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| DVD Player With Decorder Card | Golden Finger Devices | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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06-23-2000 Today we are covering DVD Kits. I recently got my hands on Creative Labs Encore 8x PC-DVD kit. It included 8x DVD Player and a decoder card. The installation was very easy. I produced to load driver and dvd player programs and this went off without a single problem. So after a quick reboot, I decided to put in a Stevie Nicks Dvd. The player station came up and auto configured my screen for the new decoder card and then I opened setting on their control panel and switched to AC3 pass-thru so I can use the Midiland 84 8200 5.1 surround speakers I am evaluating. I got everything set and dvd played great. Picture quality on the IIyama Vision Master Pro 400 was outstanding. So here I sit mind thinking time to test the Midilands and the Creatives decoder card. So I pull out two killer movies for surround sound testing. I first chose The Ghost and the Darkness and bingo 20 seconds into playing dvd it locks up. Thinking this was a fluke I decided to reboot and try again. Well sports fans guess what happened, you got it same results. Thinking it was a bad DVD I went out and rented a DVD copy and it did the same thing. Then I put in the Matrix!!!! I was looking forward to watching the lobby scene and hearing bullets fly by. But NOOOOO, this DVD also locked up and only way out was hit the panic button also know as reset switch. OK, now that I was totally pissed and out 225 Bucks I decided to call Creatives. I explain what is happening and they told me it was normal. It seems Creative doesn't let you know till after you buy their product that it wont play some of the best DVD's around. The nice person on the phone told me about 15 percent of DVD's wont play on Creatives Encore 8x pc-DVD player. So guess what I did? That's right I returned it back to Fry's! Knowing Creatives as I do I decided to buy the Dvd player from Fry's for their no questions ask 30 day return policy. As soon as Monday came I called my friend at Krista Micro and purchased a nice OEM Toshiba 8x DVD kit. Inside was the drive and a decoder card. Here's the catch....... ready........ the Toshiba Kit came with a Realmagic Hollywood Plus Decoder Card. I took a look at it and said to myself and the 2 friends waiting to hear and see the Matrix, I know this decoder card it is just like Creatives! The one difference is Creatives in all their wisdom(NOT) decided to replace Realmagic decoder chips with theirs so they could add features and make decoder card work hand in hand with Sound Blaster Live. Can you say MISTAKE. I bet you can. I installed the drive and decoder card and proceeded to install the software from the enclosed CD, did a quick reboot and called in the dog and rubbed him for good luck. Well I start their DVD station and it does auto calibration and I open options dialog folder and put audio to AC3/Dts and grab a movie. First I try Ghost and the Darkness and bang it works. I thought the picture quality on Creative was great, well the Realmagic decoders picture was unbelievable. Then I put in the Matrix and head right to the lobby scene and everything plays perfect. The sound was blazing all around me, and I don't want to give away speaker test results since their still on going. In closing, How can a major company such as Creative dream of releasing such a poor product and charge so much? I used to think Creative Lab products went the extra mile to satisfy their customers but lately that view has changed. On to the ratings! Creative Pc_dvd Encore 8x ........... Pro's Nice package and works well with SB Live. Cons....... Wont play some of today's best movies that we all buy DVD players for. Con......... Price, Quality and performance was only fair Final Rating 6 of 10......... Toshiba 8x DVD Kits.. Use Pricewatch.com and you can find them. Pro.... Easy to use, no driver conflict, picture quality to rival any dvd player. Cons....... HMMMM give me a minute still thinking. Final Rating..... 9 of 10........ Not perfect but very close, enjoy this product. | You can find my favorite Golden Fingers Device that I have tested. Oh before I forget, Thanks Scott for the quick shipment of the Tweeking Device2 for Athlon cpus. To let you know I was rather impressed with the overall appreance and preformance of your Golden Fingers Device. For those interested I managed to get 805mhz at 1.75 volts from my week 42 500 k7. This happened to have a 650 core. You can find my favorite Golden Fingers Device that I have tested. I love the compact size and the fact it uses only 8 switches to set multiplier and voltage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cpu Heatsinks And Coolers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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06-23-2000.......... Update.. I returned home tonight after a lack luster night of Volleyball to find an encouraging piece of email. It came from Globalwin Usa and they informed me they were now willing to ship out some K7 cpu coolers I needed to complete my cooler tests. What people don't realize is I do product reviews and test for a company located in California and Ohio. This company has offered me a full time job, but I can't except it due to the fact it interferes with my eduction. The job they offered is 5 days a week and I value my education and myself, so for now I will continue classes full time and hope they will offer a part time job in the future. Yes, I'm currently back in college seeking my degree after 20 years working for Jeep. I do this testing for this company free of charge and they supply most of the parts they want tested, but at times I have to go out and get parts to make a fair and honest test. They give me products their interested in but none to compare too. So I this man, who lives on grants and student loans; tries to get major companies to offer test parts. Sometimes I get lucky and contact the right people other times I get no help. So that leaves me with having to buy the parts to test myself. I offer my services for free in the hopes of one day after I get my degree someone will be willing to hire me for the work I do and know they are getting someone who loves what they do. SO thank you Chung at Globalwin USA for offering your help and support. I look forward future business with you and Globalwin.
Cooler test shall be done as soon as all the Cpu colers arrive! Please comeback and read my reviews. I have come up with idea and want to find out how well coolers work in different size cases and with different cooling options. Test will be run with both stock 500 mhz Amd cpu and the same Cpu overclocked to 770 mhz. The cases used in CPU cooler test will be same cases I will put on my case page. Thanks Again, Mike. Since I'm still working on my case review and it wont be finished till I have completed CPU Cooler review, I thought everyone would enjoy a preview of one of the cases I will be reviewing. I stumbled upon this site last night and said to myself after reading this review, this guys is just as crazy as I am. We both seem to try to improve a design and add a unique twist to what we do. So here is the Addtronics 7896 Case review. Also note this site has alot of helpful tips and parts for keeping your system running cool. 06-24-2000.......... Things are starting to come together, the postman cometh bearing gifts. Ok not really but he did come bearing a box of from the Cooler Guys. I would like to thanks Todd for sending me this Cpu cooler and also the Cooler Guys for being so kind to offer some of the products they sell for testing. So everyone knows I still don't have an Alpha p7125 but I'm working on getting one. Looks like a friend wants one for the system I'm making him and he has agreed to let me test it on mine first. I will keep you posted. P.S. I will begin testing now and should have the coolers from Global Win very soon. Thx | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cpu Heatsinks And Coolers Test Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
06-24-2000 .... The test begins
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