I won't spend as much time in this section as normal. What with the problems I've noted already in Video and Audio, it should be apparent what the limitations will be.

VaroDVD does support MMX and 3DNow! for playback enhancement. But again, it lacks hardware optimization for the majority of video cards out there. S3 Savage owners are covered, but that seems to be all. This is a major issue, because even with a P3/Athlon, some Hardware Motion Compensation would just help that much more when you want to multitask or your system is loaded down. Read the DVD FAQ to go over the Specifics. It will spell it out for you better than I can in a review, though I've covered it some in previous reviews. Also some very helpful hints for you there.

The Audio support is DirectSound for capable soundcards. Preferably PCI. It has enhancements for Q-Surround, and somewhere out there I'm sure some user is saying "YES! I HAVE THAT!". The rest of us get what it has. It's pretty decent, so shouldn't be a problem.

The Install mentions Dolby Digital support and SP/DIF output mode. Most players usually take them to mean the same thing? So I will guess that DOLBY DIGITAL is a simulated surround out for DirectSound mode, and SP/DIF for those with the hardware. No major difference in quality between Dolby Surround mode and Q-Surround on the test system.