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My HD Media Player, PC, Freecom 350,& KiSS 1600 all play HD files very well but I was lacking the ability to playback actual HD DVD Movies direct from the disc without actually purchasing a stand alone HD DVD Player.

I decided to make this a priority & started by increasing the memory to 2gig purchasing the XBox HD DVD USB external drive and connected it to my PC. I Installed Cyberlink Power DVD 7.3, but I was unable to playback because my set up was not HDCP compliant. I initially upgraded to an ATI 1650 graphics card and AnyDVD (this was installed not as a means to pirate my collection but to overcome problems of HDCP compatibility) and although I could now playback some movies the playback was choppy & I was unable to use the "In Movie Experience".

Time for a benchmark so I installed 3dMark 2005 and ran a benchmark with the result 3900 marks enough for most applications but not enough for HD DVD playback.

Next I decided to upgrade he graphics to ATI Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB which increased my benchmark to just over 6000 Marks with only marginally improvement in playback

My CPU was an Intel Celeron D 347 (3.06ghz) (skt 775) & Cyberlink Advisor recommended a minimum of 3.2ghz. I checked my motherboard spec & found it supported up to a Pentium D 3.4ghz so I installed an Intel Pentium D 945 3.4ghz with a larger heatsink checked the benchmark and this time I get 8500 Marks

Playback is now smooth with the "In Movie Experience" fully operational, unfortunately audio is only DD Plus 5.1, my system does not support Dolby Digital True HD
Finally I have the facility to Play HD DVD Movies direct from the disc

My Final System Spec is as Follows:-

Processor Pentium D 945 3.4ghz (skt775)

Memory 2gig DDR 400 PC3200 RAM

ATI Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB

On board Realtek 5.1 audio with SPDIF output

HD DVD Drive - Xbox 360 (USB

500gig Hard Drive

Windows XP SP2

Cyberlink Power DVD 7.3

AnyDVD with HD Support

Sony Bravia 40" TV

Teac Digital Home Theatre Receiver with 5.1 & DTS decoder SPDIF input

Skytronic Surround Speakers and Tannoy Active Sub Woofer

I now have a system built up to my satisfaction & can sit back & enjoy my movie Collection