best mpeg2 and AC3/DTS decoder for this system

[benjatelcom]

Happy user of sage TV 6 here. I'm going to reformat my machine this weekend, and was interested in people's favorite (best looking, best use of hardware acceleration, best surround sound decoding support).

My system specs:

Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz 533Mhz FSB hyperthreading CPUs (4 logical CPUs)
2GB ram
Geforce 6600GT AGP 128MB
2x raptor 36GB SATA in raid 0 on Intel app accel raid edition
2x 80GB SATA in raid 0 on intergrated fastrack raid controller
Hauppauge PVR350

I'm feeding 1920x1080p@60Hz to a Westinghouse LCD display via DVI.

I play back lots of H.264 SD video from movies that have been transcoded, watch DVDs, 480p and 1080i MPEG2 files (ts or ps). I'd like to see plenty of MPEG2 acceleration, and super clean DVD resolution scaling up to 1080p. and I need a good audio decoder.

I need to render 6 analog audio to send to my discrete power amplifiers (I have three 150Wx2ch amps for the five main channels, and one 1200x2ch amp bridged to 2.4kW for my sub-wolfer. I rely on software to accurately decode multichannel audio sources to the appropriate analog output, and upmix 2ch sources to the 6ch system. No home theater receiver here. I'm running intergrated sound but upgrading to a Gina 3G solution to better serve my amplifier rack with 6ch +4dB balanced audio.

Historically Intervideo winDVD's codec has been my favorite, but someone may know of a better solution. I have no need for AC3/DTS/PCM passthrough. All HQ analog equipment on the sound system.

Thanks for your suggestions!


Ben out