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As I've mentioned before, one of the best things about writing this column is getting all of the new equipment to test. But the downside is that I usually have to return the hardware. Such was the case with my Hi-Val DVD upgrade kit that I had to return recently. That single package let me play DVD movies on my PC, transmit them to my home entertainment system and watch them on a big-screen TV.
Fortunately for me, I'm always getting new gadgets, and the new stuff is usually better than what it replaces. I recently received two new products that let me duplicate the functions of the Hi-Val DVD kit, and do a lot more as well. I'm talking about Creative Labs' PC-DVD Encore Dxr2 DVDROM kit and RF Link Technology's Wireless PC@TV system.
PC-DVD ENCORE DXR2
Creative Labs' new PC-DVD Encore Dxr2 is a complete DVD upgrade kit for the PC. It includes a second-generation DVD-ROM drive that runs at 2x (for DVD that is), and it also doubles as a 20x CD-ROM drive that can read CDR discs as well as most other formats. It also has a fast access time of 100 milliseconds. The DVD-ROM drive in the Hi-Val kit was a first-generation 1 x DVD-ROM drive that could not read CD-R discs, and its maximum CD-ROM speed was only 8x. I receive a lot of software on CD-R discs, so it's a real pain in the neck for me if a drive can't read them. The drive in the Creative bundle can substitute for a regular CDROM drive.
Creative's DVD-ROM drive is bundled with a PCI-based Dxr2 card that includes MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital decoding plus picture enhancement technology. DynamicXtended Resolution (Dxr2) uses vertical and horizontal interpolation filters and doublescanning up to 60 fields/second to eliminate artifacts at Windows resolutions up to 1280 x 1024. The Dxr2 card also provides Dolby Digital AC-3 audio decoding for cinema-like surroundsound. The audio is down-mixed to two channels on a PC, or it can be decoded into 5.1-channel surround sound, using a Dolby Pro Logic decoder.
Creative's Encore bundle is a DVD player for a PC, with a resolutionenhanced image that plays in a resizeable window. But it's also a DVD player...