Going for DVD/Sound system ideas?

[dragonfire]

Hi,

I have a reasonable PC setup, 2.6C PIV, 1Gb Ram, FX5900 nvidia card and am very seriously considering diving into the world of DVD movies.

I'm looking at acquiring a DVD burner (Sony DRU510A is looking affordable), and want a reasonable sound card, ideally I'd like a card that could handle DTS as well as the various Dolby formats (although I heard most movies on DVD get encoded with both DTS and Dolby)

Would the playback speed of the Sony DVD burner be able to handle regular DVD movie playback? (Should I just go get a cheap internal DVD player as well?) Is my existing PC hardware up to the challenge of full screen TV real time streaming through my S-Video output on the FX5900 card?

I guess I'm initially looking for a 5.1 system that I could then take up to 7.1 at a later date?

I'm thinking this would be cheaper than going out and getting a separates system ie DVD player, decoder/Amplifier etc. My PC is has been subjected to the tender love of Zalman gear so is quiet to not disturb movie viewing...

Basically all I want to do is copy/burn DVDs and play movies. The side benefits of enhancing gaming sound I guess just come naturally.

Bundle of questions - any answers?

Thanks

[R_1_Oh_Seven]

9800 pro all in wonder get that. also 7.1 audigy isnt too bad to get, it can handle a lot. ill reply more later if i find this thread and im not pressed for time

[MrPurple]

In all honesty your HW is fine, and you do not need an All In Wonder 9800 Pro. Any card would do fine for DVD playback, and 7.1 is not that impressive with sound cards. Just get a decent 5.1 card which will be fine.

If you want to do some gaming on that system, than you want to get either a DVD player or a CD ROM, only use the DVD-RW for burning.

[dragonfire]

Thanks Guys, I have to admit having a reasonable nVidia card makes me loath to invest more $AU in video cards. Any specific recommendations on Audio card? Whats everybody using out there? The current PC audio card is a old Vibra 128!
Why would I only use the DVD for burning? Is the playback speed too slow to handle movies? I have a CD player anyway - so I guess I should be looking at a DVD/CD player also.

Cheers

[Scott Tiger]

Your system blows mine away and mine plays DVD's just fine with my computer.

Aside from the fact that I added a Lite-On DVD-Rom for $35 bucks I didn't need to add anything else.

Are you intending to hook up a TV to the computer or are you going to watch them on your monitor? Standalone DVD players can be acquired very cheaply right now. I got a Progessive Scan Panasonic (s-35 I think) for ~ $100 here in the States. I'm not sure how much they go for in Aussie land but surely they can't be that expensive - you guys are a lot closer to China than we are!

[dragonfire]

I was intending on viewing the DVDs on my TV rather than on the monitor - I have an SVideo output, on the video card and a couple of inputs on the front and side of my TV . I have toyed with the idea of getting a standalone DVD player, but figured I'd try and keep the clutter to a minimum. I have seen "progressive scan DVD players" (~$AU80) but don't what that means? Does that give me the ability to display on my PC monitor as well as the TV?