- Watch DVD movies on your TV or PC
- Read DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs
- Decode MPEG-2 video with the Dxr3 board
- MPEG and DVD 1.0 out at up to 30 fps
- Three interactive DVD titles included
Technical Details
Product Details
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Product Description
Amazon.com Review
If you want excellent DVD viewing on your computer, then you should certainly check out the PC-DVD Encore 6x Dxr3 internal DVD-ROM drive kit from Creative Labs. Of course, you can use this ultrafast drive to read DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs, but you can also use it watch the latest DVD titles in Dolby Digital sound.
The kit ships with a Creative 6x DVD-ROM drive, Dxr3 decoder board, IDE data cable, CD audio cable, dual connector audio cable, VGA loop-back cable, S-Video-to-composite converter cable, and a load of cool software. Installation was surprisingly simple given the complexity of so many cables, but after a few sound-card difficulties, we installed the PC-DVD quickly and easily.
The manual is extensive, walking you through the installation process step by step. The manual answered most of our questions, and we appreciated the troubleshooting section, which offered helpful solutions to common problems. The instructions also outline the function of each software button thoroughly, eliminating much of the guesswork associated with learning a new interface.
We set the jumpers on the DVD-ROM drive to master and set our existing CD-ROM drive to slave, and then connected the drive to the secondary IDE connector with the provided IDE ribbon. We connected the DVD drive to one of the audio connectors on our sound card and connected the provided dual audio connector from the line-out connector on the Dxr3 card to the other audio connector on the sound card. If you have only one CD audio connector on your sound card, then you'll need to connect both your CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives to the Dxr3 card and connect the audio card to the Dxr3 card with the dual audio connector. The monitor was then connected to the Dxr3 card, and we used the loop-back cable to connect to our VGA card. Hardware installation was completed by connecting our speakers to the audio card.
Once we ironed out some wrinkles in an initially faulty installation, we installed the drivers from the provided floppy disk. The drivers installed right away and the rest of setup proceeded flawlessly. After rebooting our computer, we performed a typical install of the provided PC-DVD Player Application software. The software was very intuitive and easy to use, and in no time, we were watching high-fidelity, crystal-clear DVD movies.
The software consists of a menu that allows you to chose scenes at the start of a movie. (You can also access the menu in the middle of a movie.) The software's "remote control" lets you move forward in slow motion, fast-forward, click to the next scene, stop, reverse, or pause during the course of the movie. You can manually scale the screen to any size or watch in the preferred full-screen mode. The screen supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200 at 32-bit color, allowing for gorgeous graphics (depending, of course, on your monitor size).
You'll want a top-of-the-line multimedia sound system if you plan on watching DVDs on you computer. It would be a travesty to continue to use a tinny pair of satellite speakers. We used a high-end three-piece system with a healthy subwoofer, delivering good bass and full sound, but you should consider a five-piece system with surround sound for cinema-like quality. (Creative Labs recommends several.)
Of course, the DVD-ROM drive is also backward compatible with other media such as DVD-R, CD-audio, CD-I, CD Extra, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, Photo CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-Video. The drive plays back DVD media at 6x speeds and CD-ROM data at speeds of 24x. Average access time is 120 milliseconds for CD and 180 milliseconds for DVD.
At this price, with its superior performance, easy installation, extensive features, and exciting software bundle, the PC-DVD Encore 6x Dxr3 is too good to pass up.
