For quite some time I’ve known people who live and die by onboard audio. I know they’re out there. I also know that onboard audio has made great strides in the past few years. Even I have been using onboard audio with a computer that’s very dependent on audio. However, after using onboard audio, I’ve finally turned back to the trusty sound card and don’t regret it one bit.

Nowadays most boards have “HD Audio,” which basically means it supports multiple channels and also supports the DRM-based encryption so audio can make it to your speakers securely (DRM Folly Note: It comes out to your speakers as regular analog, sort of defeating the whole DRM thing in the first place). This onboard audio usually works pretty well, except it has it’s downsides. It’s more prone to EMI (bad for audio!), since it’s directly connected to a motherboard that’s buzzing with activity. It also has a higher tendency to offload processing to the CPU. Finally, it usually doesn’t include the extras you’d find on an individual sound card.

For most users, onboard audio is just fine. For those who require a higher standard of audio quality, you’re better off with a sound card (think of the power supply methodology: don’t expect to put your $400 video card in a computer with a $25 PSU–you’re just asking for it).

Some examples:

Several years ago when I didn’t have a media center, I had 5.1 speakers hooked up to my personal computer. I was playing WoW at the time and tried both onboard audio, as well as an Audigy 2 ZS. The Audigy provided much clearer sounds, and was especially noticable with surround sound noises (the Audigy had surround sounds very lifelike, while the onboard had surround sound noises quiet, tinny, non-existant, or “too far away”).

I have been using onboard audio with the Media Center ever since I upgraded to a faster processor, etc. This seemed to work fine, but I noticed that there were several specific instances when audio sounded poor. Surround sound noises were still weak or tinny sounding, and I usually had poor performance when there were higher levels of bass. I also had problems with poor driver support, especially when Vista SP1 was released. I installed that trusty Audigy 2 ZS sound card and was surprised to hear that such an old card still outperformed todays onboard audio. Surround sound noises are more lifelike and louder, performance was still solid with bass, and line in worked (moreso, the audio is processed and sent back out, meaning stereo is processed into surround. This makes XM and the Xbox sound excellent).

While I’m not necessarily a fan of Creative lately because of their ego and their methodolgy of supporting EAX on Vista (and their initial claim that EAX was bust on Vista in the first place), and while I wouldn’t mind researching a new sound card for the media center, I’ll have to admit that the Audigy 2 ZS is working great, and I’ll probably keep it around for awhile. If not for the fact that it’s a free upgrade from onboard audio (I’ve had that card for forever), I’ll definitely keep it in there to make a point that onboard still has a ways to go.

So long, almighty crab..

~Jaker

It is finished.

The Media Center has received it’s latest and greatest sets of upgrades, making it one hell of a media center, and gets five thumbs up from me.

As detailed previously, I’ve gone through five different “versions” of the machine named Mythbox, and here’s what makes the 5th version so awesome:

Intel E6550 Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320MB GeForce 8800 GTS, WinTV-HVR 1800 (NTSC/ATSC), Audigy 2 ZS

Yes, there’s an Audigy 2 in there. I know that sound card is from 2003, but, in my opinion, it’s much better than the on-board IDT stuff on the board I’m using (Intel DP35DP). I am using some modded drivrs, so everything on the card works (including Line In to Speakers Out for my XM and Xbox).

The visuals of the machine have been upgraded as well. Instead of a Component connection to a standard television, it’s now an HDMI connection to a 42″ LCD television (with 1080p, of course, which means I get a resolution of 1920×1080 on this thing).

With a new TV, a new stand, and the ability to receive digital OTA channels in sweet HD/5.1 audio, I’m very happy with the media center now. The only things that’d I’d change now (and they’re really not a big deal anyway) are installing a better optical drive (the one I have now is great, but it’s a bit loud), and getting a “media center” case so it looks like it belongs next to the TV (and not just a computer sitting next to the TV).

So, just so I can look back on this in the future and see what I did, here’s the complete set up of the current Media Center configuration I have in my living room:

Computer “Mythbox”

Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz

RAM: 4GB @ 667MHz

Video: nVidia BFG 8800 GTS (320MB)

Audio: Creative Audigy 2 ZS

Display: Vizio GV42LF (1080p)

TV Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1800 (NTSC/ATSC/QAM)

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium x64 (SP1)

Speakers: Logitech Z-5300

I’ll detail in a future post what steps I had to take to get my channels set up correctly.

Now if only I had that HDPC20…

~Jaker

This is awesome. I should change the editing page on this blog to this!

~Jaker

Yes, the format war has come and gone. HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. Better implementation vs. More space. Sadly Blu-Ray came out as the winner and we all have ended up the loser.

I read an interesting article over on the Inquirer and they detailed a lot of the follies of Blu-Ray. I was already aware of the versioning change (where version 2 made all older players instantly out of date), but I wasn’t aware of some of the other things they mentioned.

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have a “virtual machine” environment for the sickly high level of anti-copy “protection.” The HD-DVD implementation was actually quite “good” (although no implementation would have been better). Blu-Ray, on the other hand, was thrown together at the last minute and sucks royally. The idea that just to watch my movie I have to wait for a Java Virtual Machine to start up and do whatever it does is saddening.

I remember they said Blu-Ray was “uncrackable”–that no one would crack the protection for over 10 years! That’s great, except not!

This “Profile 2.0″ thing where you can jump online with a disc? I’ll pass. It’s bad enough that Blu-Ray discs update your player and do things in the background without your permission. It’d be even worse that they could jump online and pull things then (or send things back).

Blu-Ray was a bad idea then, and it’s a bad idea now. I’m glad their sales are low, and be rest-assured that you won’t see a Blu-Ray player in my house. Unless the Xbox 360 gets one (and I hope not!)

~Jaker