The Week in Review: May 5-11, 2003

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

Last week's sound news

Drivers and bugs

• New Audigy 1/2 Beta Drivers
  Creative has released beta drivers for Audigy 1/2 series named EAX ADVANCED HD Performance Beta Release. As the name suggests this release is supposed to significantly improve gaming performance. It's mostly intended for the Audigy 1 series but also offers some improvements for Audigy 2 cards. Here's the full what's new list:

  Sound Blaster Audigy Specific

  • Sound Blaster Audigy performance increased by 10%-15% for EAX ADVANCED HD
  • Number of simultaneous voices has been doubled from 32 to 64

  Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy 2 Benefits

  • Reverb presets setting by game audio engine is now on average 10X faster
  • EAX Morphing performance enhanced, typically yielding a 2X improvement in framerates for morphed sections.

  You can grab them from Tom's Hardware

• New Audigy 2 Drivers/Apps
  Creative Labs Asian site now also offer new WHQL drivers and apps (MediaSource DVD-Audio Player v1.00.82 and Creative MediaSource 1.01.09) for the Audigy 2 series. Not sure if the performance enhancements in the beta release is included with this but they do mention EAX 3 performance enhancements. Also seen reports the driver version is slightly later (beta release 381 this one 383). Thanks to John Bugailiskis for the pointer.

   

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War For Xbox Shipping
  Activision has announced that id Software(TM)'s Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War(TM) for the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft is now available at retail outlets nationwide. The game features support for Dolby 5.1 audio.
  News Source: Press Release

• New Chaser Demo
  Version 1.30 of Cauldron's demo of the upcoming science fiction first-person shooter "Chaser" is now available on the Chaser Website. Updates include a fix for problems with not playing some sounds when EAX is turned on.

• New World Order Patch
  A new (v1.41) patch for New World Order has been released.

• River Media Center 9.0 Software Released
  J. River Media Center™ 9.0 software was released today, enabling users to organize and experience all their media, including music, photos, and video through a single Windows program. This complete digital lifestyle tool supports most popular hardware products, including the Apple® iPod™, and the TiVo™ Home Media Option. Media Center competes directly with Windows XP Media Center Edition PC and enables full control over media organization and playback in one package with more sophisticated personalization than ever before.

  For further details and download links you can check out the full press release.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1
  ExtremeTech has posted a mixed review of the Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1, a VIA Envy24-based soundcard. They found it to have great potential and some novel options but were unhappy with the number of bugs present in the shipping drivers. Thanks to Rusk Reeder for the pointer

• Plextor PX-504A DVD+RW
  A new review of Plextor PX-504a DVD+RW Drive has been posted on Blynk.net. They found it to perform very well and only complaints except lack of DVD-R/RW compatibility is the rather high price.

  Tech Connect has also posted a positive review of this drive. They found the quality and especially the bundle to be the strong points of this drive rather than speed.

  Another new review of the Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW Drive is online. This one is from mikhailtech where they find the unit to be both a fast reader and a fast writer on route to an overall positive conclusion.

• Lite-On LSC-24081MX USB 2.0 CD-RW/DVD-ROM
  CDR Labs has posted a review of Lite-On LSC-24081MX 24/12/24/8 USB 2.0 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive. They found it to be one of the fastest portable combo drives available.

• Muffled Computing PC Silencer System
  SubZeroTech has taken a very negative look at a number of products from Muffled Computing, all of which share the goal of quieter computing. Specifically they look at three different "fan mufflers" designed for varying applications, as well as two varieties of sound dampening mats. Check it out...

Other sound news

• VIA Releases Stylus Audio Driver Integrating Sensaura Technology
  VIA has announced the new high performance Stylus Audio Driver delivering enhanced performance for all customers of the VIA Vinyl Six-TRAC (VT1616) Audio solution. As part of VIA's comprehensive Vinyl Audio strategy, the new Stylus Audio Driver will be offered with all motherboards integrating the VIA Six-TRAC, and as a free upgrade for existing Six-TRAC customers. The addition of Sensaura technology integrated into the Stylus driver will boost support for the latest multi-channel games, and enable advanced 3D sound positioning technology.

