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Curious, will it pass a regular audio stream over HDMI while playing (even 2.0 audio)?
Blog: Old School HTPC Gaming
Sat, 10/30/2010 - 2:54am
#1
Blog: Old School HTPC Gaming
Sun, 10/31/2010 - 12:36am
#3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132007
My Asus DX sound card could take EAX and output it over coax/spdif (unlike any Creative card). I think even the cheaper ones can do it too. Might want to look into that. I really liked the feature for older games (when I had the card, sold it a while back cause I needed some extra money. I plan on getting another soon though.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132013
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020
Sun, 10/31/2010 - 1:23pm
#4
Are you sure that Creative cards, like the X-fi series, can't output EAX over spdif/coax? As I'm reading more and more, it seems like they do.
Tue, 11/02/2010 - 7:11pm
#5
Yeh the X-Fi series can output EAX over spdif/coax. Only problem is that creative is stingy and make you pay $5 bucks for it.
http://buy.soundblaster.com/_creativelabsstore/cgi-bin/pd.cgi?page=produ...
Tue, 11/02/2010 - 9:02pm
#6
Based on what I was reading here, I was under the impression it's free now. You can download the DTS Connect software right from that page. Or, is it the DD Live that actually does it and that still needs to be purchased?
Tue, 11/02/2010 - 9:43pm
#7
It appears that the download is only for the titanium models which could be justified by their premium price point. As I understand it, DTS connect will encode to DTS and DD Live will encode to dolby digital. So i guess it makes sense to sell both in a package.
There seems to be some possible free alternatives:
'This is a realtime AC3 encoder that allows you to use spdif passthru with sound from any source.' - redocneXk - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/general-discussion/90887-redocnexk-release...
'It can encode any audio source to AC3 on-the-fly and send it over SPDIF to the receiver.' - AC3 Filter
http://ac3filter.net/projects/ac3filter
Wed, 11/03/2010 - 7:02am
#8
Is all that really necessary, though? All I'm looking to do is get EAX from some old games out to my receiver, so that it plays in 5.1 with all the "extra" EAX stuff.
Thu, 11/04/2010 - 12:49am
#9
Unfortunately 5.1 gaming doesn't simply 'just work' over spdif without encoding and passing it through to a format your reciever can understand (dolby, dts ect..). Without this step you will only get 2ch pcm.
You could of course, just run separate analog cables from your comp to your reciever and that would require less mucking around. Just to clear up, EAX is not what is passed through to your reciever, it is the technology utilised by the soundcard.
Thu, 11/04/2010 - 7:21am
#10
Yep, I did know that EAX wasn't an encoding format, but thanks for making sure. What I wasn't clear on was how those effects managed to get from game to speakers. I knew I needed an EAX compatible sound card, so the game would recognize it, but that was it.
So, if I pick up an X-fi, do I need to purchase that $5 software package you linked to or will the "free" one on the X-fi download page be enough?
BTW... thanks for the assistance here!
Thu, 11/04/2010 - 9:42am
#11
Check out the Auzentech line of cards! They actually use the Creative X-Fi processor and can handle EAX, and they will do dolby digital live and dts connect. Should be able to do all of the above at the same time, and they even have a card that will output it over HDMI.
This is the HDMI one:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_hometheater_hd.php
Thu, 11/04/2010 - 10:20am
#12
I'm getting really confused after all the reading I've been doing. Isn't Creative's "Alchemy" what I need in Windows 7 in order to get EAX to work? The reason I say this is because I have an X-Meridian which supports EAX 2.0, but Baldur's Gate will not let me enable EAX. This is what makes me suspect I need Alchemy.
Fri, 11/05/2010 - 3:09am
#13
All right, you'll have to take this with a grain of salt as i'm a little shady on the details.
As I read it, Alchemy lets windows vista recognise games which have audio that is in directsound3d (baldurs gate) by changing it to OpenAL. By doing this, hardware acceleration and EAX effect can be enabled. Although Alchemy is only for creative products (X-fi, Audigy). The X-Meridian card is actually pretty sweet (dts connect ect), but i'm unsure whether you can run directsound3d EAX effects under win 7 and whether or not direct sound compatability was fixed in win 7, or if its architecture specific (32/64bit). Might be worth running the .exe in winxp compatability mode?
Fri, 11/05/2010 - 8:12am
#14
I'm hesitant to bother trying that after reading this:
Quote:
EAX is only usable with a compatible Sound Blaster card with Creative Alchemy installed when playing on Vista or 7. You install the drivers for the appropriate card and then the Creative Alchemy program which translates newer hardware calls to the old type API from XP etc. and makes EAX available in older games.
That would seem to confirm my own thoughts about this. In essence, without Alchemy, it won't work. In order to get Alchemy, I need a compatible sound card, which I don't believe any of the Auzentech are (you said the same thing). The X-fi, however, does have Alchemy available for it. So, I think I'm back to needing to pick up an X-fi. Off to ebay... 
