Computer as Transport

Wired

Active Member
I was thinking that as a computer cd drive can read dvd and cd, could it be connected to some kind of external DAC that sits in your hifi system.

Maybe it could be connected by a network cable or USB port.

I think it could be a cheap way to get into dvd - audio.

Does anybody know of a company that makes such a DAC.
 
If anyone does its M-audio. They make thee nicest sound cards available anywhere. They are not cheap but they are unrivaled as sound cards go.
 
If you wanted to use your computer to play DVD and stuff, you could, but it would proablly be more easy and cheaper to get a stand alone player.

But you would have to get a video card with TV out, and that would be your video source, and a sound card that supports 5.1 Dolby Digital and dts with a output like the new Creative Labs Audigy (is that the one?) it's external and for $100 I heard very nice and has tons of features
 
Actually, one can *sometimes* get DVD drives for the PC cheeply, as well as mpeg decoders.

an older creative labs 8x dvd drive fetchs like $30 , slightly more for a Pioneer 10x unit (Dual layer support) ($33.95 today). Newer no name units the starting price is $35 or so.

Now, i've not had good experences with TV outputs on video cards. Unless there is something that i'm missing, i've found mpeg decoder cards to be of superior quality.

I own a Sigma Designs Hollywood plus card my self. I can't find it for less unfortunatly. Supports only mpeg 1 & 2, stereo output only near as i'm aware, and there is 3rd party support to disable macrovision in the event your video gear freaks on it. I bought this back in the 20th century as part of a package with a cheep samsung drive that won't read disks from Hollywood video. Still fetches a good $60, but can be found more cheeply

On the slightly newer front, Sigma Designs also has a "Xcard" with support for dolby 5.1 output (via S/PDIF only, analog is stereo only). Composit and Svideo outputs, as well as mpeg-4 support (interestingly enough, they created a codec based on, or rather, liberated from xvid in violation of the GPL license violation, one aspect of compliance of using open souce under the GPL means you have to publish your stuff open source. http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread/t-2427.html. Yay, open source codec for something without linux support) But basicly, if you want decent output of stuff you download from the net, as long as it's an mpeg or divx-4, you can output to TV.
This is fetaching about $100, and does come with a remote control unlike prior versions. Sidebenifit, takes the load off the system when playing back compressed stuff.

On the cheep, Creative Labs DXR2 DVD Decoder with dolby digital support, about $20.00. Creative DXR3 DVD Decoder Card, about $34 or so (might be the same chipset as the hollywood realmagic plus).

So... let's just say for conversation purposes, assuming you want TV output, it's going to run you about $60 minium for both DVD drive and mpeg decoder.

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On the otherhand, softwear decoding is MUCH cheeper, often times drives get bundled with decoding software, and i've noticed some DVD disks come with decoding software, otherwise you can buy some versions for like $5, or download something off the net freely. Cuts the minium price to like the $40 range, assuming you are happy viewing on your monitor, or have TV output ability already. There are a number of monitor solutions that can be had cheeply. Something like a Sun 20d, a 20 inch montor, fetchs sub $20 in used circles because they don't support dos mode on the PC, but will do 1024*768 well with the proper cable. While your typical telivision is bigger, the quality of these older trinitron units is supurb. Even the Sony multiscan 20se, a 20 inch monitor, as well as the sun 20e11, but being perfectly happy to be on the PC with the correct cabling 100% fetch very little in the used market. If you're happy with only 20 inches, or your current monitor, and want to view movies great! Analog 4-5 channel support is very common

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However stand alone units have their benifits as well. Many support VCD, and all you need is a CD-recorder to pull video from the net, provided it's an mpeg. Many more support mp3s on CD-r/CD-RW. And stand alone units are a hell of alot less hassle typicaly speaking.
 
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