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USB sound card with Dolby Digital Live finally found! - Page 2

post #21 of 39
9/26/06 at 5:08am
Thread Starter 
Got it now...

Works *great*... I've tried Oblivion so far, and the sound stage is really different (using Dolby Digital Live). Much more dynamic, vivid and powerful. Surround feeling is scary...

I know of no good way to measure fps difference, but I can't tell the difference when playing.

So far, a great investment! Questions?
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post #22 of 39
9/26/06 at 1:46pm
It's hare to believe that a solution can be this simple. A USB plug with an optical output and software. No need to buy an overly-expensive sound card (be it internal or external).

Let me get this right: The Callisto output is encoded AC3 in both DD Live and DTS formats?

For $49.95, I think I'll try it as well.

I just installed the Turtle Beach Roadie. The sound is good, but still only outputs analog signal to my home receiver. It's perfect for headphones.

In my case, a waste of money given the real solution I wanted was true digital 5.1 output.
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post #23 of 39
9/26/06 at 2:13pm
For those who don't know what Dolby Digital Live is, here's a couple of links.

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...olby_live.html
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...igitalLIVE.php

Does anyone know which exact model SigmaTel STAC chip is used in the E1705?
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post #24 of 39
9/26/06 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
WackyT: The e1705, M90 and M1710 have the STAC9200. The M1210 has the STAC9220, a 7.1 card ... No DDL there though. There is a series of Acer laptops that come with DDL software.

Buck47: Expensive sound cards are needed for a few things: hardware EAX 5.0 (the Callisto only does EAX 1.0 and 2.0) and 7.1 DAC (digital-to-analog conversion) needing amps etc.

The Callisto, OTOH really needs to do very simple things - convert (digitally) from a 5.1 digital channel to a digital DD 5.1 stream - not really that big of a deal compared to what mp3 encoders do, for example.

Compare with the Creative DTS610 solution we have discussed earlier - we have an expensive sound card generating analog 7.1, then the DTS610 doing analog-to-digital conversion + DTS encoding. That's *much* more.

The Callisto does *either* DD or DTS encoding, not both.

By the way, I've heard of a few games that have DDL built in (as software). So it's not a new thing either.
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post #25 of 39
9/27/06 at 1:57pm
Loud and clear.

I just purchased the Callisto. Should be here in about a week.
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post #26 of 39
9/27/06 at 2:25pm
Can you hook normal headphones into it or does it just accept the digital line in?
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post #27 of 39
9/27/06 at 2:36pm
Thread Starter 
It does have a 3.5mm output *only*, where you can plug in either ordinary headphones (for regular 2ch sound) or a 3.5mm optical cable.

No support for Dolby Headphone, though... That would be the ultime toy... I've been pushing them a bit, you could do the same.
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post #28 of 39
9/28/06 at 7:38am
This is unusual...

A couple of weeks ago I started having problems with system performance. Right in the middle of a game, my CPU would either lock up or become jittery.

What I found was a Windows process (rundll32.exe) running in the background that consumed exactly 50% of system resources.

I downloaded XP Process Explorer to pinpoint the exact troublemaker.

It ended up being a CREATIVE process running through Windows Explorer. I tried killing the process directly, but that ended up locking up Windows and I had to perform a manual shutdown.

I completely uninstalled all Creative software from my laptop last night - no more problems.

I will need to reinstall this software to hear sound from my onboard speakers - hopefully it will not cause further problems.

Have any of you seen or heard of this?
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post #29 of 39
9/28/06 at 10:19am
Thread Starter 
Buck47: no, I've not seen that. But I don't have the Audigy HD audio software at all.

That got me thinking - I wonder if the Callisto will solve my Oblivion stuttering issues... will test.
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post #30 of 39
9/28/06 at 12:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffcmfrt
I just got a e-mail yesterday. I contacted a company quite a while back who custom make adaptorsand was told that posiable in august a express slot to PCMCIA adaptor would be ready for beta testing. I was also told that they needed beta testers for this adaptor. The good news for many is the e-mail they sent me yesterday informed me that I will be contacted in a couple more weeks as it will be ready and I will get to be a beta tester. So as soon as I receive the adaptor I will post the info on how to get one or who to contact to be a beta tester. This small adaptor will allow any PCMCIA card to work in the express Slot. So those in the same situation as me as I upgraded from my XPS Gen 2 to the M 1710 and lost the ability to use the Audigy PCMCIA sound card. So I will post as soon as I get the adaptor or here from them.

