Don't have tv but want to watch DVD

hrafndot

Can anyone kindly tell me what the best (and cheapest) configuration of equipment would enable us to watch DVDs at home on a (min) 17" screen. We never watch TV so don't have one.

Our PC (tiny) is a little too old to cope with DVDs (it has Pentium 2 processor(200 mhz)), memory 256 ram 4 gig hard drive, I think. Could anyone advise us?

thanks Rachel

BenL

Is the screen you are going to be using your current pc monitor??

hrafndot

I was thinking about purchasing a larger screen since the monitor is small. As I say, I don't think the computer is up to running DVDs. Thanks again

penrhyn

I'd go for a TV/DVD combo, Hughes have a 21" Daewoo for around £162.
Just don't plug an aerial into it!
http://ws2.which.hughesdirect.co.uk/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=DAE-DDT21H9S

Joe_Bloggs

If you buy a TV you will probably be hounded by the authorities for having capable equipment but no license. The cheapest way I can think of is a Hollywood plus card. These have a hardware MPEG2 decoder so they take the load off the CPU. You need ensure that you get a 'pass thru' cable that should come with it.The output of you video card needs to be routed through the H+ device so you can access both the normal computer graphics and hardware decoded DVD material. The H+ era has passed due to the enormous processing power increase in CPU and graphics cards . Creative labs did a card called a DXR3 which was very similar in design.You could try Ebay but my H+ card is not for sale.

What DVD device do you have and what sound card do you have? What is your budget for a newer PC ?
J_B.

hrafndot

Joe_Bloggs wrote:

If you buy a TV you will probably be hounded by the authorities for having capable equipment but no license. The cheapest way I can think of is a Hollywood plus card. These have a hardware MPEG2 decoder so they take the load off the CPU. You need ensure that you get a 'pass thru' cable that should come with it.The output of you video card needs to be routed through the H+ device so you can access both the normal computer graphics and hardware decoded DVD material. The H+ era has passed due to the enormous processing power increase in CPU and graphics cards . Creative labs did a card called a DXR3 which was very similar in design.You could try Ebay but my H+ card is not for sale.

What DVD device do you have and what sound card do you have? What is your budget for a newer PC ?
J_B.

We don't have a DVD device yet. Partner is objecting to the thought of my mucking around with his computer, so may have to re-think. I think that getting a second hand laptop with a decent size screen would be good enough for me. Thanks for the information.