[CyberScott]

I'm looking for opinions from individuals who use TheaterTek DVD software. Currently, I am using PowerDVD 5 (retail) and I think it does a pretty good job but have read some favorable reviews on TT.

Will there be a noticable difference in PQ of DVD's with the use of TT ? I know that PQ is in the eye of the beholder but I'd like to hear the pro's / con's of this program and hopefully someone that has used both TT and PowerDVD.

My current HTPC set up....

Antec Sonata case with Accustic Foam

ATI 9700 pro with composit out dongle. (also use S-video out depending on content I am viewing) Using Cat. 4.5 drivers.

Abit NF7-S using Sound Storm digital out for sound (Sound Storm works great!)

Kenwood VR-6070 Receiver

Samsung HDTV model TXN2771HF 27 inch 4x3 screen.


Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Axel]

Why don't you just try/see for yourself? TT offers a 7 day trial period.


I also suggest a search here in the forum. You will find numerous threads about DVD players pros/cons.


I personally think TT is an awesome player combining excellent PQ, in particular when paired with ffdshow, and an STB-like interface.


____

Axel

 

[Axel]

Just saw that you "only" have a 27" display, so differences in PQ will probably be not so noticeable.

_____

Axel

 

[CyberScott]

Thank you for the responses.


"Only" having a 27 inch screen isn't too bad. I'm currently saving up for a larger screen, probalbly a Sammy DLP with a 46 or 50 inch screen at the end of the year. (Due to room size, can't get much bigger )


I didn't notice the 7 day trial on the software. I am always a little leary of having to pay first for a "trial". My experiences with getting credit refunds with internet based companies have been troublesome for me in the past.


How are they with customer service?

 

[ssj2]

TT is great with customer service and support. Not to mention that it's a great product.


From your first post is it correct that you're only using a composite or s-video connection? If so, it's not going to matter much what player you use.

 

[Axel]

Quote:

Originally posted by CyberScott ... I didn't notice the 7 day trial on the software. I am always a little leary of having to pay first for a "trial". My experiences with getting credit refunds with internet based companies have been troublesome for me in the past. How are they with customer service?

TT's Customer Service is excellent. Andrew (Chivs) is also a "regular" here and provides outstanding support (He could be a little bit more open though towards sharing details with this crowd about the upcoming 2.0 release ).


TT is a very reputable company - no worries about not getting your money back in case you do not like their product or do not see an improvement (which in your case can easily happen due to small screen size and sub-optimal connection).


______

Axel

 

[brickie]

I agree with all the others..It's a very nice product..I think it's one of the best software dvd players.Very simple and straight forward. That being said, i don't think you'll see improvements now to make it worth it..I'd wait for the new tv..Just my opinion.


brickie

 

[CyberScott]

I thought that composite out (Y/V, Pv,Pr) is one of the better video connections, better than s-video and, in some cases equal or slightly below a dvi connection?

On DVD playback from my HTPC the picture quality is a little nicer than my 480p dedicated DVD player. Besides wanting to watch all of my Divx encoded shows I had wanted to have a DVD player that can be upgraded with the latested and greated DVD video codecs.


As far as TT is concerned, does it use the same DVD codecs as Power DVD 5 ? I'm just trying to maximize my viewing experience, even on my smaller screen. Thanks again!


Scott

 

[DoyleS]

You may want to swing over to the Theatertek site and check the forums there, you'll find a lot more detail and can follow some of the dialog where a lot of these questions are asked.
http://www.theatertek.com/

..Doyle

 

[WT-46809]

tt, like all other players, has it's pros and cons. one of the biggest pros (imho) is their product support... although it may not be speedy at times, issues are addressed and it is clear they are interested in ensuring that the user is happy with their product. also, they have a helpful forum and the developer(s?) always seems to be just a shout away either in this forum or their own.


as other members have mentioned, tt uses sonic "filters". consequently i dug up a cineplayer app that i had from some time ago (was probably bundled with a dvd player i once purchased) and searched it's contents for the video filter. i located a "cinemastervideo.dll" and decided to try and use it with zoom player. zoom player easily found it and registered it and, on my 19" lcd pc display, i could not tell the difference from tt. not sure if this sonic codec is the same one (or same version) tt uses, but it seems to work. btw, i am using my 19" display and every day pc to demo software while i wait for all of my htpc components to arrive - so needless to day, the results may differ when viewing on a big screen.


a few things that bug me about tt, though (given my limited time of playing around with it):


1. no ac3/dts decoding. granted, you could take a stab at using the ac3 filter or run audio out to an external decoder... but, given tt's relatively substantial price tag ($70), you would think that tt could easily include audio features found in many far less expensive players. directdvd's audio capabilities would be nice... even if tt had to bump their price a little more.


