DVD Players for the PC & Mac in Review

There's no doubt about it -- television and video are powerful forces in our society, and as prices fall and high-capacity storage systems make digital video capture and editing systems more widely available, it is likely that in-house "video sampling" will soon be a common task for tomorrow's media-savvy students, marketers and entertainment-oriented consumers, just as audio sampling is widely exploited today. And, just as audio tools have grown to be used by far more people than professional musicians, so we may expect video editors and players to become widely used in the years ahead by groups other than today's early adopters: the television-industry, multimedia, game and web-content producers that have so far helped to popularize digital video.

Certainly, the videos most widely seen in this country are those adhering to the North American Television Standard. Virtually all VHS videos, video cameras, DVD players and composite outputs from other video devices in Canada and the U.S. are based on NTSC output. However, DVD content itself is not necessarily NTSC specific, as is the case with tape-based video content. (E.g., a U.K.-standard PAL videotape cannot easily be played on a North American television screen.) In this way, computer-based DVD video presents a global market opportunity -- a fact that has not escaped those who stand to lose profits from video piracy. Thus, most DVD players and content titles have a "region code" that forbids them from playing a video designed for a different region. In other words, if a pirate video factory in, say, China cranks out illicit DVD copies of Terminator II that play on machines in that country, they will not play on DVD players that are programmed to accept only North American discs.

There are, however, some exceptions. Region codes can generally be set a limited number of times. Also, some software products can (usually against the DVD company's wishes) reprogram the EPROMs or software drivers of certain players that control region settings, allowing unrestricted use.

Remarkably, today's fast computers can play back the enormous amount of video and audio data stored on a DVD disc via software decoding alone. Considering that the audio is Dolby Digital (AC-3) multichannel audio at rates up to 48KHz, and the video is encoded at resolutions up to 720 x 480 x 30 frames per second (720 x 576 PAL), this is no mean feat. Indeed, the main limitation of software decoders is the speed of your computer's CPU. A hardware decoder will use fewer CPU cycles to display the video, as the card handles the grunt work of the decoding process. Software-only playback isn't really viable without a 266 MHz or faster CPU, and even then, the CPU utilization is so high, menu operation can seem quite slow and playback is still not as smooth as with a hardware decoder. On processors faster than 350 MHz, however, we doubt most people could tell the difference.

We tested several software and hardware DVD players.

Software:

• Quadrant International (also known as QI Products) Software CineMaster98
• Zoran SoftDVD
• CyberLink PowerDVD
• ATI DVD Player 1.2 (based on CineMaster)* (details on this C$14 product at www.atitech.ca)
• XingDVD Player 2.03
• WinDVD, PowerDVD and several other more recent offerings are described in other articles on this site. (Use our search engine.)

Hardware:

• Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore Dxr2 Kit
• Sigma Designs Realmagic Hollywood Plus Kit
• ATI Rage 128 GL*
• ATI XPERT Series
• Diamond Viper 550*
• ...and several other, more recent ATI graphics cards. Refer to the graphics hardware section at PCBuyersGuide.com or use the search engine for details.

These are software players bundled with -- and only usable with -- specific hardware configurations. We couldn't even get the Diamond DVD player to work with other cards based on the same TNT chipset the Viper 550 uses.

It's worth mentioning that some video cards are better suited to DVD playback than others. The ATI Rage Pro AGP, Rage 128, and S3 Savage3D, for example, have features that assist in MPEG2 acceleration. The Nvidia Riva TNT, which does not, suffered in playback performance as a result.

Here are our test results of several DVD players:

Software

QI Products' Software CineMaster

• For: Windows 95/98; requires P233 or better.
• Pros: software DVD player supports motion compensation on several ATI cards, including those based on the Rage Pro and Rage 128. Moderate CPU utilization. Best video playback quality on systems supporting "overlay."
• Cons: doesn't work on non-MMX PCs. "Generic" version doesn't work with video cards that lack "overlay" capabilities. (ATI ships an ATI-specific version.) Can't capture screen shots. No support for loading (MPEG-2 or VOB) files.
• Notes: The CineMaster worked well on our PII/266, but provided lower quality video than we attained with the Encore DXR2. Subjectively, we'd rate the DXR2's image quality as twice as good. Despite the Matrox G200's support of "true overlay capabilities," CineMaster was incompatible with our Matrox G200-TV, citing a lack of a compatible "overlay" mode. All TNT-based cards, however, support "overlays."

The ATI Rage Fury and its accompanying player rated about the same as the CineMaster -- not surprising, as the software is based on the same code. ATI touts the Rage 128's "2nd generation Motion Compensation and IDCT (inverse discrete cosine transfer)" as "Integrated Hardware DVD," however, the image quality and CPU utilization rates (which are only marginally better than those on a TNT-based card that lacks this feature) don't really support this.

