News:  April 10-16, 2000

Sunday, April 16, 2000

Week in Review - Mikael @ 23:18 EST

I forgot to mention earlier this week that we have posted our latest edition of the 3D Audio Week in Review covering April 3-9.

This weekly newsletter covers new driver releases, games, patches and demos that support 3D sound including information on any new bugs, bug fixes and other tips. The newsletter now also includes links to all sound related hardware reviews on the web as well as updates on what we did and what we plan to do in the coming week. The 3D Audio Week in Review is a great way for busy people to be right on top of all latest in the PC audio world.

Sirocco Crossfire Review - Mikael @ 11:09 EST

Alexis and Alan Dang of Firing Squad have put VideoLogic's Sirocco Crossfire to the test and wrote down their detailed impressions on 7 pages. They found it to be a great system and well worth the $400. Not sure where they got the price from since the SRP last time I checked was $450.

When it comes to loudness I think they have compared it to the original ProMedia since Mark's tests shows that the Crossfire is clearly ahead of the ProMedia now that all new ProMedias ship with the the gain-modifed (lower gain)preamp. In fact, Mark's test showed that even with the original preamp the maximum volumes were very close and the usable maxium output of the Crossfire was higher. A couple of other bits that I think are worth pointing out are that the original Sirocco was launched almost 18 months ago and that it did include a headphone jack. For those that really want grills on their speaker it can be worth to wait a bit since VideoLogic says the Crossfire will come with removable grills in June. You can check out our Crossfire vs ProMedia comparison for more details where you will see that we come to some different conclusions when it comes to comparing those two systems.

Live! center update - Mikael @ 09:20 EST

Live! center just let us know they have done a major update. Both the layout and the structure of the website is updated. Changes include:

1. New layout
   
2. Long articles split into several pages
   
3. Browsable news archive
   
4. New search feature
   
5. Printer friendly versions of all articles available

Saturday, April 15, 2000

Forum - Mark @ 10:57 EST

Its the usual weekend news slowdown but that's no reason to not get your PC sound fix. Check out our forum where there are several interesting discussions underway. If nothing catches your interest why not write about your speakers, sound card or the latest 3d sound game that you got and let people know what you think? Do you have SofF, Messiah, Thief II or any other new games? Tell us and your fellow readers all about your aural experiences! Head to the forum. No registration is necessary to read or to post!

Win a Sound Blaster Live! Platinum - Mark @ 02:33 EST

Just a reminder that Creative Labs is sponsoring a contest where (if you live in North America) you can win a Sound Blaster Live!Platinum if you click on the banner on top of the page. Even if you already have another good sound card you might want to enter the Live contest as you can either run two sound card (e.g. Vortex 2 and Live) or take the excellent software bundle and give the card to a friend! If you don't see the Creative Labs banner you can refresh the page a couple times or click this link instead. You will also find some other info about Creative Labs products on that page.

Thief 2 The Interview - Mark @ 02:25 EST

Checkout has posted an interview with James Poole , Executive Producer on Thief II where they talk about...Thief II: The Metal Age. Here is a snip on sound from the interview:

Q: One aspect of Thief that was so critical to its success was the superb audio system. How has this been improved and expanded for Thief II?

A: Thank you. We've added a lot more dialogue for the NPCs. Also, you can lean towards doors and listen to what's being said inside. Thief II also takes advantage of the latest audio hardware, by supporting EAX 2.0, A3D 2.0 and audio hardware acceleration.

Rocket Arena UT Released - Mark @ 02:20 EST

If you are looking for even more fun out of the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting Unreal Tournament then you might want to check out the mod called Rocket Arena UT that was just released. For more details and download info head over to the official site.
News Source: AGN3D

Soldier of Fortune 1.04 patch info - Mark @ 02:06 EST

Raven's Rick Johnson made a post to the official Soldier of Fortune forum with details on what we can expect from the upcoming SoF v1.04 patch. Its quite a long list so for the non-audio details you can check out the forum post. In terms of audio there were two bits of info. One is that the patch will fix a crash in EAX sound code when playing old sounds. The other bit of info which is great news for people using soundcards that are only EAX 1.0 compliant is the patch will be distributed with a unified EAX dll from Creative Labs that, in simple terms, allows for backwards compatibility from EAX 2.0 (which is what SofF supports along with A3D 3.0). This will allow Vortex2 cards using the 2048 reference drivers, cards using older versions of Sensaura's technology and cards using QSound's technology to get EAX support in the game rather than the default DS audio they have been stuck with. There is unfortunately no mention of a fix to the A3D related crashes that people have been reporting.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Friday, April 14, 2000

iPIX and BroadcastDVD Create Consumer DVDs With Fully Interactive iPIX(TM) Movies - Mikael @ 23:03 EST

