I had an original Ensoniq AudioPCI (1370) and it did the same thing. I think it is a driver issue and amoung other things particular to specific mainboards.
Other than that, it was an excellent card. It works great in a Linux box.
"SBLive! cards were not exactly known for their clean sound, but as this is outside the noisy box on a separate power supply, it stands a better chance of actually sounding decent."
This is precisely the reason that I have never really toyed with the recent Creative cards. My box has a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Creative often touts "Audiophile Quilty!" in all of their products, which is nothing more than silly hype. Creative products don't sound bad. They just don't sound the best.
For a comparison of many soundcards, check out http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.h tm
This new external device is pretty neat looking though, and it is probably going to be an imporvement over the crap that they put into notebooks. This is almost an extension of the USB Speaker ideas that started popping up a few years ago. I am wondering though, if all of the sound procession is going to be done on the host CPU, which is totally likely.
Assuming you have the right programs, you can use just about any (last I checked, I could use any) MS Windows compatible codec on a Linux box. Even XMMS had the capability of playing back just about any video file that I thre at it, after downloading and compiling the right plugins.
The problem with Windows XP's integrated audio/video encoding is the fact that most users don't quite have the knowlege to make choices about the formats that they wish to use. What do we have here? Microsoft pushes AVI and WMA down the throats of unsuspecting customers. A large user base of portable music player and DVD player users begin to use their formats. Potentially, we have the whole MP3 thing all over again. Give the users some easy and convenient sets of tools and they are basically opening the door to allowing Microsoft to controlthat market. It's the perfect Microsoft model.
These Northwood CPUs are nice, but can the marginally higher Quake III performance justify nearly twice the cost of an Athlon XP? I would probably just rather spend my money on a dual Athlon MP machine.
Besides... Quake III is optimized around Intel, as are all id games.
I do the same thing. I personally can't stand the quality of most downloaded MP3s. It's 192k VBR LAME for me. I have my entire CD collection (300 CDs) ripped and encoded to MP3 on my PC. LAME is an excellent encoder. I don't see the majority of people switching from crap like Xing any time soon. In the mean time, peer-to-peer is still good for hearing songs.
Make a good product (this includes music) and people will often pay for it. Some won't, but those who care about you and your product will pay.
For starters, don't get bits and bytes confused. Secondly, modems are not and have never been capable of 56k upstream, or even 52k upstream at that (ITU limitations.) They are theoretically capable of 33.6 speeds, but even that is unlikely.
V.92 may resolve some of these issues, but probably not.
The capability to boot off of CDRs was great, and gives the machine a lot of flexibility to run a lot of home brew software. Unfortunately, people took advantage of it.
The only REAL reason that the Dreamcast didn't succeed is beacause of pirated software. An RF cable installer came into my place of employment and we were talking about videogames. He had mentioned that he loved his Dreamcast a lot and it was his favorite system. I replied by telling him that I owned 60 games for the machine. He told me that he had 120 games. I asked "Are they legitimate?" Of course they weren't. He downloaded images from the binary news groups and his entire collection, aside from 3 games was CDRs! This really ticks me off. I hate people that pirate software. That little machine was excellent, well designed and had an incredible library of games. The only people who don't know are the people who are blinded by the lack of Final Fantasy and Metal Gear. It's their loss... What a shame.
Yeah? Ok then. Shenmue II on the PS2 would look great with lots of garaud shading. Gotta make use of that 4 MB of RAM. (Cough... Yeah right.) Metal Gear Solid II makes great used of shades of green, though.
If you had actually played a lot of the really beautiful Dreamcast games, then you may know what I am talking about. I am not talking about the crappy ports of PSX and PC games (which most BS developers put out for the Dreamcast.) The system is capable of excellent things if you have the right programmers.
The point is, the PS2 still can't compare to some of the things that the Dreamcast can do. I wouldn't say that the games look better on any system, but rather different.
"Sony has the RPG market, buy PS2 if you like those games."
You mean Sony has the Final Fantasy Market. I wouldn't call that the RPG market, but for some less-experienced RPG gamers, Final Fantasy is the only RPG series.
I actually prefer the Kyro 2 cards to the GeForce line. Those benchmarks don't reflect real gaming performance of the Kyro 2 cards. They are excelent for the price.
Einhander, one of the few good PSX Square games, wasn't even made by Square. It was created by an outside programming team and then published by Square.
