DVD specs?

[tomthelad]

I currently don't have a DVD drive on my pc, and I want to get one. Trouble is, my processor is 900MHz, and my Graphics card is pretty old. What specs would I need to be capable of buying and using a DVD drive?
Please help

[yg1968]

900 mhz is more than enough to use a DVD-ROM drive. I don't think that it matters whether you have an old graphic card or not.

[tomthelad]

But I'm sure there's some sort of decoder card you need, isn't there?! Or am I just being a stupid British arse?!

[dun4cheap]

The graphic card may help. Most ATI cards have built in hardware decoders. So wrather than the CPU do the decoding to watch a dvd movie the video card would do it But the last reply is correct 900mhz is fast enough for a software decoder to work. I think the slowest cpu would be 233 with mmx. Just remember a decent video performance can boost the computer performance by a large degree.

[epo]

HP OmniBook, I currently use, is 500 MHz and has DVD-ROM module and no decoder card.
Oh... I understand, what do You mean - playing DVD-Video on PC! Once again 900MHz should be more than enough to use SW decoder. Check for DVD-player software spec. for more help!

[tomthelad]

As I said, I'm a British Arse - Are these specs alright then?
900MHz (you've said it is, I know!)
16x DVDrom
Inno3D Tornado GeForce4 MX420 64Mb SDR APG x4 with TV-Out
Thanx for your time

[epo]

SW players came out, when nobody even dreamed about ANY of Your system components. Yes, Your system is OK.

[tearex]

Should be fine. And your Graphics card can do 720x576 and 720x480 resolutions natively. This is the DVD resolution and using it improves playback quality immensly and also reduces CPU load as no slow+ugly image scaling is required. It comes down to downloading a new Detonator driver and modifying an included text file before installing it. There's info on the Web, just search for 720x576 GeForce. Then you set PowerDVD not to change the resolution, and adjust widescreen vs. fullscreen on your monitor's onscreen controls holding a measuring stick to the screen. Et voila superb playback - doesn't work on flat panel monitors or Laptop displays though!