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The Revolution comes
well equipped for DVD playback, featuring InterVideo’s
WinDVD 4 package with Dolby Digital Surround EX support and
playback over 7.1 channels, DTS decoding unfortunately was
not available as part of the bundle though this would
presumably add considerably to the cost of the package as
well.
To adjust WinDVD 4
settings I used the excellent
WinDVD
Tweaker. For testing DVD playback I used both,
the bundled WinDVD 4 & PowerDVD XP. Both software decoders
supported S/PDIF Output which I tested by connecting the
Revolution’s Coaxial S/PDIF Output to the SoundBlaster
Extigy’s Coaxial Input.
The Dolby Digital LED
lit up with both players, indicating it was receiving a
Dolby Digital signal. DVDs I used for testing playback
included The Fellowship of the Ring, Se7en, Gladiator, Black
Hawk Down, Minority Report, The Office, 24 & some others.
Positioning worked
great with both players though in this respect there’s not
really any influence from the soundcard as the software
performs all decoding, although the Revolution did allow you
some better fine-tuning capabilities with the ability to set
the distance between channels and you and adjust the volume
level per channel. Sound quality was, as with music
playback, excellent.
When testing on the Inspire 6700 and
using headphones the Revolution didn’t sound noticeably
different to the Audigy 2, though on the MegaWorks 510D it
did perhaps have a slight edge (and it performed clearly
better than the nForce, Live! or Audigy).
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