Reviews / previews
Youve resisted temptation, but its finally time to
retire that trusty 12x CD-ROM drive for a faster unit.
But do you buy one of the new 40x drives, or do you
take the plunge into DVD? Now that drive makers
have gone through two generations of DVD products,
most of the bugs have been worked out, and units
such as Hi-Vals Third Generation DVD-ROM kit look
pretty good.
First- and second-generation DVD drives had
problems reading CD-R and CD-RW discs, and their
CD-ROM playback speeds were pretty slow (in the 6x
and 8x ranges). Not so with Hi-Vals third-generation
kit. Based on a Toshiba mechanism, this drive will
play back at 32xnot too shabby. The DVD drive
reader will accept up to 4.8GB discs, which will
remain standard for now. (Theoretically, its possible
to use compression and both sides of a DVD disc to
get as high as 17GB of storage.) Also included is a
Hi-Val Real Magic MPEG-2 decoder card and all the
wires and cables youll need for installation.
The hardest part about
shelling out the extra dough for DVD is that there
havent been many PC gaming or computer-based
applications to make it worth your while and your
cash. Many drive makers have seen fit to mirror
home DVD-player features, expecting you to play
DVD movies on your PC. Thats where the
MPEG-2 card comes in to help you decode the
movies. But it finally seems like game publishers are planning to release
multidisc games such as Settlers III and Starfleet Academy on single
DVD-ROMs, making kits like this one a better buy. And since youre working
at 32x with standard CD-ROMs, youre really not missing out in the speed
wars.
Installation was incredibly easy. This was the first time Ive installed a
peripheral without having to open the case again to adjust something. The
MPEG card takes up a PCI slot, so make sure you have one available. Win
98 detected the drive and MPEG card immediately and asked for the drivers
(included on a floppy). After rebooting, I was up and running. I tried out the
DVD game titles included in the package. The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy
of Time looked very sharp. And no more swapping out CDs in Riven.
This kit does have flaws though. My main criticism, besides its lack of
software, is the poor documentation. The manual is a photocopied mess,
though the MPEG cards docs are grade A. And it wouldve been nice if theyd
included a cable long enough to plug into the TV (the kits is too short) so I
wouldnt have had to stop by Radio Shack before watching the included copy
of Starship Troopers. (Yeah, I much prefer to watch movies on my 25-inch
TV.)-- Danny Lam / GamePro
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