Last I checked, ExpressCard/54 (used on the Dell laptops) isn't as wide as PCMCIA. How would an adapter manage something like this? They would be better off making a USB PCMCIA external card slot device.
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post #31 of 39
11/4/06 at 8:39am
would it be futile to hope a new m1710 wouldn't have this problem?
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post #32 of 39
11/4/06 at 8:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by m94mni
Buck47: no, I've not seen that. But I don't have the Audigy HD audio software at all. That got me thinking - I wonder if the Callisto will solve my Oblivion stuttering issues... will test.
Have the Callisto usb soundcard fixed the stuttering issues on Oblivion? Have you noticed any decrease in performance due to the usb soundcard?
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post #33 of 39
11/4/06 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by almmohd
would it be futile to hope a new m1710 wouldn't have this problem?
You bet!
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post #34 of 39
11/4/06 at 11:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dao
You bet!
that would be terrible . when you buy a new system you hope it's trouble free.is it a problem specific to oblivion though i see someone posted a thread from the dell forum saying that it might be. cause i don't play oblivion at least not yet
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post #35 of 39
11/4/06 at 11:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by almmohd
that would be terrible . when you buy a new system you hope it's trouble free.is it a problem specific to oblivion though i see someone posted a thread from the dell forum saying that it might be. cause i don't play oblivion at least not yet
I don't think the trouble is wiht the XPS system but with the driver/codec sound used in oblivion. I guess it's really a problem only with Oblivion, but as a said if you're getting the 7950 gtx it's not that bad, and only happens when I am riding a horse, besides that, the game run pretty good. http://www.notebookforums.com/post2471112.html I think people will come up with a solution to that Oblivion problem soon, being it a patch, drive update or maybe a express card sound card Besides the Oblivion problem I haven't noticed any problem at all. I have played FEAR, FEAR extraction point demo, Call of Duty 2, Doom 3, and they all palyed flawlessly, with the settings maxed out.
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post #36 of 39
11/6/06 at 10:08am
Thread Starter 
Agreed, I haven't had any problems in other games. Haven't played Oblivion with the Callisto yet, but I'll report when I do.

In other news, relating to the original topic, C-Media has announced a beta driver for its chips (including the Nitrogen D2 of the Callisto) supporting Dolby Headphone!!!

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/?q=en/c-med...n_dsp_software

If/When that becomes available for the callisto, it will be the *ultimate* laptop gaming companion...
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post #37 of 39
2/11/07 at 8:32pm

Callisto update?

Quote:
Originally Posted by m94mni
In other news, relating to the original topic, C-Media has announced a beta driver for its chips (including the Nitrogen D2 of the Callisto) supporting Dolby Headphone!!!
I'm pinging this old-ish thread to see if you (m94mni) or anyone else has had anymore experience with the Callisto and if Dolby Headphone has made it into any drivers. Thanks for the info in this thread and any more info you can offer!
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post #38 of 39
2/12/07 at 5:19am
Thread Starter 
Seems the new drivers I mentioned (called Hydrogen by C-meda) are on the backburner currently, so no news yet. However, I'm finding the Callisto very worthwhile together with my Creative DH adapter.

They (Sondigo) have a close relationship with C-media and are aware of the advantages of that future driver... so I'm still waiting.
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post #39 of 39
2/12/07 at 7:57pm
For what it's worth, here is the reply I got from Aaron @ Sondigo regarding Dolby Headphone support and Vista support:
Quote:
Hi,
The Dolby Headphone rumors are just rumors- we don't have any plans to
support DH on Callisto at this point. However, our Inferno sound card does
have full Dolby Headphone support.

Regarding Vista, the Callisto is not fully compatible at this time. We are
anticipating that a Vista driver will be released in the next few weeks.

Thanks,
Aaron
Bummer for now...
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