MP3s can be excellent, if they are encoded properly. I've found that LAME at 192k VBR works very well for almost all of my music, and it is only slightly larger than a typical 192k file. It sounds great. I am actually starting to prefer listening to my ripped LAME MP3s on my PC/SantaCruz/5.1 system instead of my home stereo or car CD player.
Also, a good ripping program for Windows users is called ExactAudioCopy from http://exactaudiocopy.de/ . It works well with LAME.
People these days don't care as much about file size, since bandwidth is getting plentiful and hard drives are getting bigger. Higher-bitrate MP3s are a good medium, despite dlightly better formats. Slowly, I may migrate to Ogg Vorbis, but I would like to see more support for the format in portable devices.
Without a doubt, the Dreamcast is the best deal in gaming right now. Though there aren't a whole lot of new domestic games on the way, there are lots of great imports.
I suggest that DC players order the European versions of Shenmue 2 and Headhunter.
For $9.99 you can also get spectacular games like Jet Grind Radio, Virtua Tennis, and Crazy Taxi. Virtua tennis has logged in as much time at my house as some RPGs. Some people might think that it sounds like a silly game, but it is one of the most enjoyable games that I have EVER played. There are also lots of things to unlock which really makes it a highly replayable game. It's well worth $9.99.
Skies of Arcadia is an RPG that will eventually make it's way to other consoles, but I urge everyone to pick it up for it's $30 price point. It is one of the greatest console RPGs ever created. The game is so lighthearted and fun, and ditches the dark and depressing formula of most RPGs (Final Fantasy) in favor of more fun characters and plot. The game has it's share of dark plot twists though. Give it a chance. It looks sily, but is totally sweet.
If sports is your thing, then you've come to the right place. The Dreamcast is probably the best sports game console. The NFL and NBA games are a lot of fun, even if you aren't a sports fan. Test Drive Le Mans is also an excellent game. I feel that it challenges Gran Turismo 3 in terms of beauty (detail is more environment oriented than toward the cars.) Unfortunately, it doesn't have the tweakability, but the game is fast paced, beautiful, and fun.
The Dreamcast is also the console for unique games, like Chu Chu Rocket, Ooga Booga, Jet Grind Radio, and Space Channel 5. All of these games are priced to move, too.
I love the SNK->Dreamcast ports. I suggeest that everyone tries Last Blade 2. It's hella cool.
Unfortunately, the SNK characters don't play quite as well in the Capcom Vs. SNK games as they do in the Neo Geo games. The characters were kinda butchered in the games. Granted, it depends on the groove that you choose that makes them more managable, but it just isn't the same.
Re:Let us not forget Baseball Stars
on
Farewell to SNK
·
· Score: 1
Baseball Stars is a timeless game, much like the Tecmo NES sports games. The sound and graphics in baseball stars is still great. The Neo Geo machines were quite amazing.
So what? All IDE controllers offload some calculations to the CPU. It is so minimal that is doesn't even matter. Nobody here has still defined what "software RAID control" really is. For your information, the Escalade RAID 5 does XOR calculations in firmware itself, hindering it's RAID control. By the nature of these calculations, it would therefore not be true hardware RAID control. All of these hardware RAID controllers use the CPU for IO, just like the "software" RAID counterparts. I don't get what everyone's deal is anyway. The performance increase of the Highpoint and FastTrack controllers is excellent, and it certainly outweighs any extra CPU utilization that it may take.
I assure though, that it is very minimal. I have used them both. People are only really skeptical because the FastTrack uses(used) the same hardware as the Promise ATA controllers.
Sorry. My last post was a bit of a flame. I have just seen so many posts on various boards from people who have difficulty due to simply BIOS configuration issues. Admitedly, the KT7 series was a bit problematic to some people in some circumstances. That doesn't make all VIA boards the same though.
Slashdot Mirror
Communist, like AMD processors?
t ml
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/23650.h
I had an original Ensoniq AudioPCI (1370) and it did the same thing. I think it is a driver issue and amoung other things particular to specific mainboards.
Other than that, it was an excellent card. It works great in a Linux box.
