ATI DVD Player ReviewOriginal Page URL: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/software/players/atidvd.htmlAuthor/Publisher: Digital Digest Date Added: Jul 2, 2000 Date Updated: Jul 2, 2000 Introduction:ATI DVD is bundled with many ATI graphics card and is not available as a retail product. ATI has used Ravisent's soft-Cinemaster DVD decoder as the core for this player, since this decoder has extensive support for ATI's iDCT DVD acceleration. This player hasn't been updated in a while, and so cannot be really compared to the latest range of software DVD players.
Review:Finally! A nice looking player ...Using the cinemaster decoder, the ATI Player is probably the best looking player around. Unfortunately, this beauty is only skin deep. The biggest problem with the ATI player is its sluggish nature. On anything less than a PII 400, this simple chokes, having to wait several second for a command to respond. Although this is not a big problem, as you don't have to use these commands during playback, this prevents this player from being classed as a five star one. Another niggly problem is the non-functioning "lock-aspect ratio" option. While this works perfectly in windowed mode, in full screen play, which is what most people use, it doesn't allow you to turn this option off. This isn't a big problem with widescreen discs, but with Anamorphic titles, which you might want to connect to your tv-out to watch on your 16x9 enhanced TV, this can be quite irratating. I've also noticed some strange crashes, but that may be just me. As against, the cinemaster decoder is top notch, meaning playback is fast, smooth and consistent. Sound quality and volume is extremely good, as with all players based around the cinemaster decoder. The ATI 3.1 is the best overall player! 
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