Installing the Hollywood Plus DVD Decoder is slightly more time consuming than a typical hardware upgrade, but thanks to a useful manual, installation is not difficult. Aside from the usual "stick it in an open PCI slot" hardware install, some extra connections need to be made. Once all the cables are connected, the software installation is a breeze. Both the drivers and DVD player install flawlessly in Windows 98 and the Hollywood Plus is ready to go without a reboot. After the initial installation, the Hollywood Plus is in desperate need of a driver update, since its shipping drivers pale in comparison to the latest drivers. Thankfully, Sigma Designs frequently updates drivers and makes them easily accessible from their homepage. To top off the installation, Sigma Designs included a DVD sampler with general DVD information, several movie trailers, a few music videos, and a full-length movie, Telling Lies in America.

Since the Hollywood Plus uses a video overlay for DVD playback, a pass-thru cable must be installed. Unfortunately, signal degradation takes place during the pass-thru process, which renders desktop resolutions above 1024x768 unusable. Visual defects range from artifacting to just plain blurriness, and make normal computer use painful. Fortunately, there is some hope for high resolution users. By moving the Hollywood Plus as far away as possible from the primary video card (placing it in the 4th or 5th PCI slot), does help reduce signal degradation to the point where 1152x864 and 1280x1024 could be usable depending on personal tolerance. To completely avoid signal degradation, users can opt to only use the pass-thru cable during DVD playback, avoiding signal degradation during normal computer use. Since the Hollywood Plus is probably not in use most of the time, simply reconnecting the pass-thru cable for DVD playback is an acceptable workaround. Nonetheless, this is an added hassle, and it would have been nice to see a higher quality pass-thru setup.

For sound output, a pass-thru cable is also required, unless a sound card is not present. This pass-thru cable can be either internal or external, however, only an external cable is included with the Hollywood Plus. It would have been nice to see both types of cables included, since an internal pass-thru setup would have been less of a hassle, and would reduce the clutter behind one's machine.

Interactive menus and sub-picture controls
Multiple camera angles & language selection
Supports wide screen, letter box, and Pan & Scan viewing aspect ratios
Supports Dolby AC-3 5.1 channel decode
Supports MPEG-2 and PCM audio decode
Complies with CSS analog and digital copy protection
Support for regional copy protection

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