"SBLive! cards were not exactly known for their clean sound, but as this is outside the noisy box on a separate power supply, it stands a better chance of actually sounding decent." This is precisely the reason that I have never really toyed with the recent Creative cards. My box has a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Creative often touts "Audiophile Quilty!" in all of their products, which is nothing more than silly hype. Creative products don't sound bad. They just don't sound the best. For a comparison of many soundcards, check out http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.h tm
This new external device is pretty neat looking though, and it is probably going to be an imporvement over the crap that they put into notebooks. This is almost an extension of the USB Speaker ideas that started popping up a few years ago. I am wondering though, if all of the sound procession is going to be done on the host CPU, which is totally likely.
Assuming you have the right programs, you can use just about any (last I checked, I could use any) MS Windows compatible codec on a Linux box. Even XMMS had the capability of playing back just about any video file that I thre at it, after downloading and compiling the right plugins.
The problem with Windows XP's integrated audio/video encoding is the fact that most users don't quite have the knowlege to make choices about the formats that they wish to use. What do we have here? Microsoft pushes AVI and WMA down the throats of unsuspecting customers. A large user base of portable music player and DVD player users begin to use their formats. Potentially, we have the whole MP3 thing all over again. Give the users some easy and convenient sets of tools and they are basically opening the door to allowing Microsoft to controlthat market. It's the perfect Microsoft model.
These Northwood CPUs are nice, but can the marginally higher Quake III performance justify nearly twice the cost of an Athlon XP? I would probably just rather spend my money on a dual Athlon MP machine.
Besides... Quake III is optimized around Intel, as are all id games.
No doubt, Bin Laden is responsible for the asteroid.
Intel manufactures the X-Box CPU. It's probably modified PIII Coppermine or a Mobile Celeron.
"I've heard of DVD players including PS1 support
in the not so distant future too. Apparently its fairly inexpensive
to do it now."
It's called a PS2, which is a massively parallel 128 bit PSX with a built in DVD player. It has PSX compatibility and retails for $299.
Which rock have you been living under?
That was fucking beautiful. I think that I am going to cry.
I do the same thing. I personally can't stand the quality of most downloaded MP3s. It's 192k VBR LAME for me. I have my entire CD collection (300 CDs) ripped and encoded to MP3 on my PC. LAME is an excellent encoder. I don't see the majority of people switching from crap like Xing any time soon. In the mean time, peer-to-peer is still good for hearing songs.
Make a good product (this includes music) and people will often pay for it. Some won't, but those who care about you and your product will pay.
For starters, don't get bits and bytes confused. Secondly, modems are not and have never been capable of 56k upstream, or even 52k upstream at that (ITU limitations.) They are theoretically capable of 33.6 speeds, but even that is unlikely.
V.92 may resolve some of these issues, but probably not.
The capability to boot off of CDRs was great, and gives the machine a lot of flexibility to run a lot of home brew software. Unfortunately, people took advantage of it.
The only REAL reason that the Dreamcast didn't succeed is beacause of pirated software. An RF cable installer came into my place of employment and we were talking about videogames. He had mentioned that he loved his Dreamcast a lot and it was his favorite system. I replied by telling him that I owned 60 games for the machine. He told me that he had 120 games. I asked "Are they legitimate?" Of course they weren't. He downloaded images from the binary news groups and his entire collection, aside from 3 games was CDRs! This really ticks me off. I hate people that pirate software. That little machine was excellent, well designed and had an incredible library of games. The only people who don't know are the people who are blinded by the lack of Final Fantasy and Metal Gear. It's their loss... What a shame.
Yeah? Ok then. Shenmue II on the PS2 would look great with lots of garaud shading. Gotta make use of that 4 MB of RAM. (Cough... Yeah right.) Metal Gear Solid II makes great used of shades of green, though.
If you had actually played a lot of the really beautiful Dreamcast games, then you may know what I am talking about. I am not talking about the crappy ports of PSX and PC games (which most BS developers put out for the Dreamcast.) The system is capable of excellent things if you have the right programmers.
The point is, the PS2 still can't compare to some of the things that the Dreamcast can do. I wouldn't say that the games look better on any system, but rather different.
"Sony has the RPG market, buy PS2 if you like those games."
You mean Sony has the Final Fantasy Market. I wouldn't call that the RPG market, but for some less-experienced RPG gamers, Final Fantasy is the only RPG series.
It's sad, I say.
I actually prefer the Kyro 2 cards to the GeForce line. Those benchmarks don't reflect real gaming performance of the Kyro 2 cards. They are excelent for the price.
