PCI Dolby Digital Live Card on the market?!

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SilverMK3

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So after reading this thread on AVS Forum I decided to do some reasearch on the HiTec HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 Gold

Use BabelFish to translate the Korean language specs on this site for more information: http://hardware.bomul.com/bomul/product/detail.asp?pno=1110120142&ctg=001&ctg_1=001005 [direct link]

Link re: Dolby Digital Live: http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/dolby_live.html

Apparently this card is already on the market in Korea and will eventually make it to North America. w00t!



crappy Babelfish translation of text from site:

0.gif


HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 GOLD introduction

* High theyk the HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1GOLD the nose which is real-time stone monument digital 5.1 Channel ting is the world-wide initial product which embodies a function in PCI card type. Use of the high-class parts and stabilization circuit in addition quality 24bit/96kHz until the digital signal transmission is possible, all board same axle (COAXIAL) the digital output terminal/storehouse (OPTICAL) the digital output terminal it is a loading one model.

HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 GOLD explanation
1.gif


* With the maximum 7.1 Channel support Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and DD-EX/DTS-ES output confrontation
The PowerDVD it uses the overview multimedia player software of WinDVD back up-to-date software Dvd program and the KMPlayer back or and it connects with 5.1 Channel and 6.1/7.1 Channel analog groove Sea U sprouting speaker and the outside eldest brother DD/DTS decoder without the inner room theater the realization is possible.
* All board same axle (COAXIAL) digital output terminal/storehouse (OPTICAL) digital output terminal loading
* 44.1kHz/48kHz/96kHz Digital input support [ Digital I/O (SPDIF-IN #2) ]
Only digital output the bay it knows it will be able to apply a digital input, in order description below high theyk it will be able to connect a Digital I/O HDA-X10 digital input-output module (XM7.1 and option star every) in order, header SPDIF_EXT and all board it raised an expandability. The maximum 24bit/96kHz the storehouse digital and Coaxial digital input unite possibly and digital input processing the signal "to output without like that with the external digital machinery and tools they support a S/PDIF input loopback" (S/PDIF input with output bypass) and the application is possible with the use which is various.
2.gif


*

The CD digital input support [ CD_SPDIF (S/PDIF-IN#1) for a quality hour D music appreciation and DTS CD BYPASS ]
2 pin CD_SPDIF terminals which it connects with 2 pin digital audio output terminals of the CD-ROM and the Dvd-ROM ROM becoming all board in the Maine card, provides 2 pin -2 pin CD digital cables with CD analog connection or the sound question CD music appreciation which Digital Audio (CD-DA) compared to is more superior Extraction is possible. The CD digital input "with S/PDIF input loopback" (S/PDIF input with output Bypass) function general audio hour D and the digital output Bypass for grade DTS audio hour D is possible.
* Hardware interface of efficient independent input-output terminal composition/user center
The MD it recorded, in the outside market decoder connection back basic to affix the essential storehouse output TOSLINK terminal, with the care for the digital audio machinery and tools which supports a same axle digital input until the COAXIAL output terminal basic it affixed. Also 15PIN it separates the midi pot and expansion header a separate way all board MIDI_IO and in order for the connection with the outside market midi machinery and tools to be possible, it prepares, line input and microphone input, phu Ron thu /SIDE from round/the center - from pu right it ladles and and /Back from it becomes independent with the AUX_IN to make affix and the CD_IN and the CD_SPDIF the same inside the neck it sprouts big and and and it is complete and and and and it supports all input-output terminal of round and and and.
3.gif



Manufacture company : High theyk
Product life : HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 GOLD
Processor : C-Media CMI8768/PCI-8ch+ PCI chip three
Storehouse output terminal : 24bit/96kHz The high-class TOSLINK terminal and the storehouse (OPTICAL) for a storehouse output the digital output terminal
Speaker support : 7.1/5.1/4/2 speaker output supports
Shipping expenses guidance
- General Taeg boat: 3,000 won/the Box (tightly non: 4,000 won)
- Books area and Cheju-Do: 7,000 won/the Box (tightly non: 8,000 won)
- Motorcycle khwik service: After addressee charging non/capital region area

The day boat Song guidance
- 1st boat Song : 12:00 a.m. the product which is sent out with previously payment confirmation hour day boat Song 7:00 p.m. order day ~8 generally the boat cluster it becomes by a road situation or a weather condition in small quantity lately the case which becomes boat Song is understanding does as a favor in poem and it wishes.

