ED#02 : SoundStorm In A Cup

[Bottled]

Re: A7N8X Deluxe not on 'the list':
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the A7N8X Deluxe uses a different hardware ID for it's MCP-T chip than other nForce2 boards. really though, this only meant that the first nF2 driver set didn't update the audio drivers on the board, although a manual update worked fine. The Asus driver set detected the MCP-T chip properly and updated it, though.

[luma]

Originally Posted by Chai

If I'm not mistaken, you can do that on other sound card like Santa Cruz as well, right? I don't use digital out, so I'm not very sure.

you can get digital out, but not dolby digital out. what's the dif? dolby digital encodes 5.1 discrete channels on one pipe (coax or fiber). every other sound card out there (all of them) that has a digital out only puts out 2 channels per output. i don't know if any of them supports using 3 digital outputs (front l/r, rear l/r, center/sub), but i've never seen a receiver that would let you input 6 digital channels that way anyway.

it's the reason i bought the a7n8x - one coax cable goes to my new logitech 680s, and i get full digital 5.1 discrete channels.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Bottled

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the A7N8X Deluxe uses a different hardware ID for it's MCP-T chip than other nForce2 boards.

Nope! The A7N8X Deluxe passed all hardware tests. And using similar hardware IDs is not part of the certification requirements.

Originally Posted by luma

i'm wondering if it was a business related falling out between asus and nvidia. i see this kinda thing happen all the time in the corporate world - i imagine the using the "dolby" logo on the box and claiming the "soundstorm certification" means that asus is paying nvidia or dolby labs licensing fees for the privilege.

i wouldn't be too surprised if asus has been dragging their feet or haggling over the fees and nvidia has chosen this moment to say "only these three boards are certified", while refusing to flat out say "the asus board has been de-certified", even though a month ago they claimed the board was in fact certified.

I would say that luma's closer to the fact, although not quite exactly there! Hehe...

[goldfries]

Originally Posted by gizzlon

so bottom line is:
If you use the analog outputs, use the live
If you use the digital out (coax. or optical) the nforce2 is good )

ø . s a k a g i z z l o n

welcome to ARP forums gizzlon.

so you're saying that i'm better off with my SB LIVE 5.1 DE if i'm analog user?? looks like i have to use SPDIF for the nF2 board.

[Chai]

Originally Posted by gizzlon

so bottom line is:
If you use the analog outputs, use the live
If you use the digital out (coax. or optical) the nforce2 is good )

I'm not too sure if NForce2 uses such a poor DAC.

[gizzlon]

Originally Posted by goldfries

welcome to ARP forums gizzlon.

so you're saying that i'm better off with my SB LIVE 5.1 DE if i'm analog user?? looks like i have to use SPDIF for the nF2 board.

EDIT: Thanx :)

Yeah, probably, its not the nforce2 that has a bad dac, its the motherboard.

So if u have to use analog, dont use the nforce2 onboard sound :)

But if your reciver can handle digital in, I think you would be better of with that, so the mobos dac dont get used at all. (as far as I know).

[MD]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Nope! The A7N8X Deluxe passed all hardware tests. And using similar hardware IDs is not part of the certification requirements.

I would say that luma's closer to the fact, although not quite exactly there! Hehe...

Adrian: Why don't you just come out and say it? Since you are the one who started this whole fiasco. Why beat around the bush?

[Adrian Wong]

Sorry to say you got it all wrong, MD!

I did NOT start this fiasco, as you call it. ASUS, NVIDIA and Dolby did that. NVIDIA brought it up inadvertently and I just happened to notice and report it.

And why a fiasco? Let's not argue semantics but I'm interested to know why you call this a fiasco?

To tell you the truth, the nitty-gritty details of this "fiasco" are not really important. Granted, it would be nice to know. BUT I didn't make the rules. When someone who gives you information requests that you do NOT let anyone else know about it, the polite thing to do would be to comply with his/her wishes, don't you think?

That's what I'm doing. Writing up the whole story (irrespective of his/her wishes) would probably made this "fiasco" more exciting, I suppose. But that's NOT what we do here in ARP.

I think the important thing to note here is that as far as NVIDIA is concerned, the A7N8X Deluxe passed the SoundStorm certification. That's the message that I'm trying to get out and I think that's what most ASUS A7N8X Deluxe users would like to know.

I hope that helps you some!

[zeppelin]

Ok guys Hello again. finally I got my Asus A7N8X Deluxe Version 2.0 board with A1 and A4 stepping, the new and latest stepping. By the way Abit NF7-S version 2.0 got A1 and A3 stepping so Asus is still the leader in supporting Nvidia Nforce2 board.
So back to the soundstorm DD5.1 support.
As Adrian already clarified earlier about the SoundStorm not supporting software decoding.
But that is with WinDVD 3.0 that cums with the board. what I have not try yet is WinDVD Platinum version.
I got a report claming that soundstorm did support Software decoding of DD5.1 thru your analog out speaker output at the back of the board with the help of WinDVD Platinum it can ran DD5.1 software decoding.
So Adrian if you can get hold of WinDVD Platinum version of the software, you can try it out except that you have to use the NVswap to swap off the sub and centre output. Good luck
Finally maybe I can say bye bye to my SBLive5.1 card.

[gizzlon]

The super mega platinum plus versions of PowerDVD and WinDVD both support software decoding of DD and DTS, as far as I know independent of hardware (as long as its fast enough) ...

They’re kind of expensive though (relative)


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