  For more details including download information you can check out the full press release.

• Creative Introduces Portable USB Sound Blaster Sound Systems
  Creative Technology has announced the Sound Blaster® MP3+ and Sound Blaster Go! portable USB Sound Blaster sound systems. The compact, portable Sound Blaster MP3+, slated for availability this month, is priced at only US$59.99 and the Sound Blaster Go! is priced at US$79.99 and is slated for availability in July. You can find more details in the press release.

• Creative Technology Announces Q3 Results
  Creative Technology has announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2003, ended March 31, 2003. Sales for the third quarter were $160.6 million, in line with the Company's guidance. This compares to sales of $193.4 million for the same quarter of last year. Creative achieved net income for the third quarter of $4.8 million. This compares to last year's third quarter net income of $15.2 million.

  "Based on strong sales of our PDE products including our Nomad® MP3 players and Webcams, we were able to achieve our guidance for revenue and EPS in a challenging quarter for the retail market," said Craig McHugh, president of Creative Labs, Inc. "The sales from our PDE products were up more than 80% from the previous year and helped offset declines in our low end sound card business. Overall, sales of our products that are outside the PC represented more than 50% of revenues in the period." You can find more details in the full press release.

• USB Headphone Amplifier/Audio Card Introduced
  Burning Blue Audio is introducing the PowerPak, the first USB-powered and USB-controlled headphone amplifier / audio card. The PowerPak takes digital audio and converts it to an analog signal. It then amplifies the audio specifically for headphone usage. The device is completely USB-powered. So, there is no need for batteries or an AC adapter. To ensure high-quality sound, the PowerPak uses a digital-analog converter (DAC) designed specifically for high quality headphone amplification. The device bypasses internal computer sound cards, and as a result, all analog audio processing stays outside of the electrically noisy computer enclosure.

  The PowerPak is now available for $149. For additional details you can check out the full press release.

• Toshiba Introduces New DVD-Video Players
  At its annual Dealer Line Show, Toshiba America Consumer Products unveiled its comprehensive lineup of new DVD products designed to satisfy the market's fast-growing demand for superior quality DVD entertainment. Among the highlights, Toshiba has expanded its already broad range of DVD products and feature sets with the industry's first ergonomically and fashionably designed portable DVD player (SD-P1200), a new DVD-Audio model (SD-4900), a combination DVD/DVR product with TiVo basic service included (SD- H400) and a Super MultiDrive DVD recorder (D-R1). You can find more details in the press release. You can also check out the following press releases for more detailed info:
  • Toshiba's DVD/VCR Combination Players Bring Consumers Convenience and Flexibility in One Home Entertainment Unit
  • Toshiba to Offer New DVD/DVR Digital Home Media Server with TiVo Service
  • Toshiba Announces Nationwide Availability Of New Portable DVD Player Models
  • Toshiba Demonstrates New DVD Home Theater System

• Bill Black Provides A Professional Voice For Gamers
  Bill Black, whose credits include Black Hawk Down - is an independent sound effects designer and voice over producer based in Hollywood dedicated exclusively to servicing the video game industry. After being repeatedly contracted in the early 90’s by Activision for consultation on MIDI implementation for games, Bill Black started his own company, providing consultation and sound effects design and voiceover direction, casting and production for game developers and publishers. You can read more about Bill Black and his company in the full press release.

Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurge

• Reviews that we are currently working on:
  Updated Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury and GameTheaterXP reviews
  Hercules Fortissimo II
  Terratec DMX Xfire 1024
  CMedia CM8738 Reference Review
  Full Audigy Review
  Full Philips MMS305 Review
  
• There are several other hardware reviews in the pipeline including, but not limited to the following:
  Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE
  Terratec m3po
  DigMedia MusicStore
  Philips Seismic Edge
  Lots of other stuff on the go in including several guides and major site revisions that we will soon be releasing more details on.
  

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