Internet Pictures Corporation yesterday announced that BroadcastDVD will incorporate iPIX(TM) Movies into its FILM-FEST publication to give viewers an interactive virtual tour of the world's best film festivals.
An iPIX(TM) Movie is taken with a film or digital video camera which uses fisheye lenses to capture all 360-degrees of a scene. The final result is a streaming video in which viewers can use their mouse to choose their own perspective. For example, BroadcastDVD will be able to place an iPIX-equipped movie camera in the middle of the action and viewers will choose which star to watch independent of any other viewer, looking from floor to sky. In addition to video, computer generated graphics can be incorporated to enhance the visual impact or to add additional information. Check out the press release for more details

DTT2500 review - Mikael @ 22:59 EST

HipHardware has posted a review of the Desktop Theater 5.1 DTT2500 Digital. The review is rather mixed with mostly complaining about not loud enough. I agree with most of what they say even though I think it's loud enough for my taste when sitting at the computer. One bit I think they are dead wrong about is that the subwoofer improved quite a bit compared to the first Desktop Theater 5.1 system that Creative Labs sold under the Cambridge SoundWorks name. One other bit worth noting is that first Desktop Theater 5.1 system also featured Dolby Digital, something the review is a bit unclear about. You can check out our review for more details about the DTT2500 system.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Home video sales - Mikael @ 22:58 EST

Reuters/Variety today reported the Home Video sales for 99 (probably just the US market). A few interesting bit includes that DVD sales was $1.3 billion of the total $9.5 billion, which is nearly three times what studios generate from the theatrical side of the business. Buena Vista dominated the VHS market with 29.9 market share with Warner Home Video coming in second with slightly less than 20% market share. In the DVD market Warner Home Video was number one with 31% compared to Buena Vista's 20.7%. The five most popular DVD movies were The Matrix, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy and The Blair Witch Project, all selling above 1 million but below 1.6 million. In the VHS market the Bug's Life was number one with 14.5 million and Mulan coming in second with 11 million units sold.

World 1999 Music Sales Sound Modest Tune - Mikael @ 22:25 EST

Found another Reuters story where they mention the Music sales increased 1.5 percent world wide last year. The sales increase is mostly thanks to the US market and that it wasn't better is because of the poor Japanese market. The report also mentions that minidisc sales for the first time went above 1 million, 50% of the sales were in UK. Asian market probably buys more minidisc players but not many minidiscs with music.

Metallica files suit against Napster, universities - Mikael @ 22:21 EST

Reuters reports that Metallica has filed a law suit against Napster and three universities that hasn't tried to stop its use. The obvious reason for the lawsuit is of course they think Napster increase piracy. Check out the full story for more details.

WinAmp 2.62 released - Mikael @ 22:17 EST

Nullsoft has released a new version of Winamp. No major news but they did fix a memory leak.

Guillemot MaxiSound Fortissimo Review - Mark @ 20:08 EST

Thoughshell.com has posted a review of Guillemot's MaxiSound Fortissimo which is a Yamaha YMF-744 based 4 output sound card. This is quite a nicely done review and they are overall very impressed with the card. One thing I would express differently than the reviewer is I would say that Sensaura does an excellent, and not just an adequate job when it comes to the APIs they support. I say this as I distinguish between support for EAX (1 and 2) as an extension to DS3D, which is excellent, and the reverb engine, which while necessary to implement EAX is not a part of EAX. Its the reverb engine that I would agree is behind Creative Labs', QSound's and Aureal's implementation. For lots more on what we think of this card you can check out our own review.
News Source: 3D Audio Immersion

Can I get my Aureal Vortex 2 MX300 working on BeOS? - Mikael @ 01:36 EST

I saw a mention of Official FAQ for comp.sys.be.help in Vortex of Sound's forum where they have the following bit on how you can get your Vortex2 card to work

This solution comes direct from a Be employee, and may work for people having problems with the MX300 (aureal vortex 2 card): edit the file /boot/home/config/boot/UserBootScript and add the line "export OVERRIDE_AUDIO_BUFFER_FRAME_COUNT=256" (without the quotes) to it.