XingDVD Player 2.03

For: Windows 95/98; requires P266 or better.

Pros: Works fine with video cards such as Matrox G200 that lack "overlay" capabilities. Also supports loading of files.

Cons: No support for motion compensation hardware. Awkward implementation of file-type associations (e.g., if you do not elect to associate MPEG files with the player, it will bring up a warning dialog each and every time you start it). Decent video quality, but rapid motion video causes visually unpleasant horizontal "tears" in on-screen images. Video playback is less smooth than with CineMaster.

Notes: XingDVD is US$49.95 from http://www.xingtech.com/products/dvd/. It is optimized for Pentium II and MMX and takes advantage of the 3DNow! instructions in AMD's K6-2 family of chips.

The Zoran SoftDVD player supplied with the Viper 550 and some ATI products produces fairly poor playback. This is the player Matrox sells or, in a few cases, bundles for use with its G200 series cards, too. SoftDVD doesn't run at all unless your CPU supports MMX instructions.

The PowerDVD player is considered by many to be one of the best of the software players, but version 1.3 didn't work well on our Windows 98 test systems. PowerDVD's audio output from our test system's AWE64 Gold was of lower quality than with the Xing or QI players, with a pronounced hiss. The company says version 1.5 or 1.6, which is now shipping, addresses this and other problems. (We'll post an update to this report when we've finished our tests of these claims). Some users, in fact, prefer its video output to the quality of hardware solutions such as the DxR2. Like other software players, its requires a powerful CPU (PII/266 or better) to play videos smoothly. Like the XingDVD Player, it provides an MPEG-2 file mode in addition to DVD disc playback.

Hardware

There are several hardware decoder cards on the market, but these products have declined in popularity as computer speeds have increased, diminishing the necessity for hardware decoding muscle. Still, a card such as a Creative Labs Dxr2 or Dxr3 can be added to an older PC, transforming its MPEG-2 playback performance from sluggish to silky smooth. We've successfully viewed DVD movies on a 100 MHz Pentium 1-based PC. Be careful that the drivers for the hardware you choose is compatible with the operating system you want to use. Some trickery is necessary, for example, to get the now-discontinued Dxr2 to work under Windows XP (briefly, you have to install the Windows 98 driver -- see NTCompatible.com for details); other cards, such as the Cinemaster PCI decoder support Windows XP and Windows 2000 via downloadable driver updates.

Creative Labs Encore (6x, 5x and DxR2 2x models available)

• For: Windows 95/98; requires P100 or better.
• Pros: Works fine with video cards such as Matrox G200 that lack "overlay" capabilities. Good video quality; low CPU utilization. This player is our Editor's Choice.
• Cons: Requires a PCI slot; requires IRQ. External video pass thru reduces screen image quality slightly. Low audio volume.

Hardware DVD playback solutions have the following advantages over software-based DVD players. For example, the Creative Labs Encore Dxr2 DVD kit provides:

• low CPU overhead
• good video quality on a wide variety of processors (down to P100)
• reliable operation on virtually all VGA cards (if they have analog overlay)
• 5.1 Dolby Digital (AC3) port
• TV-OUT (S-video and composite)
• 5x DVD-ROM drive (Encore 5x) or 2x (DxR2)

Software players, meanwhile, have the following advantages:

• No negative impact on non-DVD screen image quality.
• Inexpensive
• Frees up an IRQ and a slot
• Can be used with any DVD-ROM or DVD-RAM drive (or, in a few cases, MPEG-2 video clips)

Which Computers Are DVD-enabled?

Zoran SoftDVD is found on:

• Compaq Presario  4840,4850,4852,4860,4862,4880,4882,4640, or 4660 . HP Pavilion 81xx (where "xx" are two additional digits)

Chromatic MPACT1 and MPACT2 is found on:

• Compaq PC Theatre, Cybermax, Digital Connection 3DFusionDVD, Gateway Desktops and Destinations, E4 CoolDVD, Leadtek WinFast3D 5800, Luna Verde Luna2001, MAXpc Tech Oomph, Micron Millenium MME/XRU, Procomp M420 Proside DVD kits, Quantex Computers, STB ImpactDVD, STB Nitro 2D/3D DVD, Unico DVD kits, and  Unigen DVD kits.

For the Mac, choices are fairly limited. E4, one of the leading suppliers of DVD drives for the Mac, has apparently gone out of business. Although Apple had, in recent months, taken its PowerBook DVD+hardware decoder option off its price list, it seems to have reconsidered, and the item is once again shipping. Apple's DVD-Video Kits for PowerBook G3 systems are US$499, including a "second-generation" DVD-ROM module, a DVD-Video PC Card decoder and "an intuitive orb-shaped onscreen controller."

