Best software MPEG-2 decoder

[LoneWolf]

Just getting opinions...

Which software MPEG-2 decoder has the best visual quality?

Which has the lowest CPU usage?

Since there's a lot to choose from, I wanted to get people's opinions. I'd like to use a decoder that has the lowest CPU usage possible with GBPVR (without sacrificing too much visual quality), since my hardware is limited. SSE support would be a bonus. System CPU is a Tualatin-core Celeron 1.3GHz with 384MB of RAM (soon to be 512MB, the system's max), video card is an onboard Matrox MGA-200 AGP (drivers identify it as a Matrox Mystique) with 8MB of RAM, running XP Pro SP2. This is a budget box built from a small Sony VAIO minitower, its advantages being a lot of cool things already built in, small size, and low noise --oh, and that it fit my budget, much of it being free. Until I have it set up to make better use of my Sigma Designs XCard, I need the best software solution for playback.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

[rtiangha]

A lot of people agree that the newer NVIDIA DVD Decoders are the best in terms of image quality, although DScaler5, in my opinon rivals the NVIDIA ones (although I wouldn't say they're superior as of yet; still have some bugs with DVD playback) and they're free.

[reven]

for dvd playback i would say powerdvd
for tv, thats a tricky one, nvdvd and the css decoder both create weird results with the new aspect ratio feature, and powerdvd only uses overlay, which isnt a problem for dvd playback. i use windvd, but thats only because i have nothing else to try (well ill try DScaler5 now that iknow about it).

[rtiangha]

To use DScaler5 with GBPVR, you'll need to use this utility to make DScaler5 the System Default as DScaler5 alone won't show up in the list of available codecs.

[reven]

or you could just edit config.xml and add it to the list...

[rtiangha]

Ah, didn't know that

[LoneWolf]

Well, after trying several options this week, Cyberlink PowerDVD 6 seems to have the best results for me. Its DVD decoder has far less issues with video/audio stutter than the others I tried on my hardware (this includes Intervideo and Nvidia). I think I'll stick with it for awhile.