detailed installation manual. What sets it apart is its Hitachi GD-2000 drive, which is the first second-generation DVD drive to hit the market. The capabilities of the Hitachi drive make this the only unit we tested that can access all types of 650MB disks--including CD-R platters. The unit also reads DVD -ROM disks at twice the speed of earlier models.
Installing the card and player under Windows 95 is painless: Simply place the board in a free PCI slot, attach the Hitachi GD-2000 to your system's IDE interface, and load the driver when prompted. We had the first movie on-screen in less than 10 minutes. As with all the kits that use the Quadrant card, direct monitor playback over the computer's PCI bus was very ragged and showed combing artifacts. Attaching the kit to the graphics adapter with a pass-through or video-in connection will yield a much better picture.
When we piped the data directly through the card's S-Video and composite outputs, we achieved an image quality superior to that of any VHS. Images captured from the DVD disk were clean and without distortion. Sound quality was good on quality stereo PC speakers and excellent when played through a Dolby Digital receiver.
If you need to read both DVD and CD-R disks and want a drive that will handle both tasks, the Pacific Digital kit has a decided advantage. Its ease of use and good performance make it worthy of serious consideration.--JK
PDC DVD -ROM Kit. Street price: $550. Pacific Digital Corp., Irvine, CA; 714-252-1111; www.pacificdigitalcorp.com.
The PDC Kit includes a Hitachi DVD -ROM drive--the only one in this roundup that can read (some) CD-R disks.
techmedia DVD -ROM Drive
A bare-bones kit, the techmedia DVD -ROM Drive ($400 street) is aimed at the budget-minded user who wants DVD without paying for any extras.
The bundle includes a Pioneer IDE DVD -ROM drive, a Quadrant PCI decoder card, thorough documentation, and two sampler DVD disks. The tray-style drive has convenient CD-ROM-style controls for track forward/backward, along with dual LED lights that indicate whether a CD or a DVD is loaded.
Even the most nontechnical PC owner should be able to add the drive and the card just by following the detailed instructions and drawings in the manual. The card and drive are Windows 95 Plug and Play-compliant; we had the bundle installed in less than 15 minutes, including the time it took to reboot the system.
The decoder card can be used either via your PC's graphics adapter and monitor or by hooking up the board directly to a TV set or monitor. If you want quality video playback, get a pass-through cable (we wish one were included) to bypass the PCI-graphics card interface. Running the signal over the PCI bus to a graphics adapter yields a choppy image with jagged-edged artifacts. On a TV screen, video images looked better than VHS, and stereo sound was excellent. Adding a Dolby Digital receiver and matching speakers to the system will have your neighbors wanting tickets to the movie or concert.
Like other first-generation drives, the Pioneer drive cannot read CD-R disks. But for most users, the techmedia kit has all the basics for entering the realm of DVD video from the PC. It may lack some of the cables and extra software that compelling kits deliver, but you aren't charged for them either.--JK
techmedia DVD -ROM Drive. Street price: $400. techmedia Computer Systems, Garden Grove, CA; 800-379-0077, 714-379-6677; www.techmedia.net.
The techmedia kit is a functional, affordable DVD solution, but don't expect bells and whistles.
Utobia Hollywood DVD /MPEG-2 AC-3 Playback Kit
Utobia Corp.'s Hollywood DVD /MPEG-2 AC-3 Playback Kit ($400 street) distinguishes itself by its excellent computer screen output, beating the competition in sheer image quality. Unfortunately, this success is offset by a number of weak points in the product's bundle.
First and foremost, Utobia merely assembles the component parts of the kit and resells them under its own name. This is most evident in the fact that there are separate pieces of documentation covering the installations of the Sigma Designs MPEG decoder card and the Toshiba DVD drive; there is no single manual describing the package or how to get it to work. Novices may find the setup process intimidating. The software bundle is also slim; the only disk included contains the Warner Hollywood Studio Movie Trailer DVD and Warner Music Groups DVD Video samplers.
The half-length PCI expansion card, based on Sigma Designs' fine RealMagic MPEG-2 decoder chip, uses an external pass-through for the VGA signal and an analog overlay design to show DVD images on the computer screen. The card also has outputs for composite video and S-Video, but there is no output for Dolby Digital sound. After you install the card and software, you have to run an automatic configuration routine that adjusts the timing of the analog-overlay window.
DVD control software is uneven. There is a Next Track button, but there is no easy way to jump to any track on the disk as you can with other player applets. You can choose either a full-screen display or a window in which to display the image. It is easy to select subtitles and dialog choices by language, but subtitles are unfortunately superimposed on the image, even when you're viewing a 16:9 image in letterbox format.
During our tests, the video-image quality was excellent. There were no obvious artifacts on the computer screen during playback of DVD content, and motion was swift and smooth. In fact, this was the best of the bunch for viewing movies on the computer.