Best Speakers Ever? - Mikael @ 01:29 EST

If you have a lot of cash and really want the best sound money can buy you should check out this thread in our forum

Best Data Theatrix 5.1 Sound Card Review - Mikael @ 01:25 EST

In this review we take an in-depth look at the Theatrix 5.1 sound card from Best Data. This card is generating some interest on the market thanks to its 5.1 speaker support and a low SRP of 70 dollars. The Theatrix 5.1 uses Fortemedia's FM801 chip which features support for DS3D, A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 using QSound's Q3D 2.0 engine. It also features QSound's stereo expansion technology, QXpander and 2D-3D. The killer feature as mentioned is of course the 5.1 speaker support which many have been waiting on to play DVD movies using home audio 5.1 systems that are just Dolby Digital ready (that is they don't include a Dolby Digital decoder but have the inputs for one). In this review we will take a look at how Theatrix 5.1 performs for playing music, games and DVD movies. While we still have lots of detail for games and music, when it comes to movies we really beefed up our usual testing in order to compare it to true hardware DD 5.1 decoders such as the MidiLand ADS-2000 and DigiTheatre decoder, as well as the 4-speaker down-mixing mode of the Sound Blaster Live and Vortex2. We also tested it with a couple of 5.1 speaker systems (MidiLand ADS-2000 and the speakers that come with Videologic's DigiTheatre system and we even give some pointers on how this interesting card might be best utilized.

For all the details check out the full review

MidiLand S4-7100 Review - Mark @ 00:29 EST

Voodoo Extreme has kicked out a review of the MidiLand S4-7100 5.1 ready speaker system and were very impressed with the quality. I have been testing them out for a while now myself and I would say that they are good, but not great quality speakers. I am also not sure what Cambridge SoundWorks' speakers the review compared the 7100s to but its probably not the FPS-2000 (or DTT2500) as the 7100 is in the same ball park as those systems when it comes to sound quality and the sub is certainly not notably (if at all) better. I would say at this point in my testing that as a 4.1 system there are several systems as good or better for the same or slightly more money. Where these speakers shine is their flexibility and the option to use with anything offering 6 analog outputs (in 5.1 mode). This should make it a very interesting option when the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz hits the market and it may also match nicely with the Best Data Theatrix (which we are about to post a review of) and other FM801 based cards, especially if Fortemedia releases drivers that support 5.1 output for gaming, in addition to the already supported software DVD 5.1 output.

MidiLand S4-7100 Review # 2 - Mark @ 00:23 EST

C/Net Computers.com, has also posted a review of the MidiLand S4-7100 system with vastly different impressions than the Voodoo Extreme review. I would put my overall impressions somewhere between the these two reviews. I must say that as soon as I read something like

Despite producing some sweet sounds, the complicated MidiLand S4/7100 speaker system hits many sour notes along the way. Just unpacking the six speakers, the control box, the power supply, and the mountain of wires that make up the system is a chore, never mind actually connecting it all. Audiophiles may ultimately like the result, but it will take some interior redecorating to make it seem as though this system isn't taking over the room.

The review also seems to have missed the fact that there is a 4 position switch on the rear of the subwoofer that sets the system to accept various input configurations including 2, 4 and 5.1. While they are correct that sound cards with 6 analog outputs are not common, we are going to post a review of one tonight and there are others on the way. There is also the option of MidiLand's own ADS-2000 Dolby Digital unit. To balance out my defense of the 7100 somewhat, I would point out that one irritating aspect of the system is that in 4 speaker mode, the center channel is still active so you need to disconnect it to not impact on stereo or 3d imaging then reconnect it for 5.1 use.
News Source: AGNHardware

Thursday, April 13, 2000

DVD-Video 1Q Software Sales Soar - Mikael @ 23:50 EST

Experiencing yet another record breaking quarter, an additional 1.18 million DVD-Video players were shipped to retail in the first quarter 2000 bringing the total units shipped in North America since the format's launch to nearly 6.7 million according to figures compiled by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). In the press release they mention that there are now nearly 70 DVD-Video player models marketed under 30 different consumer electronics brands. Software Sales Reaching New Heights

In the press release they also have software sales numbers compiled by Ernst & Young that says nearly 30 million DVD movies and music videos shipped in the first three months of 2000. This figure represents a 200 percent increase over the number of titles shipped in the same quarter last year. Since the format's launch in 1997, software shipments have reached more than 160 million units, according to the DVD Entertainment Group. As earlier predicted by the DVD Entertainment Group, the industry is on target to double its 1999 sales by shipping at least 200 million DVD movies and music videos this year, representing $4 billion in revenue for the retailers selling DVD-Video, approximately half of the total revenue generated from the VHS sell-through. You can find even more numbers in the full press release

IRman - Mikael @ 23:50 EST

3DAI has played around with IRMan from Evation.com. It's simply a little device that allow you to use a remote control to control some programs on your desktop. Evation has created plugins for common programs, 3DAI's short review focus on the plugin for Winamp.

