Creative Labs DVD Encoder

[dakota81]

I had gotten a while back the Creative Labs DVD Encorder, dxr3, with their 12x drive. I have to admit, this setup is the absolute best I've experienced for DVD playback on my computer - the picture is perfect, the sound is perfect, and it runs as smooth as butter. The problem is, as a CDRom drive, the Creative Labs DVD Drive is very bad, it is painfully horrible to sit through a software install.

So I want to change my setup. I went and purchased a Pioneer 16x and I love it to death, couldn't be happier with the performance. However, the Creative Labs decoder card does not work without the Creative Labs DVD drive hooked up. With both drives hooked up I can watch dvd's from either drive.

I've tried other software, PowerDVD 3.0 with my MSI Geforce2 GTS card, the playback is not as smooth and the audio has a lot of background noise. I've tried out a Matrox G450 but their bundled software (i think it was WinDVD) is so rediculously aweful, no fullscreen mode and playback is choppy as all heck.

What it comes down to, is there any way to get the encoder card playing without the Creative Labs drive hooked up? Or else, is there an equivilent encoder card that will give me the same quality and performance?

I've got a t-bird 1.13GHz with 256meg ddr ram, msi geforce2 gts video, and using the via onboard sound.

Any suggestions?

 

[Karl Blessing]

the Dxr3 DVD DECODER(The card Decodes the DVD to video, it doesnt Encode video into a DVD) was at one point of time sold seperatly, so as a result I assume it will work with most other drives, I dont know what you mean by the drive being bad? I have a CL 5X Encore DVD drive, and it runs just great. Also PowerDVD playback runs great also on my machine. I dont use the dxr3 anymore as I need the extra PCI slots, and because it can sometimes cause Windows2000 issues. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[dakota81]

I meant Decoder, just a typo.

The 12x drive runs beautifully when playing a DVD, I couldn't be any happier with that aspect, it's the best quality playback I've seen so far, but it's file transfers where the drive just struggles horribly.

The decoder card will work with any dvd drive hooked up - as long as the creative labs drive is also hooked up. This to me is pretty lousy, and I was wondering if there are any workarounds to be able to use the Creative Labs DVD software without a Creative Labs DVD drive hooked up. Basically speaking, the card is excellent, the drive is trash.

I suppose another question here could be, is the Hollywood decoder card by Sigma an equivilent product that will give me the same high quality?

 

[dakota81]

For some reason the card is now working with just the Pioneer drive connected. I think I might have had a bad ata66 cable hooked upto the Pioneer drive.