Noozer said:
Looking for a soundcard that can encode 5.1 audio on the fly. This allows
surround games and such to have surround sound when connected to an amp with
a digital coax or optical cable.
Right now, the only card I can find is by Auzentech. I don't like this
company as they LIE in their specifications.
Does anyone else make a card like this?
I always get a feeling of nausea searching for audio products. I think it
has to do with wading waste deep through marketing excrement. It is *so*
hard to tell what you are buying. For example, you'll see adverts saying
"real time encoding" and no quotation of the actual latency, or whether
the mechanism is really hardware or not. In most cases, the implementations
are suggestive of software based. One reviewer on Newegg measured a 200 millisecond
delay for example, which doesn't fit the definition of real time by any stretch
of the imagination. (The only device I would trust, based on what I've
read, is the MCP-T on the Nforce2 motherboard chipset. At least there
was enough tech info, about the DSP engine in there, to conclude it
might be possible to do encoding in real time. The CMedia descriptions
make no mention of any hardware, that I've been able to find so far.
Just a lot of marketing baloney.)
Anyway, here is a card, rebadged apparently.
http://www.club-3d.com/productshow_zaptv.php?ordercode=CMS-THDTS&show=&filter=&p=1_full
U.S. version of the same thing.
http://www.sondigo.com/inferno
Bluegears branded. Formerly they handled Auzentech. Now apparently on their own.
Since this is not Creative, you get EAX 1 and 2. But not anything later.
I expect these cards are all made in the same factory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829127002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16829127002
Found in this thread, a thread whose original topic would not interest you,
so don't go to page 1
About the 13th post down on page 2, is the ref to
the above cards.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1885218&STARTPAGE=2
Good luck,
Paul