Messiah patch - Mikael @ 23:27 EST

A new (v1.1) world wide patch for the DS3D with EAX and A3D 3.0 supporting Messiah is available from Shiny/Interplay. No mention of what's new.

Live!ware Win2K FAQ updated - Mikael @ 23:13 EST

Creative Labs has updated their Win2k FAQ (not released new drivers as another site claimed). The updates includes confirmation that AC-3 pass-thru isn't supported, tips how to fix problems with "blue-screen errors with reference to emu10k1f.sys " and "My system keeps rebooting", and a mention of LiveWare 3.0 for Windows 2000 will be released mid May. I guess we can take the last to mean we won't see LiveWare 4.0 until this summer/fall.

Messiah Troubleshooting - Mikael @ 23:10 EST

Shiny has updated their Messiah Troubleshooting page. A few new bits on A3D problems, one of them as includes renaming the A3DAPI.dll file located in the Messiah folder.

Maxi Sound 64 Win2000 drivers - Mikael @ 23:02 EST

Guillemot has released new Windows 2000 drivers for the Maxi Sound 64 series.

News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Rollcage Stage II EMBM Patch - Mikael @ 22:40 EST

Psygnosis has released a patch for the DS3D with EAX supporting Rollcage Stage II which adds Environment Mapped Bump Mapping. If you have card that supports EMBM, that is the G400, you can grab the patch from 3dfiles.

Lava! Producer Available Now! - Mark @ 20:57 EST

Thanks goes out to LAVA's Michael Valera for letting us know that LAVA.com's newest product, LAVA! Producer , is now available for sale (US$29.95) via the web from LAVA.com LAVA! Producer is the first authoring tool from LAVA.com that enables artists to construct infinitely unique and stunning 3D Music Video scenes to accompany their songs without the need for software programming skills. Featuring 3D object replacement and object scaling within LAVA! scenes, integration with the Video Blaster WebCam products from Creative Labs, and an 'MP3/MusicVideo3D' locking option, on-line musicians are empowered to create their own digital song packaging to distribute and promote their music over the Internet. LAVA! is a free player that allows music listeners to experience their MP3s accompanied by LAVA! MusicVideos - sophisticated environments of 3D objects, textures, images and messages that dynamically evolve in sync with the music. Using a combination of sophisticated audio analysis and 3D graphics acceleration, LAVA! delivers an interactive audio-visual experience to Internet music enthusiasts and provides a cost effective and highly compact vehicle for musicians to promote and distribute with their music over the Internet. For details on the features of LAVA! producer you can check out this announcement or head to the LAVA Producer link above.

Monsoon MM-700 Review - Mark @ 13:14 EST

Neoseeker has posted a review of Monsoon MM-700 2.1 flat panel speaker system and like most people who have testing this system, they are quite impressed! This is a very nicely written review that you should take the time to check out.

Forum - Mark @ 12:53 EST

Just a quick note that the forum should now be running fine so you can get back to your usual browsing and posting routine and if you don't have a regular routine of checking and/or contributing to the forum then maybe you would like to start one :)

Forum problems - Mikael @ 01:57 EST

If you visit the forum you will probably get the infamous "UBB is a resource hog" message. We are looking into other solutions but for now you can simply click the "Click Here To View Today's Active Topics (all public forums)" that you see right below the 3DSoundSurge logo on the forum entry page .

First Pay TV Operator to Broadcast In Dolby Digital 5.1 - Mikael @ 01:49 EST

Starz Encore Group became the first pay TV programmer to offer standard definition digital cable subscribers movie programming in the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio format. Unveiled yesterday at the National Association of Broadcasters NAB2000 conference, Starz Encore has made the service available to all cable operators with set-top boxes manufactured by Motorola / General Instrument, Scientific-Atlanta, and Pioneer. Check out the press release if you want to know all the details

Messiah UK Patch - Mikael @ 01:24 EST

This patch fixes the same things released with the US patch from last week. You can download it from 3dfiles where you also find a list of the fixes. If you haven't already bought this DS3D with EAX and A3D 3.0 supporting game you can pick up a copy at Gamestop.

