general questions about xcard and dvd-r playback

[kimpan]

Hello
I have a standalone dvd player (samsung dvd 811) that doesn't play my dvd-r's without pixels or jumps...
next to my 29" tv I have a htpc connected to the tv via a ati radeon 7000 tv-out, this htpc does not have a monitor connected to it, I use it for divxplayback.
I have tried my dvd-r's in the htpc and they play perfectly without pixels and it doesn't jump...
The problem is that the tv-out quality isn't as good as the quality through my standalone dvd-player, so I thought: either I buy a new standalone dvd-player that better can handle dvd-r's OR I buy a mpeg-card (like the xCard) and use the htpc as a dvd-player?
now to my questions:

1.
how is the dvd-playback quality with xcard compared to the quality I get with a standalone dvd-player (with standalone dvd-player I mean one that costs about 300$)

2.
How would I connect the xcard to the tv? via scart? and how does the playback work? I know I can't use windows when using the xcard, does this mean that I have to switch between the tv-out and the xcard weither I like to be in windows and then switch to xcard when I wanna watch a dvd?
or does the xcard automaticly take over when I load a dvd in the dvd-rom at startup? how does this work?

3.
My currently soundcard is a !live 5.1 which I have connected to my reciever, I'm sending digital signal to the reciever which let's the reciever encode the signal to DD..
does the xcard also do audio? Do I have to connect the xcard to my reciever aswell or can I simply use my soundcard for that and disable the xcard's audio?

I would appriciate any answeres I can get.
/Kim

[keziah]

i j ust got my xcard this week. my standalone dvd player(jvc) is now sitting on the shelf un plugged. i love it!!!!!
it plays independently from the computer i watch movies and work on the computer at the same time. my set up is to a 52 inch sony high def tv. and a sony sorround system. no problem.
i can play movies over my network as well.i don't even have to convert my mpegs or avi's i say the card is a good buy