Question about adding a DVD-ROM drive

[mushmouth]

I have no idea how this works on a PC...

I'm looking at a DVD-ROM drive for auction. In the system requirements for the drive, it says "MPEGII decoder card or compatible device"

Do I have to buy a card to hook up a dvd-rom drive to a P3 450 with Nvidia GeForce 4 video card, or does the GeForce take care of said MPEGII decoder card requirement.

Help... I'm a Mac guy and I'm a little lost. lol

[SirPeale]

That should be enough pony power to play a DVD okay.  Most DVD drives come with playback software.  You shouldn't need a separate playback card.

[mushmouth]

this is just a used, bare drive. Do I need said software, or is it readily downloadable? Or should I only buy a used dvd drive that comes with the disc?

For the record, I'm not using the drive to watch dvds. I'm only going to have it in my mame tower for the purposes of transfering data, etc. Unless, of course, I put Dragon's Lair in there...

[SirPeale]

If all you're going to do is move data, you don't need any drivers.

Watch out though...if you're going to be using it to move data off DVD-R/DVD-RW make sure it can read them!  I've got a great drive, it's super fast, but can't read writable disks.

[mushmouth]

Thanks Peale!

[Stormy151]

Watch out though...if you're going to be using it to move data off DVD-R/DVD-RW make sure it can read them!  I've got a great drive, it's super fast, but can't read writable disks.

I ran into the same problem.  Luckily, you can get a new DVD drive for about 40 dollars now.