2. man, i really like the ability to resize a player's window, reposition it on my desktop, move it around, minimize it with one click, etc. - all of which is easily performed by just about every software player available, except tt. tt seems to be either full screen or minimize; and minimizing tt requires a shift somethng combo rather than just a double or single click.


3. search bar. again, every software player available, other than tt, seems to offer this convenient feature.


4. vmr support.


tt is great but seems to be lacking many great features easily found in just about any software player available. this would be forgivable if it were an open source app or a modestly priced work in progress - but for $70 bucks, one should expect, and get, a little more. dos centavos, mio.

 

[Sharps97]

IMO, there is no visible difference between TT and WinDVD 5. And given the marginal price premium for TT, I couldn't justify it after the free trial (this was only on my PC LCD screen however).


Unless you are getting abysmal DVD performance from your current player, there is no reason to make a change, IMO.

 

[rbmcgee]

No question about it. If you watch DVDs on your computer monitor and use your mouse to navigate, while you multi-task, TT is not for you.


If however, you use a real HTPC in your home theater, for the most part, those issues are irrelevent and TT's features become indespensible.


IMHO, for a true HTPCer, you only should be considering 2 choices. Either TT or ZP.

 

[brickie]

Bold statement Bob..Although i do slightly agree with you..I have both, but obviously only use Zoomplayer.There is just nothing to compare to Zoom for features right now.


brickie

 

[JP]

I bought TT ages ago and I found two real beauties in the product. First, it just works. I think I was battling with Zoom or whatever freeware dvd player was popular at that time and there were always issues. After hours of fiddling I bought TT and again, it just worked. Well worth the money in my mind. The other thing I liked about TT is I knew those responsible for designing it were htpc enthusiasts always trying to maximize picture quality. So as long as they were pushing the envelope I could move along with them with a simple update.


Anyway, used it for years, love ffdshow, and highly recommended.

 

[WT-46809]

"If however, you use a real HTPC in your home theater, for the most part, those issues are irrelevent and TT's features become indespensible."


i'm not sure if there exists a definition for a "real htpc", but i do consider the one i'm putting together very "real" and expensive. whether or not i will ever be accused of being a "true htpcer", well that remains to be seen.


since i have already paid for tt, i would really like to feel like you do; really i would - but i don't. more importantly, i wish the list of tt's "indispensable features" exceeded the list of "wish list features". btw, which features of tt do you find indispensable?


options are never a bad thing (even if they are so abundant, as with zp, that they may not appear so to some) and implying that mouse control, pc tasking, etc. does not equate to true htpcs or htpcers is not accurate, imho. there are many reasons to multi-task with an htpc (recording while viewing, listening to music in one zone while watching a film in another, etc.); many reasons to have the ability to easily access your desktop or frontend, etc. and tt, imo, could/should offer more options and/or be more flexible at least to the extent of many other players... and it has little to do with "true" or "real".

 

[DoyleS]

Cyberscott, Welcome to the forum. As you can see there are strong opinions on players. Please recognize that there are a wide variety of users here and preferences tend to go with how the system is being used. I tend to be in the camp with Bob. I have a dedicated room with a CRT projector and my HTPC is only used to run DVD files and music files. I use TT and have not even looked at other players for about 2 years. TT does the job and can be controlled by a remote so to me it operates much like a set top player yet gives me a much better picture for my projector. There are other players that will do the same thing but in my case I don't want to mess with evaluating players and reconfiguring my hardware and software. TT seems to be pretty good at coming out with updates and adding features. Support is good along with bug fixes when needed. Each of us approaches this hobby from a slightly different aspect. I hate debugging computer problems so I want something that runs and doesn't cause me any problems. Others may be much more comfortable with changing codecs and drivers and tweeking for best possible operation. By reading some of the threads here and on the TT forum you can decide which camp you are in and hopefully make a decision on which type of software player most fits your needs.


..Doyle

 

[gsr]

Quote:

Originally posted by WT-46809 a few things that bug me about tt, though (given my limited time of playing around with it): 1. no ac3/dts decoding.

