If you're thinking about upgrading an aging CD-ROM drive, be sure to replace it with a DVD-ROM or DVD-RAM kit. These drives play all previous CD formats as well as the new DVD movie, game, and edutainment titles. Though more expensive, a DVD-RAM drive also serves as a removable-storage drive (for backups and the like) with a generous 4.6GB of (formatted) capacity per cartridge. And the newest 2X DVD drives can move data at up to 2.6 MBps, which is equivalent to the speed of a 16X CD-ROM drive.

For this roundup, we looked at four DVD kits. Each includes a hardware MPEG-2 decoder card that lets you use the drive to watch movies. Note that some manufacturers believe there's sufficient surplus processing power in a high-end desktop PC for decoding MPEG-2 movies in software. To find out how practical this approach is, we ran in-house tests comparing software decoding against hardware decoding on two base machines--an NEC Pentium II/300 and a Dell Pentium II/400. Each used the Matrox Millennium G-200 AGP graphics card, which is compatible with software DVD via a $10 online purchase.

We performed our evaluations using movies such as Twister and the test disk that accompanies Jim Taylor's book DVD Demystified. With software DVD decoding, we saw startlingly jumpy scenes with lots of tearing and color shifting. Hardware DVD, using the Creative Labs kit (reviewed below), was satisfactory.

All four kits in this group share some similar features. For example, all use PCI-based decoding cards with analog video overlay for displaying DVD images on your PC's monitor, along with automatic adjustment, which makes configuration easy. All also offer composite and digital audio output. The Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore 5x is the best of the bunch. It includes a Matsushita-made DVD-ROM drive and Creative Labs' own decoder card for MPEG-2 playback. The card relies on the company's DynamicXtended Resolution Technology (Dxr2), which is designed to permit scaling of images to higher resolutions without artifacts at up to 1,280-by-1,024 at 24-bit color depth. We didn't test the board at that resolution, but we did notice fewer scaling artifacts on a full 1,024-by-768 screen than with the REALmagic card in the other kits reviewed here. The software interface resembles a typical home-entertainment remote control. Although this isn't as full-featured as the REALmagic interface, it worked well.

On our benchmark tests, the Encore was the fastest of this group in terms of CD access time, at 106 milliseconds, and it had one of the fastest CD-ROM transfer rates, at almost 20X (2,966 KBps). On the DVD throughput test, the transfer rate ranged to about 2.5X (specifically to 3,815 KBps), which didn't match the company's claims but was still fast for this roundup.

Decoded video images were excellent, with fine details preserved and no obvious motion artifacts. There was only a small amount of shimmer in finely textured areas. The only significant problem was that the wide-screen aspect ratio of 16:9 was squeezed horizontally when we scaled the image to full-screen, but this wasn't a problem when we viewed the image in an unscaled window. For its price and performance, the Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore 5x is the one to beat. ($250 street; Creative Labs Inc., Milpitas, CA; 800-998-5227; www.soundblaster.com.)

The $500 Hi-Val DVD-RAM offers all the playback advantages of the other kits in this roundup, plus the benefit of a read/write storage device you can use for backup and near-line storage. The bundled Toshiba DVD-RAM drive is the only SCSI-2 device among the four kits reviewed here, and it's packaged with an Adaptec 2940 controller card.

We were disappointed to find that the kit ships without the jumper required for making DVD-RAM functions available. The sparse documentation does show how to add the jumper--once you obtain one or locate one in your spare-parts drawer--but this is an unnecessary complication.

Once we added the jumper, installation proceeded smoothly, and it was easy to format the DVD-RAM media quickly. (The formatted media provides 2.3GB per side.) The kit includes the same REALmagic decoder card as the other Hi-Val kit, and movie results were nearly identical. On speed tests, the media produced a maximum CD transfer rate of about 12X (1,806 KBps); the rate was just shy of 2X for DVD (2,730 KBps).The Hi-Val kit is rough around the edges and lacks the polished documentation you'll find with some other kits, but it works well once you get it running. ($500 street; Hi-Val Inc., Santa Ana, CA; 714-953-3000; www.hival.com.)