Need for Speed: High Stakes 4.44 Patch - Mikael @ 01:20 EST

EA has released a new patch for the DS3D with EAX supporting Need for Speed: High Stakes. You can grab the patch from 3dfiles where you can find a list of fixes as well.

Wednesday, April 12, 2000

PC-DVD Encore 8X Review - Mark @ 23:21 EST

Techextreme has posted a review of Creative's PC-DVD Encore 8X Kit. This kit use the same excellent Dxr3 decoder that we review in our Encore 6X review along with a faster DVD drive.
News Source: Anandtech

MidiLand S4 7100 and ADS 2000 Review - Mark @ 22:57 EST

Gamefan has posted a review of the MidiLand S4-7100 combined with the MidiLand ADS-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. Just to be clear, these are not bundled together with the ADS-2000 costing an additional $99 over and above the speakers (as it noted in their review). A few comments. First they are confused about the 4.1 mode of the ADS-2000. It still can be Dolby Digital in 4.1 mode and even in 2.1 mode. Dolby Prologic and Prologic mode is something all together different (and also supported by the ADS-2000). It also seems like they "misused" the decoder for games as its really only useful for games that have Dolby Prologic or Dolby Digital encoding. Games with 3D sound are best off not sent through the decoder and when it comes to a sound card with 4 speaker output you should connect the sound card directly to the S4-7100 which offers the very nice feature of being able to switch between 5.1 and 4.0 inputs (as well as 2.0 and Dolby Prologic mode). There is also one rather odd observations about how enabling A3D with Dolby Digital Surround cut the frame rate nearly in half. That clearly has nothing to do with Dolby Digital or the decoder and is simply the impact of enabling A3D on their system. Still on the topic of the decoder, they note that other similar units cost twice as much and don't have a COAX and Optical output. I would challenge anyone to show me a hardware Dolby Digital decoder that does not have either a COAX or Optical input ;) I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they meant that some decoders costing twice as much don't have both a COAX and Optical input on the same unit. In the end I pretty much agree with the assessment of the 7100 quality which is quite good but not great with midrange the bigger bugaboo for me. I also thing the ADS-2000 is a great performer that's all the more impressive when you consider the $99 price tag Look for full separate reviews of both systems from us in the next week or two.
News Source: AGNHardware

Logitech SoundMan X2 Review - Mark @ 18:49 EST

3D Alpha has posted a review of Logitech's SoundMan X2 2.1 speaker system. This is an entry level ($99.95) system and the reviewer comes at it from a rather odd perspective IMO as they compare the system to a stand alone home theatre receiver with a 4.1 speaker setup which won't give you too much context to know how it compares to other multimedia speaker systems on the market. That being said it's still worth a read to get some performance impressions of the system.

Win a Sound Blaster Live! Platinum - Mark @ 12:34 EST

Just a reminder that Creative Labs is sponsoring a contest where (if you live in North America) you can win a Sound Blaster Live!Platinum if you click on the banner on top of the page. Even if you already have another good sound card you might want to enter the Live contest as you can either run two sound card (e.g. Vortex 2 and Live) or take the excellent software bundle and give the card to a friend! If you don't see the Creative Labs banner you can refresh the page a couple times or click this link instead. You will also find some other info about Creative Labs products on that page.

Thomson to Introduce Thin-Panel Stratified Field Speaker Technology - Mark @ 09:55 EST

Micro-bookshelf executive audio systems from THOMSON multimedia will soon feature thin-panel speakers, the first application of electrostatic speaker technology for the company's RCA and THOMSON brand names. SFT is a patents-pending thin-panel speaker technology that, according to the press release, offers superior performance over conventional loudspeakers in an easily manufactured ultra-thin form factor. Lightweight SFT is not constrained by height, width, or curvature limitations and can be included in a wide variety of commercial and consumer audio and Home Theater applications. The design potential is virtually unlimited, as these high fidelity speakers can literally be molded into virtually any shape, size, or form. For some more details and several quotes check out the full press release.