I see your point here and this is a feature requested by a lot of people (and it sounds like Andrew is going to address this), but this doesn't matter a bit to me as the audio goes from my PC to my Lexicon MC-12B preamp/processor through a digital connection.

Quote:

2. man, i really like the ability to resize a player's window, reposition it on my desktop, move it around, minimize it with one click, etc. - all of which is easily performed by just about every software player available, except tt. tt seems to be either full screen or minimize; and minimizing tt requires a shift somethng combo rather than just a double or single click.

I actually agree and disagree on this point . TT is intended to feel as much like a STB DVD player as possible. Part of this feel comes from the full screen overlay that is pretty much forced on you. However, I do sometimes want to sort of casually look at a DVD while doing other things on a system other than my HTPC (the system I use for development, for example), and the ability to kick TT out of full screen mode would be nice for that and it's actually a pretty simple feature to implement.

Quote:

3. search bar. again, every software player available, other than tt, seems to offer this convenient feature.

Search bar? What's that???

Quote:

tt is great but seems to be lacking many great features easily found in just about any software player available. this would be forgivable if it were an open source app or a modestly priced work in progress - but for $70 bucks, one should expect, and get, a little more. dos centavos, mio.

TT is a great piece of software IMHO and is a bargain at the asking price. It has some features that the competition doesn't, such as the advanced aspect ratio configuration, and doesn't have some features that the competition has - that's what differentiates the products. The trick is to figure out which player best meets YOUR needs. For me, TT is that player and there's very little that I would change - not to be confused with things I would like to see added, such as support for playback of some other formats, etc.

 

[WT-46809]

hola gsr!


i like your points and agree for the most part. but there are other points that you and many others have used that i just don't get... and i really, really want to because i also like tt! for example:


"TT is intended to feel as much like a STB DVD player as possible. Part of this feel comes from the full screen overlay that is pretty much forced on you."


most players i have demoed allow you to select full screen mode at startup if that's your bag (and it is mine!). so when you want to play a dvd it will automatically open in full screen mode (just like tt) without being forced on you... it is your choice. and once these players are in fullscreen mode, you still have the flexibility to to change the mode if you want. ireally don't see how a forced mode would lend itself to a better experience. sonic's cineplayer, for example, has a very nice dsplay mode menu.


when you double click tt's screen a progress bar appears - it would be nice if this was also a search bar (or slider) that would allow you to move ahead or back in the film. if tt has this capability, i have not found it (again, i'm pretty new to tt). every other player i have demoed has this feature and i like it better than having to go to a chapter screen of use 2x, 3x, etc.

"It has some features that the competition doesn't, such as the advanced aspect ratio configuration...


this seems to be one of the biggest selling points or at least the most referred to feature of tt. and i agree, it's great. but what other features does it have that the competition doesn't excluding sonic's filter's? is this list really that extensive? despite what tt may or may not lack, i am glad i purchased it - no regrets especially given it's relatively low contributed cost ratio...

 

[schud]

Quote:

Originally posted by brickie I have both, but obviously only use Zoomplayer.There is just nothing to compare to Zoom for features right now. brickie

Brickie:


I'm curious if you are using ZP with a remote?


I finally gave up on ZP because I want my HTPC to be keyboardless and mouseless. ZP always misbehaved (bugs and quirks-always MS or someone else's fault ) and did not work reliably with a remote. I was always having to grab the keyboard to close some dialog box or some such thing.


Don't get me wrong. I am a licensed ZP Pro user, and am so to support Blight. I know Blight has tried to make ZP everything to everyone; it can play media that no other single player can. In the end, it's just not stable enough for my use.


TheaterTek works GREAT with girder and any kind of IR remote or control system. Very very stable. That's why it's my only DVD player.

 

[Dalton]

Quote:

I thought that composite out (Y/V, Pv,Pr) is one of the better video connections, better than s-video and, in some cases equal or slightly below a dvi connection?

I think you mean component video not composite. Composite video uses a single (usually yellow) RCA connector as opposed to the 3 (red,green,and blue) RCA connectors for component video. In regards to TT i have seen it in action at a friends house and think it puts out a great picture. Since i already have PowerDVD5(Benq pb6200 PJ) and am quite pleased with it, i don't think TT offers enough of an improvement for the $70 i would have to spend to get it. When version 2.0 comes out i will probably demo it though.