Blog: Old School HTPC Gaming

[Crim]

[url=http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5259&Itemid=1]Original Article Link[/url]
Curious, will it pass a regular audio stream over HDMI while playing (even 2.0 audio)?

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

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.

[Crim]

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

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

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.

[Anonymous]

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=product_detail&category=Software&pid=F2222DDN6Z2H2ADDEZD

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

Based on what I was reading [url=http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&CatName=Sound+Blaster&subCatID=208&subCatName=X-Fi&prodID=17927&prodName=PCI+Express+X-Fi+Titanium&bTopTwenty=1&VARSET=prodfaq:PRODFAQ_17927,VARSET=CategoryID:1]here[/url], 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?

[Anonymous]

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-released-realtime-5-1-ac3-encoder.html 

‘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

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

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!

[Anonymous]

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

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

I’m hesitant to bother trying that after reading [url=http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=715382&forum=10]this[/url]:

[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.[/quote]

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!

[Anonymous]

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!

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