- 2 Cha Bae Song (Saturday exclusion) : 3:00 p.m. the product which is sent out with previously payment confirmation hour day boat Song 8:00 p.m. order day ~ generally the boat cluster it becomes by a road situation or a weather condition in small quantity lately the case which becomes boat Song is understanding does as a favor at 10:00 and it wishes.
Early the case of the company which leaves office khwik to use a service, it wishes.

- Fare: Seoul change of air reverse 3,000 won, 4,000 won capital region part areas

After ordering boat Song situation the E will be able to confirm from order inquiry of page a possibility of trying to receive a SMS letter message with the hand phone which it inputs, order hour there is.

The free Taeg boat service which corresponds to the part product means and the day or general Taeg boat service khwik it charges it does a conversion hour fare with service and.

Taeg boat and khwik the service will follow in uncontrollable natural disaster and or road situation the water service which will delay more or less it is and advantage to understand it wishes.
(Week) the all productions which it sells from the Haiti computer there is a possibility which a guarantee service the above will occur in quality and it will receive gratuitous irrigation guarantee duration manufacture company or the all productions which except the case which see clearly the duration of separate way from income company from the purchase straight road are 1 year for.

After product purchasing the exchange and returned goods of the case (7th at once) product which will be above the product to early stage are possible. (only, packing and contents water of returned goods hour product soundly do.)

To the case where the damage of the product due to the consumer fruit occurs will become the compensatory A/S control and it will follow in case and there is a water service where the A/S will be wrong.

Exchange or exchange non this the case which is wrong
- In the user in the private ownership which is responsibility the re-anger back myel the thread or the case which is damaged. Only, in order to confirm the contents of the re-anger back it excepts the case which damages the packing back.
- By the use or part consuming of the user the case which the value of the re-anger back diminishes remarkably
- By the lapse of hour justice sale price the case which the value of the re-anger back diminishes remarkably at the degree which will be difficult
- The re-anger (software and consuming width) where the reproduction is possible the case which damages the packing of the back
- For the immediacy of the only transactions the case which Presidential Order decides

The customer it charges the case shipping expenses of the exchange which is caused by with simple change of mind of the customer/returned goods and.

Is flaw to the product and the case which requests a service
- 10th at once: (Week) the Haiti computer charges the reciprocation total amount.
- 30th at once: Each one dispatch lyo the bay it charges. Namely, the amount of money which it sends with the company the customer, the amount of money which is returned the company charges in the customer.
- 30th after: The customer charges the reciprocation total amount.
Within case 10th there is not a flaw to the product the customer charges the reciprocation total amount.

When while product using the problem occurs, us (week) the customer support thread of the Haiti computer (the person in charge: It will bloom really and kyu the division chief/(02) 712-2973) with it gives it wishes a liaison and. The many case telephone brazier solution becomes easily, it is not like that, follow-on action description below the situation grasp for comes to be easy and the effect which shortens an hour gets.
Click to expand...
 
Well, looks like a card based on that Cmedia chip I've heard about before. I know that there's some other card based on it, but they haven't actually finished the drivers for the DDL encoding yet :rolleyes:

It'll be interesting to see what this can do.
 
GodsMadClown said:
Is it me, or is that text only barely readable? Boat song? Haiti? WTF?
Click to expand...

w0000t, if it's anything like the old Hoontechs, it will be well worth the wait!

