Do I need a DVD decoder board?

[Evoluter]

Im gonna be building a system and Im wondering if Im going to need a DVD decoder board. I plan on putting in 1000mhz and a Geforce 2 GTS of somesort. Will these be able to easily handle a movie using software decoding? Thanks for helping if you can.

 

[Gunbuster]

You are golden without one unless you want tv out that the hardware decoder has.

 

[Evoluter]

Thanks.

 

[Dulanic]

Software looks 100X better than my Creative decoder card.

 

[Noriaki]

I'm running a 550 and software decoding takes less than 50% CPU usage with WinDVD 1.2.99 (no hardware assitance in that)

You will be fine..get PowerDVD 2.55 or WinDVD2000 IMO they both look nicer than a hardware DVD card.

The hardware DVD card has nice TV-output..but that's about it, for a monitor playback software is good, and the stupid passthrough cable won't mangle your 2D.

Just get a GF2 with TV-out and you're good to go.

 

[adazam10]

You won't need a decoder card. Got to avsforum.com. They have lots of good info in their home theater pc section on tweaking the geforce for best performance.