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**HAL9000** · 08-13-2000, 05:46 PM

If you put in a DVD, you do not need a CD-Rom as the DVD drive will read standard CD's as well. A decoder card is a piece of hardware to decode the DVD as opposed to using software decoding. The hardware decoding will provide better performance than the software decoding. On older slower machines, I would go as far as to say that the decoder card is a must. On Newer faster machines (say 500Mhz and above) it isn't absolutely necessary, but picture quality can still be improved by adding the decoder.

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If it ain't broke, you're not pushing hard enough!

08-13-2000, 05:46 PM	#2
HAL9000 Red-eyed Moderator Staff Premium Member Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,575	If you put in a DVD, you do not need a CD-Rom as the DVD drive will read standard CD's as well. A decoder card is a piece of hardware to decode the DVD as opposed to using software decoding. The hardware decoding will provide better performance than the software decoding. On older slower machines, I would go as far as to say that the decoder card is a must. On Newer faster machines (say 500Mhz and above) it isn't absolutely necessary, but picture quality can still be improved by adding the decoder. ------------------ If it ain't broke, you're not pushing hard enough!