"to output without like that with the external digital machinery"

"All your Dolby are belong to us"

Donnie
 
Nah. This sounds just fine, thank you.


After product purchasing the exchange and returned goods of the case (7th at once) product which will be above the product to early stage are possible. (only, packing and contents water of returned goods hour product soundly do.)
 
ajm786 said:
Nah. This sounds just fine, thank you.


After product purchasing the exchange and returned goods of the case (7th at once) product which will be above the product to early stage are possible. (only, packing and contents water of returned goods hour product soundly do.)
Click to expand...

Hehehehehe!

Donnie
 
ajm786 said:
Nah. This sounds just fine, thank you.


After product purchasing the exchange and returned goods of the case (7th at once) product which will be above the product to early stage are possible. (only, packing and contents water of returned goods hour product soundly do.)
Click to expand...

rofl! :eek:
 
yay! i really hope the DDL works well and this card is good for gaming :D

Hope it doesn't take too long to make it to the UK!!

NANA
 
uh, tell me again why you would want to compress every signal coming out of your computer to an AC3 signal?

Say you would want to play an Mp3.
Click play: decompresses song, sends it through waveout or direct sound or something
Recompresses it into AC-3...
Finally, outputs it to a DD decoder... Where it is decompressed again..

I am no expert but all of this cannot be good on sound quality.

There were huge sound quality issues with the Soundstorm, and while many of those were the fault of Nvidia cutting corners, the inherent nature of the technology will degrade the sound quality, since AC-3 is a lossy compression scheme...
 
jamesrb said:
uh, tell me again why you would want to compress every signal coming out of your computer to an AC3 signal?
Click to expand...
It's simply more convenient for people with home theater setups to run a single digital optical/coax cable to their receiver than running 6 analog outputs. There are also many receivers that do not have analog inputs for 5.1 audio so a digital input is their only option.
 
aug1516 said:
It's simply more convenient for people with home theater setups to run a single digital optical/coax cable to their receiver than running 6 analog outputs. There are also many receivers that do not have analog inputs for 5.1 audio so a digital input is their only option.
Click to expand...

I guess I could see for the ones that do not have analog inputs, but most receivers sold today do have it.

The convenience I really do not understand. People are too lazy to turn around the receiver and plug in six wires? Its not like it has to be done every timeyou turn on the computer. I think I could sacrifice 30 seconds now to keep better sound quality for as long as I have it set up.

I think many people are under the misconception that digital = better
 
Ever ran a 20' analog cable from your computer to your audio system?

Now you know another one of the advantages the "convenient" digital transport method has. :D
 
jamesrb said:
uh, tell me again why you would want to compress every signal coming out of your computer to an AC3 signal?

Say you would want to play an Mp3.
Click play: decompresses song, sends it through waveout or direct sound or something
Recompresses it into AC-3...
Finally, outputs it to a DD decoder... Where it is decompressed again..

I am no expert but all of this cannot be good on sound quality.

There were huge sound quality issues with the Soundstorm, and while many of those were the fault of Nvidia cutting corners, the inherent nature of the technology will degrade the sound quality, since AC-3 is a lossy compression scheme...
Click to expand...

Well, here are the advantages I see to using SPDIF rather than analog cables:
  • The DSP and DACs on my receiver are MUCH better than the Realtek codec on my motherboard, and many consumer-level soundcards
  • Less cable clutter and longer run lengths, especially with the mess of cables I have behind there already, I'd like to avoid the interference.
  • If 384-448Kbps AC3 sounds amazing at the theater and on DVDs, I'm sure the Dolby Digital Live and Dolby Interactive Content Encoder's 640Kbps AC3 will be more than 'Acceptable', despite being lossy. In fact, I'm sure you'd be more likely to hear distortion from noisy analog cables and you soundcard DSP's internal downsampling/upsampling to add crappy EAX effects than from lossy (though very high bitrate & sample rate) AC3 compression.
  • I like the flexibility of having a digital connection. When listening to music, for example, I can disable the content encoder and send an uncompressed 2ch PCM stream to the receiver and listen to my music like that, or play with the receiver's matrix modes - DTS Neo6:Music kicks ass, btw.
  • When I finish building my HTPC, the integration into my home theater will be dead simple. Again, without clutter or perceptible loss in quality.

