One of the more important elements of a software DVD player is its ease of installation and user friendliness. Proper documentation of features and an easy to use/understand user interface are extremely important.
Image quality is another important feature of any good software DVD player. After all, one of the biggest selling points of DVD over VHS is the enhanced picture quality and sound. A clear picture combined with a speedy decoding engine are a must for any good software DVD player.
In comparing visual quality I watched for a number of anomalies such as pixelation, skipped frames, color problems, and artifacting. I used the hardware motion compression on the Gladiac when applicable, and the desktop resolution was set to 1152x856x32. All other player options were set on their defaults. I used selected scenes from both "The Matrix" and "James Bond: The World is Not Enough" as my benchmark.
To test audio capabilities of each DVD player, I used a Dolby Digital 5.1 speaker setup and ran both TWINE and Matrix while using the AC-3 output capabilities of the software/hardware. I also watched for audio compatibility issues, and a made sure each player had a wide range of support for various standards and hardware components.
- Cyberlink PowerDVD v2.55
- Intervideo WinDVD 2000 2.2
- Varo Vision VaroDVD v2.02
- AMD Athlon 750Mhz
- 256MB PC100 SDRAM
- Pioneer DVD 114 (10x)
- Aureal SQ2500 Sound Card
- Sony Multiscan 420GS 19” Monitor
- Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Dolby Digital 5.1 Speakers
- Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS 32MB Video Card