Sigma Design REALmagic Hollywood Plus PCI Video Card

Pros: Excellent Picture Quality, Smooth Framerates, Good Interface
Cons: Can Be Install-Hell

Much has been said of how this is the best DVD decoder available, and in terms of overall quality it probably is. Image quality is almost flawless on my system, with TV output comparable to conventional DVD players. With that said, this product was also...

Pros: High Quality; Ease of Installation; High Compatibility
Cons: None

Other cards come and go - other chipsets too - but the Sigma Designs Hollywood Plus card is the standard bearer of them all. With it’s simple design, easy installation and high quality - this card has stood the test of time.

The Sigma Designs...

Pros: Powerful; Easy to Set Up; Lots of Ports
Cons: Those who are short of IRQ's won't be able to use it.

A (Sigma Designs) RealMagic Hollywood Plus came with my Hi-Val DVD-ROM kit. The Hollywood+ is pretty much a requirement if you plan on enhancing DVD movies on older, non-Pentium III systems which are not fast enough to decode an MPEG video stream. Upon...

Pros: Great features, playback, and price
Cons: installation is more than an "average" user may be able to handle

First off, my title states DVD for low end PC's. My PC isn't, well, amybe today it is, but isn't low end. It's a 450PIII, 128MB RAM, 13GB HD, 32MB Video Card, and an A3D Sound Card, with a 440BX motherboard (probably best chipset ever made)

I...

Pros: Easy to install, crystal-clear DVD decoding, takes load off of processor
Cons: Takes up a PCI slot

Yes, there are "all-in-one" products out there. It's hard to walk into a decent computer store and find a video card that, indeed, does NOT decode DVDs. It is hard, however to find one that the job as well as the Real Magic does.

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Pros: Inexpensive, excellent picture quality
Cons: Potential installation hassles, occasionally weak analog audio output

OK, so DVD software and games have taken off like a ValuJet. But stick a Hollywood Plus into your computer and suddenly the extra cash you paid for a DVD drive in your PC doesn't seem like money down the drain anymore. It plays DVDs in superlative...

Pros: Works most of the time
Cons: Software DVD decoding is easier to operate, has a better interface, and meaningful driver updates.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the RealMagic Hollywood+ DVD decoder, since it plays video and plays it well. The video and audio quality from the H+ is certainly acceptable, but there are plethora of better options people can choose when...

Pros: Easy to use, set-up, frees up processor while watching DVDs
Cons: None - I had a setup problem, but Sigma was quick to respond and fix it.

The RealMagic Hollywood Plus DVD Decoder is the best possible solution for anyone with a DVD-ROM card who wishes to output the signal to a TV. Utilizing either S-Video or standard RCA output, the Hollywood+ also does all the work of decoding the DVD,...

Pros: Flawless Video
Cons: none

Sigma Designs have been one of the first companies offering MPEG video decoder cards to the public. The first stand alone decoders didn't really catch on with consumers, but as technology boomed and prices have gone down, they've come a long way...

Pros: Excellent image quality, great value
Cons: Driver installation can be difficult

The Sigma Designs Hollywood Plus is a PCI card that can decode and display MPEG video in two ways: through a VGA overlay system, or through the card's S-Video/Composite TV-out.

The overlay system works like this: instead of plugging your...

Pros: Easy to use, Faster than s/w decoding, great resolution, great compatibility different DVD/Video card combos
Cons: Not completely plug and play, uses pci slot, instructions a little sketchy.

I had originally used the software decoder shipped with my ATI RAGE 128 card. I had continual trouble with my computer locking up or slowing down when using the software solution to getting DVD on my computer. I finally gave up and got the Hollywood...

Pros: Really, it works; good cheap DVD; works with low end PCs
Cons: Can be quirky on Win2k

The Hollywood Plus is something most people might not think they need. You may buy a DVD drive that comes with a software decoder (just the drive and software), but some DVD drives come with relabeled versions of this card included.

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Pros: Seemless installation, excellent quality playback, inexpensive.
Cons: You need yet another free PCI slot.

On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up the RealMagic Hollywood Plus DVD decoder along with my Pioneer SCSI DVD drive.
Just for comparison I decided to hook up the DVD player and use only software compression to start with. I made a...

Pros: Looks as good as a standalone DVD player
Cons: People want to watch movies when you want to use the computer

I bought this card because it works on more computers than some other decoder cards.

I bought mine used off of Ebay for $40, but it works fine, and cost me about the same as an "Inlay" card that is only compatible with some video...

Pros: Affordable, but satisfies all your DVD needs
Cons: None

I bought this because my video card was too slow to run DVDs properly. If I was going to upgrade my video card and use a software decoder, I knew I would also have to pay for continual upgrades.
Anyone with a DVD drive on their computer should buy...