The quality issues you've brought up with Soundstorm all relate to the crap-tastic Realtek codec and analog performance. The only digital performance issue that I'm aware of is a sharp frequency response roll-off at 17KHz+, but I understand that this was a decision made by Dolby Labs when they designed the DICE; it was made in favor of keeping the extremely low compression ratio. Read this article for more info if you're interested: clicky
 
SilverMK3 said:
Well, here are the advantages I see to using SPDIF rather than analog cables:
  • The DSP and DACs on my receiver are MUCH better than the Realtek codec on my motherboard, and many consumer-level soundcards
  • Less cable clutter and longer run lengths, especially with the mess of cables I have behind there already, I'd like to avoid the interference.
  • If 384-448Kbps AC3 sounds amazing at the theater and on DVDs, I'm sure the Dolby Digital Live and Dolby Interactive Content Encoder's 640Kbps AC3 will be more than 'Acceptable', despite being lossy. In fact, I'm sure you'd be more likely to hear distortion from noisy analog cables and you soundcard DSP's internal downsampling/upsampling to add crappy EAX effects than from lossy (though very high bitrate & sample rate) AC3 compression.
  • I like the flexibility of having a digital connection. When listening to music, for example, I can disable the content encoder and send an uncompressed 2ch PCM stream to the receiver and listen to my music like that, or play with the receiver's matrix modes - DTS Neo6:Music kicks ass, btw.
  • When I finish building my HTPC, the integration into my home theater will be dead simple. Again, without clutter or perceptible loss in quality.

The quality issues you've brought up with Soundstorm all relate to the crap-tastic Realtek codec and analog performance. The only digital performance issue that I'm aware of is a sharp frequency response roll-off at 17KHz+, but I understand that this was a decision made by Dolby Labs when they designed the DICE; it was made in favor of keeping the extremely low compression ratio. Read this article for more info if you're interested: clicky
Click to expand...


Dead on. Good reply. My Sage HTPC was running of off an A7N8X with a digital coax feed into my 6.1 receiver. MP3's sounded awesome. So did games, and movies. Shows recorded with Sage would be rebroadcasted in 6.1 Awesome.

Fast forward four months. Sold the A7N8X, dropped an FX-51 on a SK8N into the HTPC rig. Sound is fucking awful. Any Sound Blaster sounds like shit as far as I'm concerned, and I can't find a good sound card that pleases my ears to save my life. I've tried Audigy, Audigy 2, Live, AD1985, AD8xx. I hate them all.

I will buy this card as soon as CES is over, which is supposedly when it is on sale.

Matt.
 
I'm the proud owner of all this:

Klipsch 5.1 Ultra's with RSX-5's as the front sats and RCX-4 as the center channel, using the stock Ultra satellites as the rears, and a Dayton powered 100w subwoofer on the LFE out

A7N8X DLX board with SoundStorm on coaxial out

DDTS-100 decoder.


I'll tell you, MP3s (well, OGG for me. OGG files the equivalent of 256Kbps MP3s) sound great. Deep rich textures, deep bass, high highs.

There's a lot of FUD about AC-3 encoding and SoundStorm
 
jamesrb said:
I think many people are under the misconception that digital = better
Click to expand...

He has a point.

Remember the guy who couldn't be convinced that you can get "discrete surround" from analog outputs?
 
jamesrb said:
I guess I could see for the ones that do not have analog inputs, but most receivers sold today do have it.