Thanks again for all the ideas!
Fri, 11/05/2010 - 7:08pm
#15
Ah, I see your dilemma... The X-Meridian is one of Auzentech's earlier cards, it does not use the Creative X-Fi processor. The X-Fi based Auzentech cards actually include the Creative Alchemy software with the driver package.
I had the same frustration with my old X-Mystique card... I really wanted to upgrade!
Sat, 11/06/2010 - 12:52am
#16
vile2064 wrote:
The X-Fi based Auzentech cards actually include the Creative Alchemy software with the driver package.
This was my thought...why look at buying a Creative card, when you can just buy one of the newer model Auzentech cards.
Sat, 11/06/2010 - 8:42am
#17
Naylia wrote:
vile2064 wrote:
The X-Fi based Auzentech cards actually include the Creative Alchemy software with the driver package.
This was my thought...why look at buying a Creative card, when you can just buy one of the newer model Auzentech cards.
Unless I'm missing something, it's $120-$250 (new, since I can't find any used) for the Auzentech versus $60 for the X-fi Titanium (used, ebay).
Sat, 11/06/2010 - 7:16pm
#18
The titanium would be a good choice, but whatever you do, avoid the X-Fi Xtreme Audio like the plague.
Quote:
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, does not actually have the EMU20K1 chip but is a re-branded Audigy SE, using the same family of chips (CA0106-WBTLF), and even the same drivers.
Sun, 11/07/2010 - 7:02am
#19
Excellent to know... thanks!
Mon, 11/08/2010 - 12:21pm
#20
Oh, not bad. The X-Fi titanium does dolby digital live. Didn't realize Creative included that on any of their cards.
I guess the only other benefit you could get out of an Auzentech card at this point would be if you want the audio to go over HDMI
Mon, 11/08/2010 - 12:39pm
#21
vile2064 wrote:
Oh, not bad. The X-Fi titanium does dolby digital live. Didn't realize Creative included that on any of their cards.
I guess the only other benefit you could get out of an Auzentech card at this point would be if you want the audio to go over HDMI
Since I have an ATI card with HDMI, I don't think I could get the audio from the sound card to go out over the ATI or vice versa. Since I'll only be using the X-fi for old games, I don't think it's a big deal to switch the audio source from the ATI to the X-fi.
Thu, 11/11/2010 - 1:32pm
#22
I believe there are even apps out there that will switch audio device based on when you run certain executables.
Thu, 11/11/2010 - 2:19pm
#23
That would change the device in Windows between the X-fi and the ATI card, right? That does sound good to me, so if you know what kind of Googling I should do for such an app, I'm all ears.
But, what I'm actually talking about is switching the source on the receiver, since I'll need to change from HDMI video and audio via the ATI card to HDMI video on the ATI and X-fi audio, which will be plugged into another audio input on the receiver.
My thoughts are:
1. Get my butt up and hit a button the receiver
2. Program a button on the remote to switch audio inputs
3. Program a new activity with the only change being to swap the audio input and NOT start SageTV
I think #2 is going to be the easiest and most logical to deal with.
Thu, 11/11/2010 - 8:30pm
#24
Check out EventGhost. I can't see it on the website, but their is an entire folder of commands dedicated to SoundCard control.
Thu, 11/25/2010 - 1:32pm
#25
It took quite a bit of effort, lots of installing, and even more uninstalling and rebooting, but I finally got the audio working through the X-fi. In case anyone else decides to do this, here are the important parts:
1. Let Windows 7 download all the drivers for you automatically
2. DO NOT run Creative's Automatic Updater utility
3. Go to the Creative site and download the Alchemy drivers, as well as the Dolby Digital Live pack
4. Install Alchemy
5. Install DDL
6. Add the game's path to Alchemy (this may be done automatically through Alchemy combing the registry for you and locating your game paths)
At this point, you should have 5.1 audio going through your SPDIF connection to the receiver and EAX will be available under Windows 7 in your old games. You will need to disable the HDMI audio when playing games and enable the X-fi, but that's pretty simple. Additionally, you may need to switch your receiver to pick up the digital audio from the SPDIF input, rather than the HDMI cable.
Now, my next project is to finish getting bitstreaming working with my setup.
Yep. I've actually been playing it with regular (stereo) sound without any issues. In fact, with my receiver simulating surround sound, it even has some birds chirping in the background, which I was pretty impressed with by itself. Now, I'm interested in finding out if there's any way to get the EAX functioning, as well. I'm okay with having to buy a sound card and have separate connections in order to get it working, but I'm not sure if it's even possible. I was reading about Creative's "Alchemy", but I'm not clear on how it might fit into this scenario.
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