Einhander, one of the few good PSX Square games, wasn't even made by Square. It was created by an outside programming team and then published by Square.
It looks like there is a possibility that Sega is going to start producing more Dreamcasts. We'll have to wait and see if this is true.
= 87
Check out:
http://sega.cloudchaser.com/news/index.php?view
MP3s can be excellent, if they are encoded properly. I've found that LAME at 192k VBR works very well for almost all of my music, and it is only slightly larger than a typical 192k file. It sounds great. I am actually starting to prefer listening to my ripped LAME MP3s on my PC/SantaCruz/5.1 system instead of my home stereo or car CD player.
Also, a good ripping program for Windows users is called ExactAudioCopy from http://exactaudiocopy.de/ . It works well with LAME.
People these days don't care as much about file size, since bandwidth is getting plentiful and hard drives are getting bigger. Higher-bitrate MP3s are a good medium, despite dlightly better formats. Slowly, I may migrate to Ogg Vorbis, but I would like to see more support for the format in portable devices.
Without a doubt, the Dreamcast is the best deal in gaming right now. Though there aren't a whole lot of new domestic games on the way, there are lots of great imports.
I suggest that DC players order the European versions of Shenmue 2 and Headhunter.
For $9.99 you can also get spectacular games like Jet Grind Radio, Virtua Tennis, and Crazy Taxi. Virtua tennis has logged in as much time at my house as some RPGs. Some people might think that it sounds like a silly game, but it is one of the most enjoyable games that I have EVER played. There are also lots of things to unlock which really makes it a highly replayable game. It's well worth $9.99.
Skies of Arcadia is an RPG that will eventually make it's way to other consoles, but I urge everyone to pick it up for it's $30 price point. It is one of the greatest console RPGs ever created. The game is so lighthearted and fun, and ditches the dark and depressing formula of most RPGs (Final Fantasy) in favor of more fun characters and plot. The game has it's share of dark plot twists though. Give it a chance. It looks sily, but is totally sweet.
If sports is your thing, then you've come to the right place. The Dreamcast is probably the best sports game console. The NFL and NBA games are a lot of fun, even if you aren't a sports fan. Test Drive Le Mans is also an excellent game. I feel that it challenges Gran Turismo 3 in terms of beauty (detail is more environment oriented than toward the cars.) Unfortunately, it doesn't have the tweakability, but the game is fast paced, beautiful, and fun.
The Dreamcast is also the console for unique games, like Chu Chu Rocket, Ooga Booga, Jet Grind Radio, and Space Channel 5. All of these games are priced to move, too.
I love the SNK->Dreamcast ports. I suggeest that everyone tries Last Blade 2. It's hella cool.
Unfortunately, the SNK characters don't play quite as well in the Capcom Vs. SNK games as they do in the Neo Geo games. The characters were kinda butchered in the games. Granted, it depends on the groove that you choose that makes them more managable, but it just isn't the same.
Baseball Stars is a timeless game, much like the Tecmo NES sports games. The sound and graphics in baseball stars is still great. The Neo Geo machines were quite amazing.
I was always really fond of the NES game, Crystalis. I believe that they ported it to the Game Boy a year or so ago.
"But don't you get a thrill out of the fact that you nearly have more processing power on your desktop than the entire world did twenty years ago?"
No, because some of us get laid.
So what? All IDE controllers offload some calculations to the CPU. It is so minimal that is doesn't even matter. Nobody here has still defined what "software RAID control" really is. For your information, the Escalade RAID 5 does XOR calculations in firmware itself, hindering it's RAID control. By the nature of these calculations, it would therefore not be true hardware RAID control. All of these hardware RAID controllers use the CPU for IO, just like the "software" RAID counterparts. I don't get what everyone's deal is anyway. The performance increase of the Highpoint and FastTrack controllers is excellent, and it certainly outweighs any extra CPU utilization that it may take.
I assure though, that it is very minimal. I have used them both. People are only really skeptical because the FastTrack uses(used) the same hardware as the Promise ATA controllers.
Sorry. My last post was a bit of a flame. I have just seen so many posts on various boards from people who have difficulty due to simply BIOS configuration issues. Admitedly, the KT7 series was a bit problematic to some people in some circumstances. That doesn't make all VIA boards the same though.