The Hollywood kit gets a mixed score. Good image quality and a competitive price are offset by skimpy documentation and only two bundled titles. The lack of Dolby Digital output will diminish its appeal for an all-out home-theater installation. In the end, it is an acceptable but not compelling choice.--AP
Hollywood DVD /MPEG-2 AC-3 Playback Kit. Street price: $400. Utobia Corp., City of Industry, CA; 888-488-6242; www.utobiadvd.com.
The Utobia Hollywood kit is a mixed bag: great video but poor documentation and software.
DVD Titles: Better Games, More Data, Lots Of Video
Just because new-fangled features are available to DVD developers doesn't mean that title developers are actually taking advantage of them. To gauge how new titles leverage the benefits of the DVD platform, we loaded up five first-generation DVD titles for the PC. These early titles run the gamut from simple multi-CD-ROM disk consolidations to titles illuminating the future promise of DVD -ROM. In every instance, the benefits of DVD shine through. Whether this is due to the enhanced video quality, the faster access speed, or the simple convenience of not having to flip multiple CD-ROMs to access additional data, once you've experienced a DVD -ROM title you'll find it hard to go back to CD-ROM.
Creative Multimedia's Blockbuster Entertainment Guide to Movies and Videos($29.95) tracks over 23,000 movies and is an invaluable resource for selecting the perfect evening rental or tracking down an elusive bit of movie trivia. Each movie record contains a succinct plot summary, a star rating (on a scale of 1 to 5), and a cast list. More than half also include more detailed reviews from London's Time Out Film Guide. In addition to a keyword search for movie title, cast, and crew, you can search by category, MPAA rating, or nationality, and you can restrict your search by release date and star rating.
From a media perspective, the Guide contains over 5,500 photographs representing actors, actresses, and movie scenes but only a disappointing 50 video clips. Also on the disk is a list of 65 years of Academy Award winners and approximately 10,000 short biographies.
The Guide is a converted CD-ROM title, and the most obvious DVD enhancement was the conversion of the 50 movie excerpts from MPEG-1 to MPEG-2 format, which delivers a better-quality image. Video playback was impressive, but with over 2.5GB unused capacity on the disk, we would have liked to have seen more video clips.
Covering over 60,000 albums from 4,000 artists, Creative Multimedia's Billboard Music Guide ($39.95) is a dream come true for audiophiles and music trivia buffs, and even less fanatical listeners will find a lot to like in this title.
The Music Guide's flexible search engine lets you search by music category, album, song title, and artist, with substantial cross-referencing among the categories. Artist biographies contain complete lists of albums and are peppered with reviews, photos, short music clips, and a sprinkling of music videos.
The Music Guide contains over 2,000 compressed MPEG-1 audio clips and 72 MPEG-2 videos of artists like Hendrix, Bowie, the Grateful Dead, and Widespread Panic, totaling a little over 2GB of data. The quality of the video and particularly the audio clips is very good, but once again we wish there were more of them. (Creative Multimedia, Portland, OR; 800-262-7668, 503-241-4351; www.creativemm.com. Circle 480 on reader service card.)
The Learning Company's Genius of Edison (only in DVD bundles; not sold separately) is invaluable for students studying Thomas Edison's work and enjoyable for anyone with even a casual interest in one of America's most prolific inventors. Genius chronicles Edison's 13 primary inventions from three viewpoints: "Tom's Technology" uses text, audio, animation, and video to explain the technology underlying the invention; the "Daily Edisonian" contains press releases and articles describing the public's response to the new invention; and the video "Time Marches On," illustrates how the technology is used today. In addition, a database contains over 200 articles covering ancillary topics of the day, from Barnum and Bailey's Circus to the Remington typewriter.
By concentrating on 13 inventions, Genius lavishes each topic with meaningful multimedia, including 46 MPEG video files, 99 QuickTime movies, and over 100 audio files, totaling just under 2GB of data. Where many titles deliver more raw data, most spread their multimedia content more thinly, making it seem random or even gratuitous. Genius proves that even with DVD real estate, there's a lot to be said for focus. (The Learning Company Inc., Cambridge, MA; 800-227-5609, 617-494-1200; www.learningco.com. )
With over 112 million business and residential listings, American Business Information's PhoneDisc PowerFinder USA One ($100) is an essential tool for businesses needing lists for direct mail, telemarketing, or direct sales. PhoneDisc is also handy if you call directory assistance frequently, especially if many of your calls are out of state.
You can search by name, business type, street, or phone number, and you can restrict output by address or geographical distance.
For example, you can create a list of names and phone numbers for residences on a particular street, or you can locate all the veterinarians within 15 miles of downtown Atlanta. You can then export your list into several database formats, including Symantec ACT! and Lotus Organizer, as well as Lotus Word Pro and Microsoft Word mail-merge formats.