The convenience I really do not understand. People are too lazy to turn around the receiver and plug in six wires? Its not like it has to be done every timeyou turn on the computer. I think I could sacrifice 30 seconds now to keep better sound quality for as long as I have it set up.

I think many people are under the misconception that digital = better
Click to expand...

The problem with analog out rears its head if you plan on using a DVD-A/SACD player, as very few of those do digital out [SACD, IIRC, cannot be passed digitally by anything yet] so that means changing 6 wires every time you want to game/listen to some multichannel tunes. Either that, or buy 3 switchers, or a Pre-pro with 2 sets of analog in's, which would probably run you about 3k, from what I've seen.

Also, Audigy two's have shit for bass management, and my receiver works only in analog bypass using the 7.1 in's, so I can't use my reciever to cull out the low frequencies and send them to my sub. So basically, I've got two good reasons for going digital, besides the already mentioned better DAC's in my fully-shielded receiver.
 
This is fun :D
I guess, I hadnt completely thought about some of this stuff that would give some reasons to consider a digital connection. I guess you have convinced me to give it a second look, although I think that I would still go with analog for gaming.

Anyways, as far as cable length, some decent gauge cables should be fine for runs of 20' although I guess 40 or 50 feet would be a different story. Signal degradation will also occur on any type of copper, including Coaxial digital cables (although digital signals may have some sort of error correction?). Optical connections would be void of this problem though.

About interference on the cables, this really is not likely on all but the cheapest of cables. If there is that much interference, I think the cables will be the least of your worries.

Also, it is not fair to compare AC3 on DVD's and theaters as they have much more sophisticated encoders/decoders, and are creating the tracks from ultra high quality studio masters.

As far as noise from the analog cables, again decent cables are not going to be subject to noise on all but the longest of runs, or some extreme interference.

Also, I definitely would run a digital connection anyways for 2 channel stuff, the PCM connection would be the best quality, like was mentioned.

The only point would be for gaming, as PCM digital would be recommended for 2ch and for DVD's direct passthrough would be recommended.

As far as the analog in's being in use, wow, I have purchased one or two DVD-A's, but I do not think too many people are going ot have that problem.. The formats seem to have fallen on their face.. I guess if you use one of these two formats on a regular basis, there's not a good solution ofher than a digital signal (which I still dont necessarily consider good)...

As far as better DAC's and such in your receiver's, you are comparing to the current sound cards (or the guy that mentioned onboard sound), which is not the issue here. I was simply referring to the fact that digital is not always better than analog. I think if you have better DAC's in your receiver i think it would be wise to listen to both and see if the better DAC's is a good tradeoff for a compressed signal. Probably unique for each setup and set of ears.
 
Long audio cables cost of lot of scratch if you want to get some of decent quality. I bought a 6ft set of 7.1 cables from www.bluejeanscable.com and that ran me about 110. If I wanted to get 20 feet of the same, it would have been another 50, and so on. Now, if I only had to run a single 6' cable, that would have been 14$, roughly a tenth of the cost.

Complexity is another matter. My bundle of cables is over an inch in diameter. If I had to run that through the wall, or around corners and furniture, that would be a huge pain, while a single cable would greatly simplify things.

Interference is certainly a room by room, house by house case. Some people suffer from ungodly amounts of RF interference, so long runs of cable might be totally out of the question. A single optical cable would fix that problem though.

I'll certainly agree that DVD-A and SACD are dying... or more accurately, never lived in the first place =] I don't own any, but certainly people do, so it's a problem for all of them.

One last point: There's certainly a possibility for a soundcard passing something like DTS:ES, which would get you higher bitrates and depths, along with 6.1, which would definitely negate any sound quality issues, not that I think that there are too many. The best of games still don't have sound that is totally lifelike in every way, so I think it's a compromise that is easy to make. If it involved CD audio, that might be different, but for games, I see no problem with going digital.
 
anyone heard any more info on this. Have scoured using google, but not found anything...

