[IceFire]

Hey everyone,

Got a tech question once again.  I'm currently starting my research on a new system that I'm plotting to build sometime next summer.  I take my time, watch the prices, and jump at the appropriate time so I like to work through things long before I actually go and do it.  I'm currently investigating the latest offerings from ATI and nVidia.  The two are very close in my evaluation...so its come down to comparing drivers and support.  nVidia's drivers have a new edge in my mind now that CCC has taken over from the old ATI Control Panel.  I dispise CCC with a pasion and have had trouble with the last set of drivers on my system anyways...anyways this is all background.

Here's my question.  I just got a DVD SuperDrive...cheap too!  So now I can watch DVD's on my computer.  With my ATI card it comes with drivers on the original CD (my R9700Pro is a ATI build card).  By drivers I mean the DVD Codec so that I can watch DVD's in whatever media player application I'm using (i.e. Windows Media Player).  Now I had heard recently that nVidia seems to charge money for the same thing...is this the case or is it common for the necessary software to ship with the card but not to be available online?  This is definately a consideration.

[phatosealpha]

It's not exactly the same thing.  Purevideo, which is the codec nVidia charges for, features hardware decode acceleration on it's supported cards.  I'm certain the 9700 pro doesn't, so what you basically have is a software based codec.  If you want the hardware acceleration, you'll have to pay for the codec, but if your processor is decent, it's not really neccessary at all.  Software based codecs aren't hard to come by - I've bought 4 various DVD roms and R/W in the last year, and every single one of them came with a copy of power DVD which has a software codec

[Kosh]

You could always pirate a copy of WinDVD. Once that is installed, you can watch DVDs in WMP.

[Nix]

I used to watch DVD's in my old P2 box with a software codec.  When you install PowerDVD, the codec gets used in any software.  I can watch DVD's in WMP if I so desire, but I do like the latest offering from Cyberlink.  Either Cyberlink or InterVideo make good software DVD players, which will do the job very well if all you want to do is watch movies.  Hardware decoding was a necessity back on the old Pentium 1 machines with grapics cards that only had an 8MB framebuffer or very weak processing support.  (remember anything that had a cirrus logic or alliance semiconductor graphics processor?)  Wise choice to go nvidia too.  I cannot stand ATI's CCC anymore either, and my old 9800XT has reached end-of-life for new drivers.

[IceFire]

Ok...interesting.

My experience was that without the ATI Codec installed I could not play DVD movies.  When you say software decoder...

Wait...my Radeon 9700Pro I think has a DVD decoder hardware...so I am installing a set of drivers to communicate with the hardware right?  That was free with my Radeon.  Shouldn't it be free with the nVidia.  If not..then the software decoder (I'm sure my new system whatever it is can eat DVD decompression alive well enough for DVD playback)...where do the software decoders come from?  Free?  Open Source?  Might as well factor in the nVidia extra cost ontop of things?

[Grey Wolf]

I've never had problems running DVDs out of the box with my 6800GT and Media Player Classic.

[phatosealpha]

Is your 9700 pro an all in wonder?  if not, it certainly doesn't have any decoding hardware.  If it is, I dunno.

[Taristin]

You don't need hardware codecs to watch DVDs.
My laptop and desktop both play them, and neither has a chipset with hardware codecs. In fact, I doubt my laptop's graphics could handle it. But they both show DVD video excellently.

[WMCoolmon]

Certainly not. I got a copy of PowerDVD with my NVIDIA-based card without paying extra.

[Nix]

Usually when you purchase a new videocard, you'll get a free DVD Video playback software, and it's usually Cyberlink's PowerDVD or Intervideo's WinDVD.  When you install those programs, they will do everything that is necessary to make ANY player on your system play back DVD video.  Today, with that kind of software, which is free, there's no need for hardware decoding.  You do not need a hardware-based decoder, OR any sort of drivers when you install the DVD player software that will come with your videocard.  Even some motherboards include DVD video software.   

[Taristin]

My mobo, vid card and DVD drive all shipped with intervideo WinDVD and even the winDVD creater... >..>;;

[Grey Wolf]

I've never installed either of those programs, and my computer runs DVDs fine.