A consolidation of a six-CD-ROM set, the DVD PowerFinder saves you the hassle of flipping disks to complete your search, and it runs at lightning speed. You can also run the title directly from the DVD -ROM drive without installing any files on your hard disk. (American Business Information Inc., Bethesda, MD; 800-284-8353, 402-593-4500; www.phonedisc.com. )
In Tsunami Media's Silent Steel ($49.95), the Cold War is back. You're the captain of a nuclear ballistic missile, trading sonar kisses with Libyan and Russian nukes with unknown intentions. Talk about dangerous liaisons! Included in this DVD are 4 hours of video and more than 30 potential endings.
More "intelligent motion picture" than interactive game, the disk has a user interface consisting of short, full-screen video clips followed by three text alternatives presented under the video. Your responses to the various scenarios determine your ultimate success or failure.
A consolidation of four CD-ROMs, Silent Steel benefits from the upgraded quality of the MPEG-2 video, which showcases the beautifully shot footage. Tsunami also provides multilanguage support via English, French, and German menus and subtitles. Although fast-twitch gamers will likely be frustrated by the game's structured approach, Steel is a flashy poster child for DVD 's potential for video-intensive interactive games. (Tsunami Media, Oakhurst, CA; 209-683-8266; www.tsunamimedia.com.)
One of the few products designed exclusively for DVD , Xiphias's Encyclopedia Electronica ($65) is chock-full of high-quality multimedia content. The only negative is a cumbersome interface that limits the usability of most of the text-based data.
The Encyclopedia contains over 25,000 articles and 15,000 stories derived from previous Xiphias CD-ROMs. In addition to 80 minutes of MPEG-2 video and over 8,400 still images, Encyclopedia Electronica debuts a new still-image format called GeoSphere, which provides 360-degree views of selected sites such as Stonehenge and Cape Canaveral.
You search for information through four separate views, including a time line, media browser, and test search, assisted by audio help. While searching, you can collect a dossier of records relevant to your search topic.
Designed for both desktop and convergence PC/TV computers, Encyclopedian Electronica's interface is dominated by oversize icons and large-font text that can be easily read from across the living room. The unfortunate result is a simplistic interface that displays frustratingly small amounts of information. Although the Encyclopedia provides unparalleled quantities of high-quality multimedia content, its interface limits the attractiveness of the package. (Xiphias Corp., Los Angeles; 310-841-2790. )--Jan Ozer
Blockbuster Entertainment Guide includes movie clips, reviews, and bios of major stars.
Billboard Music Guide has something for everyone in an eminently searchable format.
With PhoneDisc on DVD you can stop shuffling the six disks the CD versions needs.
Encyclopedia Electronica gets an A for multimedia content but a C for its interface.
PERFORMANCE TESTS
DVD -ROM Drives
Our testing showed little difference among the kits we reviewed in our DVD roundup--not a surprising result, given that almost all of the kits use the same Toshiba drive.
What the Numbers Mean
The timings on our DVD -ROM Read test fell within a narrow range for these six drives, with only 2 seconds separating the fastest from the slowest--a negligible amount. The winner by this narrow margin was the only Hitachi drive, provided in the Pacific Digital DVD -ROM Kit. It took only 38.2 seconds for the drive to transfer our 50MB file. The four Toshiba drives in the kits we tested showed nearly identical times; the differences fall within the margin of error for our tests.
Since most users will also use their DVD drives for CD-ROM access, we also ran our standard CD-ROM Sequential Read test. Here, the Hitachi drive in the Pacific Digital kit pulled ahead by a more substantial margin. Rated at a maximum 16X in CD-ROM mode, it transferred 1,440 KBps (kilobytes per second), versus approximately 1,200 KBps for the competing drives, which are rated at 8X for CD-ROMs. The Hitachi drive was also the only one that could read CD-R disks, a feat that all future DVD -ROM drives should be able to accomplish.
At the present time, the raw performance differences among drives in DVD kits is very small. The main buying choices hinge on price, bundled software titles, and (for some users) the ability to read CD-R media.
How We Tested
The DVD -ROM Read test measures the time it takes for a drive to transfer a 50MB file using the XCOPY32 command. We ran the test three times, and we present the average timing for each unit.
The CD-ROM Sequential Read test measures the drive's raw data throughput rate when transferring sequential data from a CD-ROM disk. We ran the test three times, and we present the average throughput for each unit.
The CD-R Compatibility test indicates whether the drive is able to read most compact disk-recordable disks.
We tested using a Micron Millennia Pentium/200 with 32MB of RAM, a 2.1GB Western Digital Caviar hard disk, and an ATI All-in-Wonder graphics adapter. For Dolby Digital playback we used a Yamaha RX-V2092 receiver, and to compare video playback quality we used a Toshiba SD-3107 home DVD player.--Analysis written by James Kearny |