Pros:
- Easy to install
- Terrific video quality
- Intuitive interface
- Ships with nice assortment of software
Amazon.com Product Description
PC-DVD(tm) Encore 6X with Dxr(tm)3 Technology. Creative(r) PC-DVD(tm) Encore 6X with Dxr(tm)3 brings the future of digital home entertainment to your PC and your home. Witness vibrant digital imagery of DVD video, immerse yourself in cinema-like Dolby(r) Digital (AC-3(r)) surround audio, and harness the massive data storage that's only found in PC-DVD technology. The next-generation Creative Dxr3 decoder board delivers impeccable image quality and provides better processing of color video at high resolutions. In addition to stunning video, the Dxr3 board takes Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio and feeds it to a receiver or DeskTop Theater(tm) 5.1 for theater-like, room-shaking audio with a 6-speaker surround system *. Or you can connect Dxr3 to your Sound Blaster(r) audio card for great stereo sound. The versatile Creative PC-DVD 6X drive reads DVDs at up to 6x speeds, giving you near-instant access to your data. Support for popular disk types such as DVD-R, CD-R, CD-RW, and CD audio provide seamless access to your existing data and audio library. * Dolby Digital (AC-3) 5.1 channel audio requires Cambridge SoundWorks(r) DeskTop Theater 5.1 speaker system or an amplifier/receiver with Dolby Digital coaxial input, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) supported applications.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Product!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Creative Labs MK5004 Encore 6x PC-DVD with DXR3 Technology (Personal Computers)
I am thrilled I bought this product. In fact, the reviews on this page convinced me to purchase the DVD player. I am very suspicious of magazine product reviews considering the same magazines that tout products accept advertising money from the manufacturer; hence, how can they truly be objective? First, the quality. The video and sound just blew me away. When I view the movies on my monitor, which is 17 inches, the video is flawless. However, when I view movies on my TV, via an RCA cable, there are wavy lines on my TV. It could be my TV which is very old. Second, the installation. A bit more difficult then I imagined. However, until I installed the DVD I had never opened the case. Even though I am a novice, total installation time did not exceed 30 minutes. I presume anyone with a little PC knowledge would have zero difficulty with installation. A few issues. If anyone knows how I can connect the player to my stereo, please send me an email. There is an output jack on the decoder card labeled PDIF. I am certain this is the connection I need to use. However, when I connect an RCA cable from the card to my receiver, I cannot get any sound. I would have given five stars, but calling Creative Labs has been very frustrating and their web site is useless. The two problems with my player seem easily correctable. It's a shame tech support isn't more comprehensive on their web site.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Final Addition.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Creative Labs MK5004 Encore 6x PC-DVD with DXR3 Technology (Personal Computers)
After having a second computer linked into my home entertainment system for nearly a year, (mp3's and such) I finally broke down and bought the Creative DVD w/ DXR3. Being experienced with computer hardware, it took me about 10 minutes to install, but if you're not experienced, it should still not take you more than 30 minutes. WOW! Definetly made my entertainment system complete, and at half the cost of a home DVD with the same features. The only problem I had was with some between track skipping, which was easily fixed with Creative's online update to the software. I now enjoy perfect video, and true Dolby Digital (AC-3®) 5.1-channel audio. And with the player being in my computer, I enjoy the extra features found on DVD's that will only run on a computer. Now if only Creative would design a USB port remote that will work with it, then everything would be complete!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Trouble-free (once installed), customer service ABYSMAL,
By A Customer
This review is from: Creative Labs MK5004 Encore 6x PC-DVD with DXR3 Technology (Personal Computers)
I bought this DVD player after reading many online reviews. Most said this one was easy to install and, never having opened my PC case, I did not want any problems. It was fairly easy, but then I lost all sound for a few days. It may have been because I installed Nuts & Bolts the day after, which changed all my settings. I had NO sound on my entire PC for days. It took three days of calling customer service (up to 3 hours on hold on one call - NOT toll-free) for me to get some help. It was never completely clear what had happened. This was the only negative thing about the DVD Encore 6X - the customer service line was a joke until two hours on hold had passed - then it was just a sick feeling of despair for which I paid long distance fees. Three different reps suggested three different things; the third, a wonderfully patient woman, finally figured it out.I will say that since then I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It never acts up and the picture is astounding. I can read the fine print in newspapers in movies and now even the picture in theatres seems out of focus when I compare it to what I can see at home. I will never buy another VHS if there is a DVD available, and I would buy another Creative Labs DVD for my next computer. I have a Pentium 166 with 32 megs RAM, and even on my system there are no pauses or glitches during playback. The decoder card has jacks for TV and stereo output as well as headphones. The drive also plays CDs, CD-ROMS, DVD-ROMs (Riven)and enhanced CDs with no problems. The Encore 6X also allows you to output to a regular TV, which works just fine, but a good monitor is far superior resolution. Despite the abysmal customer service, I give this one five stars because it has never stalled in the several months since I finally got it installed, and I watch a LOT of DVDs.
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