Do computers make good DVD players for Projectors

[chestnut]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS]Hi

Im pretty sad when it comes to buying tech stuff always having to look at every angle before parting with cash. Im currently looking at setting up a projector in my front bedroom and have the 4805 and H30A in mind which I understand are both solid performers.

It the source im puzzling over. I can either buy a denon 1910 (£220) or run the film through my PC (zero). The PC looks favorite as my graphics card pretty good (radeon 9800 pro) and monies tight. With these projectors in mind can anyone recommend the best software to run the film on my PC and what the picture quality will be like taking this approach? Any help would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Chestnut

[Craig Armstrong]

Check here Chestnut to see what you can do with your PC

http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1

Mind you, its your processor power which is very important - I've got a Radeon 9700 Pro card but its the Athlon 2600+ which was holding back the big rescaling using FFDSHOW - I've just upgraded to a Athlon64 3500+ over the weekend and now I can do what I like with FFDSHOW

[theritz]

Make your life simple and get Powerdvd6 - if you want to mess with more esoteric dvd playback software (Zoomplayer/Reclock/Fddshow) later on then fine, but to get started Powerdvd6 will knock your socks off compared to practically any mainstream dvd player. Processing power is not an issue, and you don't need to have a 9800 - a basic Radeon 64/128Mb in a sub 1Ghz machine will do fine for ordinary dvd playback. If you wanted to use the PC to process incoming data from a Skybox/whatever through a capture card, then Dscaler is needed and processing power becomes more relevant.

Do some reading over on the hcpc forum - lots of interesting info there.


Sean.

[Eddy Boy]

At the end of the day a DVD player comes ready to play DVDs. A PC has to have software loaded and/or hardware changed and it becomes a nightmare. Then you find you can't play games on it due to the software loaded and so it goes on.
However if you PC has a DVI-D graphics card you can get some stunning pictures.

[Gary Lightfoot]

Hi Chestnut,

A PC can give you the best DVD playback going, so if you don't mind tweaking and using the PC as your player, you should try it. VGA and DVI are the connections to use (VGA will be progresive analogue, and DVI will be digital), and if the PC graphics card is doing the scaling and deinterlacing (which it will be), you have your very own external scaler too.

I wouldn't use anything else personaly.

Gary.

[Mr Grumpy]

Some stunning results there that's for sure.
Could have probably got my PC up to an appropriate spec and had some change left for what I just spent on my new dvd player too... oh well

[inzaman]

Could have probably got my PC up to an appropriate spec and had some change left for what I just spent on my new dvd player too... oh well

That was the dilemma i was in a few months ago, luckily i went the hcpc route and saved a few hundred over the dvd player i was going to get.

[chestnut]

Thank you for all your help. Looks like using the pc is certainly worth trying, especially as powerDVD6 (the simple solution) is only 18 quid of amazon. Im still a little worried about conflicts thou as it doesn't take long for a malfuncting pc to drive you nuts.

One other small question. I have a DVI-I socket on the back of my 9800 pro. Are DVI-I and DVI-D (supplied on H30A) the same pin or will i require an adaptor? Could any also recommend a good 10m DVI-D cable appropriate for this level of equipment.

All the best.

[SamirP]

Originally Posted by chestnut

One other small question. I have a DVI-I socket on the back of my 9800 pro. Are DVI-I and DVI-D (supplied on H30A) the same pin or will i require an adaptor? Could any also recommend a good 10m DVI-D cable appropriate for this level of equipment.

All the best.

No you won't need an adaptor for the 30A but you will need a M1-DA adaptor with the 4805 if you want to run DVI-D

DVI-I = Carries Analog + Digital signals
DVI-D = only carries a digital signal

http://www.lindy.com/uk/productfolde...1260/index.php

M1-DA adaptor

http://www.lindy.com/uk/productfolde...1229/index.php

[nwgarratt]

I don't have a high spec machine (Athlon XP 2000). It does a fine job with just using PowerDVD and is noticeably better than any DVD player. I still have a DVD player connected for convinience though.

I did experiment with zoom player and ffdshow and saw no difference with my setup. Therefore I decided to ditch the tweaking and went for the easy solution. I also only have a AE100 PJ which probably restricts what I could do with the software.

Chesnut,

Replying to your enquiry about 10m DVI cables I must strongly deter your from going down that route.

I purchased a 10m DVI cable for about 30pounds on the internet and it was wasted money. I was unable to watch anything as the digital attenuation (degredation of signal) was so pervasive it wasn't just a case of a few sparklies but a screen that was entirely bright green. Powerstrip, a pience of software that is designed to allow the user to define their own refresh rates improved things slightly but I had to lower the refresh rate to 40hz before any emprovement was noticed. I also had to lower the DVI frequency via the catalyst software (Radeon).

All in all, don't do it. DVI is designed for short cables. In the end I spent 106pounds on a 5m cable. This resolved all the issues I had and I'm very happy now but it did cost over a ton. Personally I wouldn't recommend a cheaper cable as it simply wont do.

Hope this has been useful. Ask if you want to know more or if I have been unclear.

Good luck.

[Gary Lightfoot]

I use a 7.5m cable from Lindy with no problrms, and that is suppose to be the theoretical maximum, though some have longer ones with no issues. It must vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Gary.

[sean.pittaway]

I have had two 10m dvi cable from keenes.

The first one was as Claude describes ie useless, but the sceond one was perfect (i was very impressed with the picture sharpness).

Its worth giving the cable a shot, it was cheap (£40) and if it does not work you can simply send it back....


Just make sure that you test it before sinking any cables

[SamirP]

Originally Posted by Gary Lightfoot

I use a 7.5m cable from Lindy with no problrms, and that is suppose to be the theoretical maximum, though some have longer ones with no issues. It must vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Gary.

I use a 10m Lindy cable with no problems at all

[filmman]

hi
one advantage going the pc route is when hi/def blu-ray appears it will be cheaper to upgrade a pc with a drive than buy a first generation hi def player.