NANA
 
Well I'm excited and can't wait til' this card goes on sale here.

Donnie
 
I want DDL, but what are the chances this card will support 64bit drivers when XP64 comes out in a couple months. I want to run the 64bit clients of games like Farcry, HL2, and UT2004.
 
Sure looks promising.

I guess I need to get some ProMedia Ultra 2.0's to setup for 7.1x2 (7 speakers, 2 subs getting the same information)

Edit: Looks like it might cost an arm and a leg.. I sure as hell don't need another decoder, especially one without DTS and DTS:NEO6.
 
jamesrb said:
The convenience I really do not understand. People are too lazy to turn around the receiver and plug in six wires? Its not like it has to be done every timeyou turn on the computer. I think I could sacrifice 30 seconds now to keep better sound quality for as long as I have it set up.

I think many people are under the misconception that digital = better
Click to expand...

Come on. I have enough wires in my home theatre setup as it is. XBOX, Gamecube, high res audio player with 6 analog wires, 5.1 setup (wires wires wires). You really think it's because of LAZYNESS I refuse to run 6 wires from my frigging computer to my receiver?

It's aesthetics. It's the fact that I don't have another 6 analog inputs on my receiver. Not lazyness. *slap*
 
Wanna delete that post as well or would you like me to do it?

(16) No BUYING, TRADING, or SELLING anywhere with the exception of the For Sale / Trade forum. The FS/T forum has it's own set of specific rules. Please read their rules before posting in that forum. [H]ard|Forum is NOT RESPONSIBLE for any loss due to any sale or exchange of any item in the For Sale / Trade forum. Caveat Emptor!!
Click to expand...
 
Geez. They also had like 100+ inch LCD tvs on display at CES. You don't see those in retail channels today now, do you? These things take time.
 
ImJacksAmygdala said:
CES is over... So where the hell is this card?
Click to expand...

they should be available to sub-distributors like me in ~ 30 days, at least that's the last info I got direct from manufacturer.

note : this is not an offer to sell them. This is an informative post stating their anticipated arrival :)
 
Here's my question.

Wouldn't ANY sound card based on the CMI8768 (CMEDIA) therefore be an Encoding card? I ask because my hercules card just took a nosedive and they are ~$100 whereas I can find a 7.1 channel CMI8768 based card for ~$40
 
my main concen about this card is driver support and games compatability

just so hope this card gives creative some good competition

NANA
 
Why is this the only forum where people have heard of this card :D .
My brain is telling me that some how, by reapeatadly checking this thread i may get the card sooner....
:p
 
bananaman said:
my main concen about this card is driver support and games compatability

just so hope this card gives creative some good competition

NANA
Click to expand...


Cmedia chips haven't had much report of game incompatibilities.. seeing as how creative labs themselves have even used cmedia chips before, and all.
 
gorby said:
Why is this the only forum where people have heard of this card :D .
My brain is telling me that some how, by reapeatadly checking this thread i may get the card sooner....
:p
Click to expand...
Because you don't know what you are talking about?

forums.hardwarezoom.com
theinquirer.net [which has forums, unless they are closed now?]
techspot.com


and that's just off the top of my head...

google gives *205* results when I type "hda x-mystique" .. so I think it's not 'never heard of'
 
Laforge said:
Because you don't know what you are talking about?

forums.hardwarezoom.com
theinquirer.net [which has forums, unless they are closed now?]
techspot.com


and that's just off the top of my head...

google gives *205* results when I type "hda x-mystique" .. so I think it's not 'never heard of'
Click to expand...

you sure told me. Thanks
Next time when im trying guage interest / general knowledge about a paticular product ill google for it then use the number of hits i get as a benchmark.
What surprised me was the lack of competition on the market and not being able to get a straight answer from many places about wether surround sound gameing is possible with an av reciever and digi coax connector.
 
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