What is the best dvd player out there for computer?

[soulmankyle]

Hi, I have a old DVD player in my computer. It's a Creative Encore 12X DXR3 with a decoder card. The clarity from which this player puts out is amazing. The picture is just amazingly clear. I have never found another dvd player like it. The only problem is it doesnt work to good any more. Probably because it just wore out over time. And to make things worse creative stopped making the player for some reason.

Anyways, to the best of my knowledge nobody else makes a dvd player like this. I must find one. So my question is, Does anyone know of another player or something with similer quality?

[RJ]

Hello and welcome to PC Mech,

first you need to know this: There are no DVD players for the PC. They are DVD-ROM drives. They do nothing else than read the data off the DVD, and there is no relation to the picture quality. Your decoder card is the one that gives you the good picture, not the DVD-ROM drive.

That said, it doesn't matter at all which DVD-ROM drive you get, the picture will look exactly the same.

So the drive's quality is not determined by the picture quality (as there is no relation), but by other factors such as error correction, noise, and overall quality in general.

My favourite is the Plextor PX-116A2. It's an amazing drive. It reads DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW without problems, even discs that are heavily scratched. It reads CDs and pressed DVDs too, of course. And the minus format, too.

I recommend that drive, it's really great.

RJ