MidiLand S4-8200 Review - Mark @ 08:06 EST

Anandtech has posted a nice review of MidiLand's top of the line S4-8200 Dolby Digital 5.1 system. The system uses the same Dolby Digital decoder as Videologic's original DigiTheatre systems (which despite what you may see in the Anandtech review does not have DTS capabilities. That's only in VideoLogic's new DigiTheatre DTS system, which uses a new decoder.) and its also the same decoder that MidiLand is selling separately for $99 under then name of ADS-2000. When it comes to the ADS-2000 controls, its also worth noting that the bass control only affects bass management on the front left and right channels (and is simply selecting between large and small speaker modes). The bass from the center, and left and right surround channels is always directed to the subwoofer and of course the LFE channel is also always directed to the subwoofer. When used with the S4-8200 it effectively enables and disables effective bass response because the S4-8200 is working in small speaker mode and because so many bass heavy effects in movies seem to be directed to the front left and right channels. The review describes mid-range & treble as being very similar to the S4 7100 satellites which IMO are good but not great. However, the 8200 sats do use a bigger driver and different cabinet design so they would definitely produce a somewhat different sound than the 7100s and it's quite possible they also produce a more neutral sound. The Anandtech review also notes that the 8200 subwoofer is an excellent performer so it should all add up to a great addition to the Dolby Digital multimedia lineup which is what they conclude in awarding them their gold medal. For all the details check out the full review.

Videologic Sirocco Pro Review! - Mikael @ 01:59 EST

VideoLogic have very quickly established themselves as one of the premier manufactures of multimedia speakers. With the Sirocco Pro, VideoLogic has taken another, or maybe we should say several, steps up on the price and hopefully quality ladder with a SRP of o549 (inc. VAT UK)/US $899. The system includes two speakers, one amplifier with a 24 bit 96 kHz DAC and one subwoofer. It's still PC targeted and designed primarily as either desktop speakers or near-field monitors but the primary target group is home studios and PC-based musicians rather than gamers. Just like the other Sirocco speakers the Sirocco Pro uses drivers from the highly renowned French firm, Audax. However, the Pro uses Audax's High Definition Aerogel cones instead of the paper fiber cones used in the other Sirocco systems. The tweeters have also been upgraded to high-performance textile dome units with high power neodymium magnets and ferrofluid cooling! In this review we take a very in-depth look at the system to find out if these advanced features actually make a significant difference for your ears or just for your wallet :).

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

New TeamSound Released - Mark @ 23:20 EST

A new version (version 4.5) of the game voice communication program, TeamSound, has been released.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Aureal Names New Directors and Chief Operating Officer - Mark @ 22:56 EST

Aureal today announced the appointment of two new Directors and a Chief Operating Officer. Kenneth Liang and Gloria Noh were appointed as Directors of the company. Steve Mitchell has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Mitchell previously was Director of Human Resources for Aureal and a member of the former executive team. I would like to take that as a positive step but as you likely know, when Aureal announced the resignation of all Executive Officers and senior staff members in March they at the same time noted that they were seeking replacement or turnaround management and were considering all necessary actions to either sell the Company or its assets or wind down the Company. Then earlier this month they announced that they had has filed a petition for relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code with the Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, California in an effort to facilitate a reorganization of their financial affairs.
Thanks to Wood Powell for the pointer.

Philips & Liberate Team to Demonstrate the Future of MPEG-4 for Digital TV Set-Top Boxes - Mark @ 08:16 EST

Philips Electronics and Liberate Technologies have announced a collaborative MPEG-4-based solution that delivers audio and video services from the Internet to the living room via the television. Philips will host its first demonstrations of an MPEG-4-enabled set-top box at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB 2000, April 10-13) at the Philips Booth. MPEG-4, an ISO standard, provides highly efficient audio and video compression optimized for the Internet. MPEG-4 goes beyond compression of audio and video by offering object-based encoding, graphics support, dual audio encoding and enhanced scalability. For more details on what they will be demonstrating and where to see it you can check out the full press release.

Sony Music Entertainment To Debut Commercial Music Downloads - Mark @ 08:12 EST

Sony Music Entertainment announced yesterday that it will debut commercial downloads of singles starting late April. Consumers will be able to select and purchase the tracks they choose from retail websites through Alliance Entertainment, Hastings Entertainment and Tower Records. Over 50 popular hit songs such as Mary Chapin Carpenter's ``Almost Home'' (Columbia Nashville), Elvis Crespo's ``Suavamente'' (Sony Discos), Celine Dion's ``It's All Coming Back to Me Now'' (Epic/550 Music), Lauryn Hill's ``Everything is Everything'' (Columbia), Jennifer Lopez's ``Waiting for Tonight'' (WORK), Shawn Mullin's ``Lullaby'' (Columbia) and Pearl Jam's ``Animal'' (Epic) will be offered in the roll out. The songs, which will be formatted for playback on the Microsoft Windows Media Player with an ATRAC3 plug-in, can then be transferred from the user's hard drive to compatible SDMI-compliant portable devices currently on the market. Reciprocal, which worked with SME to design the system, will provide the digital rights management, clearinghouse and transaction services. SME plans to expand the system in the near future to offer additional secure formats which will be compatible with SDMI-compliant devices expected to be available later this spring. For more details and some quotes you can check out the full press release.