Most new Mac models offer DVD-capable "combo" drives as a build-to-order option, and some models even offer DVD-RW drives (albeit, in the case of Apple's low-end G4 tower, only as a build-to-order option). The Mac OS provides a DVD-enabled CD Player for use with systems with a hardware decoder card. Sadly, Apple's next release of QuickTime, dubbed QuickTime 6, has been held up over MPEG-4 licensing issues, so software or hardware decoding of MPEG-2 are still the most viable options for Mac owners wanting to display DVD-quality video on their Macs -- Microsoft's Media Player for Macintosh notwithstanding. A few third-party products also exist, such as CoolDVD, from Elecide Technologies Inc. See also: MacCentral's article entitled Getting DVD on your Mac- The options.

Drives

Users considering a DVD drive with or without a decoder card should take a look at Creative Labs' 8x DVD drive. This drive is compatible Type 2 discs recorded with DVD-RAM drives marketed by Creative Labs, Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba, LaCie and other vendors. Unfortunately, the older 5x drive and earlier models are not compatible with these 2.6GB "Type 2" discs that can be created with the DVD-RAM units. And, unlike the shoddy quality of Creative Labs CD-ROM drives (almost all of which seem to end up broken after a year or two), the DVD drives seem to be relatively trouble-free.

Other good choices include current model Pioneer DVD-ROM drives, LG Electronics "combo drive" DVD-ROM/CD-RW drives, or units based on a Toshiba mechanism such as the 5x Toshiba SD-M1202. Windows 98 directly supports Toshiba-based drives for DVD playback. The Hitachi GD-2500 is a 4x drive that many users seem to like, too. We have not found cheaper units, such as the AOpen DVD-ROM drive, to perform as well as the other models mentioned here.

Note, also, that DVD drives and/or drivers may be "region coded" -- a regionalized copy-protection scheme in which discs sold in one part of the world can't be played on region coded drives elsewhere. The Compaq GD-2500 DVD drive, for example, use a different firmware than the non-regionalized Hitachi drive on which it is based. The Compaq version is region coded and can't be easily changed. Of course, for most users, this won't matter, as discs sold in North America will work just fine on drives in that area. Moreover, drives can change their region code a limited number of times (usually five), to facilitate relocations or special circumstances.

Note also that some SCSI-based drives, such as the Pioneer DVD-U02 (302) DVD-ROM drive, don't work with most software players.  However, the CineMaster software works well with this and other SCSI DVD players.

We'd recommend against older DVD-ROM drives such as the Pioneer A01 or older-than-1998 models from Sigma or Creative Labs. Get a DVD-RAM-compatible 3rd generation model (look for a drive sporting the "DVD Multi" logo to ensure compatibility with the widest array of standards), or at the very least, be sure to get a "2nd generation" drive, capable of reading dual-layer discs.

Open Source Players

Finally, there's the issue of platforms other Windows. Macintosh models with a built-in DVD drive are directly supported by Apple's DVD player (users of external DVD drives on other models can use a third-party player such as Videolan instead); there's also a Linux version of this software, and several other ports. Videolan is free, and it's the best of the open source players we've seen.

Standalone Hardware (Set-top) Players

So, are there any good reasons to consider a set-top DVD player? Sure: they're quiet, quick to start up and probably cost less than a computer. Many can play audio discs, MP3s or VCD content on CD-R, DVD+R/RW and/or DVD-R/RW media and a few, such as the unit announced in late 2002 by KISS, can even play DivX video files. (Tom's Hardware has a review.) But perhaps the most compelling advantage to set-top DVD plays is their superior support for hardware-decoded Dolby Digital surround sound. It's a complex topic, which I'll get into in more depth in a future article, but for now, suffice it to say that videophiles who want the best possible home theatre experience may not find it a lot easier to achieve with a hardware-decoded  6.2 (or 7.1) sound setup, rather than fiddling around with trying to achieve similar fidelity with a computer.

For further reading:

• PC Buyers Guide's Storage Section
• DVD - a technology primer
• DVD-RAM-Giga Storage! - Details on the new "DVD Multi" standard, announced in June, 2000.
• UDF - DVD-RAM, DirectCD, CDRW and related issues.
• DVD2 - More DVD news
• Software Decoders review and technical notes
• A Head-to-head Comparison of DVD players
• http://members.xoom.com/virtuamedia/dvd/dvd.html
• http://pcdvd.nosf.com/
• http://windoms.sitek.net/~dvdsoft/dvdsoft.html
• ATI Rage Pro vs Riva TNT in a software DVD shootout (ATI wins)
• http://www.inmatrix.com/ - DVD info, including reviews of popular software players.
• www.7thzone.com - reviews and download links
• http://www.fi.muni.cz/~xpridal/mplayerosx/ - Another open source player for Mac OS X.