Hi-Val's third-generation DVD-ROM upgrade kit, the Hi-Val DVD-3, is a fine product that nevertheless falls short of the Creative Labs entry on price and performance. It comes with a Toshiba IDE DVD-ROM drive and a REALmagic decoder card whose software interface resembles the front panel of a VCR, so you can easily take advantage of different DVD movie features, including different-language sound tracks and subtitles.

During testing, the Toshiba drive exceeded the claimed speeds, reaching about 22X for CD-ROM (3,383 KBps) and about 2.5X for DVD-ROM (3,785 KBps). On movie tests, there was some small but noticeable jitter along the left and right edges of the image window in all cases. Continuous-tone areas (such as close-ups on faces) tended to posterize slightly, and there was noticeable shimmer in textured surfaces. There were no motion artifacts in unscaled windows; but when we enlarged images to full-screen, there was some evidence of comb effects on the leading edges of moving objects, as well as more pronounced shimmer on textured surfaces. ($280 street; Hi-Val Inc., Santa Ana, CA; 714-953-3000; www.hival.com.)

The NewCom Cinema II Plus DVD Multimedia Kit closely resembles the Hi-Val DVD-3. It's a well-designed product that will please many users, but it's not up to the standard of the Creative Labs kit. It comes with a Hitachi IDE drive and the same PCI-based REALmagic decoder card as in the Hi-Val kits.

The Cinema II performed similarly to the Hi-Val DVD-3, including posterization in continuous-tone areas, some shimmering in textured areas, and some scaling and motion artifacts when the image was zoomed to full-screen. On our speed tests, the drive reached 14X for CD (2,198 KBps) and almost 2X for DVD (2,620 KBps). ($230 street; NewCom Inc., Westlake Village, CA; 800-563-9266, 818-597-3200; www.newcominc.com.) DVD movies are encoded for different world regions; be sure to configure your MPEG-2 decoder card for yours. The United States and Canada are in region 1.

If you're installing a new IDE drive and this is the first time you've ever used your PC's secondary IDE connection, make certain the connection is activated in your system BIOS.

If you're using a SCSI drive and there are other devices on the SCSI chain, make sure to assign the drive a unique ID and to terminate the chain correctly (only at its two ends, when you have added the new drive).

Computer monitors have better resolution than standard televisions, so to get the most out of the improved image quality of DVD movies, watch them on your monitor.

For the full DVD movie effect, get a sound system that accepts digital audio input and can process Dolby Digital surround sound (also known as 5.1-channel sound). Step 1
Before you start: Ground yourself. Lightly touch your PC's metal chassis to discharge any current from your body. Then unplug the power cable.

What you'll need: A phillips-head screwdriver, needlenose pliers, and antistatic wrist strap.

Turn off the computer and open the case. Locate an available PCI slot for the MPEG-2 decoder card (if your kit includes one). If you're installing a SCSI drive and you don't yet have a SCSI controller in the system, you'll need a second slot for the SCSI card.

Step 2
Remove the end bracket for the selected slot, insert the card, and secure the card's own end bracket.

Step 3
Locate an available 5.25-inch drive bay that opens onto the front of the case. Remove the bay cover if necessary.

Step 4
Configure the jumpers on your DVD drive. For an IDE drive, set the jumpers for either master, slave, or sole drive, depending on what else is on the channel. For a SCSI drive, set the jumpers to the correct ID or termination setting.

Step 5
Secure the drive in the bay.

Step 6
Attach the cables. Connect the DVD drive to the IDE or SCSI bus and to the power supply. Also connect the DVD drive to your sound card - or connect the decoder card (if included) to the DVD drive and sound card. (If you already have a CD-ROM drive, you can use a micro stereo patch cord to connect the external headphone jack on the DVD drive to your sound card's line-in jack).

Step 7
Close the case, turn on the power, and install any necessary drivers or software.