Lucas Goes Digital for Next Star Wars Film - Mikael @ 04:07 EST

Not directly audio related but still interesting. I read in an article at Yahoo that George Lucas said most of the live-action scenes for ``Episode II'' will be shot using six digital, high-definition camcorders instead of film cameras. Lucas made the decision after trial runs with a prototype camera made by Sony and Panavision. ``Episode II'' begins shooting in June in Australia.

5GB MP3 Player review - Mikael @ 03:47 EST

Tech-Review has posted a review of the PJB-100 Portable MP3 Player which features amazingly 5 GB of storage using a hard drive. The hard drive means it uses moveable parts but with a 10 MB of buffer you are unlikely to notice any skipping. With a price tag of $750 it's probably a bit too expensive for most people.
News Source: Anandtech

3D Audio article - Mikael @ 02:41 EST

Tweak3D has posted an 8 page article about 3D audio/surround sound covering stereo expansion, Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital 5.1, A3D, DS3D, HRTF, cross-talk cancellation, reverb, EAX and I3DL2. Pretty good overall but still think it's worth to offer the following clarifications, corrections and comments:

1. It's currently no soundcard that down mix the AC-3 signals to 4-speaker, it's done by the DVD player.
   
2. It's the encoding not decoding of DTS and AC3 that will tax the CPU too much.
   
3. Some games use Dolby Prologic for interactive positioning.
   
4. It's up to the game if they want to use DS3D's software 3D engine or just simply stereo panning. The software 3D engine is only available when you use WDM drivers.
   
5. The article mix up API and 3D sound engines. Sensaura and Q3D is just 3D sound engines at the moment. Sensaura's upcoming ZoomFX is an API extension to DS3D.
   
6. Aureal's 3D sound engine is also used in games that support DS3D which also mean that DS3D without any extension can sound just great. A3D 2/3 is stand alone APIs and while they are similar to DS3D when it comes to positioned it doesn't sit on top of DS3D.
   
7. The Live uses its own 3D sound engine using HRTF not just acceleration of DS3D's 3D software engine. I can also add I think it's better than the Vortex 2 when it comes to 4-speakers.
   
8. Vortex 1 handles A3D2 and A3D3, but not reflections.
   
9. Sensaura's technology is not really more maturing than any other 3D sound engine. For more about Sensaura check out our article
   
10. QSound's Q3D is quite different than A3D when it comes to speakers since it doesn't use HRTF. For more about QSound check out our article.
    
11. I3DL1 defined positional audio and in I3DL2 reverb and occlusion was added. I think you should consider both to be APIs. DS3D is basically I3DL1 while the additions in I3DL2 is very similar to EAX 2.0

Monday, April 10, 2000

MidiLand MLi490 Review - Mark @ 20:59 EST

3D Audio Immersion has posted a review of MidiLand's very economical 4.1 system called the MLi490. The system lists for $99 yet sports a total of 70 watts RMS and a subwoofer with a 6.5 inch driver and a separate optional LFE input! Those are impressive specs for an inexpensive system but numbers never tell the whole story. For the rest of the positive story check out the 3DAI review.

Have An Eargasm! - Mark @ 20:46 EST

Here is an announcement we got from Guillemot:

Guillemot is excited to announce "The Eargasm" contest. A whole lot of audio-related prizes are up for grabs, including ISIS cards, DVD players, and speaker sets. All you have to do is follow the link to the contest, answer the questionnaire and you could be walking away with some GREAT prizes. Check it out!

MidiLand ADS-2000 Review - Mark @ 20:39 EST

Hardware Central has posted a review of MidiLand's ADS-2000 Dolby Digital/ProLogic decoder. Other than a couple of points that I will note below this is a nicely done review. When it comes to gaming they note that you should "sure you use the Digital input, as the Analog input will only utilize the two front channels, eliminating any A3D or EAX effects.". EAX effects (as in reverb) are not affected by the ADS-2000 regardless of whether or not you connect to the unit in analog or digital mode, but DS3D or A3D signals are misinterpreted by the unit as Dolby Prologic encoding creating some odd rear channel effects. As the reviewer notes, you really are much better off just bypassing the ADS-2000 when you are gaming unless you are playing a game that only uses Dolby encoding of some sort (usually just for sound tracks and ambient sounds).

When it comes to music, some people do like the surround effects created by music's natural ambience but its a matter of taste. Of more importance is the fact that concert DVDs are becoming more common and they do sound quite impressive compared to the normal stereo siblings. The other important point that was overlooked by the review is the ADS-2000 requires that you have a separate subwoofer input to take full advantage of the system. Most so called 4.1 systems on the market do not actually have a separate subwoofer input. The ADS-2000 can be configured to send full frequencies to the front left and right speakers (called large speaker mode) but the center channel, and the left and right surrounds are always in small speaker mode which means the low frequencies are filtered out by the ADS-2000 and sent via the LFE output, along with the actual LFE effects. This means that signals to the left and right surround channels will lack bass and the LFE effects will be totally missing when used with systems like the ProMedia and FPS2000 that lack a separate LFE input. Its something to keep in mind when you are considering the ADS-2000. Having said that, my early impressions are you can get away with that setup as a lot of the heavy action seems center around the front left and right channels, and the LFE channel in movies I have tested with is not used to any great advantage so you are not missing a lot in that regard. Regardless, the ADS-2000 is a great unit for $99 and you can get lots more details from the Hardware Central Review.
News Source: GA-Hardware

Spatializer Audio Laboratories, Inc. Reports 652% Increase In Fourth Quarter Revenues and Record Profitability - Mark @ 19:51 EST

Spatializer Audio Laboratories, Inc. late last month announced significantly improved operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 1999. Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999 increased to $684,000 compared to $91,000 in the comparable period last year, an increase of 652%. Net Income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 1999 was $308,000, $0.01 per share, compared to a net loss of ($2,655,000), ($0.11) per share in the prior year.
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 1999 were $1,660,000, compared to $1,680,000 in the prior year, a decrease of 1%. Net Income for the year ended December 31, 1999 was $355,000, $0.01 per share compared to a net loss of ($5,792,000), ($0.29) per share in the prior year. For lots more details you can check out the press release. Thanks to Lazcw for the pointer.

Sonique 1.51 Released - Mark @ 14:35 EST

Yes another new version (1.51) of Sonique has been released. Sonique is an audio player supporting many different formats including MP3 and according to Sonique it's the best MP3 decoder available. I have not tried it yet so not sure exactly if it's really much difference compared to Winamp but if you download it you can judge for yourself and let us know your views, one way or another, in the forum. According to the official site, the 1.51 release fixes some bugs in the original 1.5 release (choppy sound / streaming problems) and also boosts performance a little. This version also includes French, Dutch, German and Brazilian Portuguese language files.
News Source: Blue's News

Labtec LCS-2414 Review - Mark @ 14:30 EST

GG8.com has posted a review of Labtec's in expensive LCS-2414 2.1 speaker system. Not a bad review but some of the sound quality descriptions come across as a little too positive for a sub $50 system. What I think they are trying to get across is it sounds great for the price which is all we can ask for.
News Source: Blue's News

New StrangeUtil Release - Mark @ 14:13 EST

Strange Company has just released a new version StrangeUtil which is their sound distribution program for Machinima and mod makers. This new version fixes a major bug, now allowing StrangeUtil to be used with Quake III: Arena. Here's a snip from their site:

StrangeUtil allows film-makers and mod makers using Quake, Quake II, Quake III or Half-Life to compress their sound files as MP3 files, and then decompress them on installation, giving a total space saving of around 90% over .WAV file distribution.

DirectMusic Producer Article - Mark @ 07:51 EST

Microsoft has posted an article called DirectMusic Producer Version 7.0: New Features for Creating Interactive Audio Content. Its targeted at composers and sound designers but it will likely have a broader interest to some. Here is a snip from the introduction:

DirectMusic Producer, the authoring tool for DirectMusic, included in the recent release of DirectX 7.0, has a number of new features that enhance and streamline both the technical and the artistic process of creating interactive audio content. The purpose of this article is to highlight a few of these new features and look at how composers and sound designers can take advantage of them.

News from April 3-9, 2000

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