On 7th September 2000, Mark Muschett from 3DsoundSurge postead an interesting piece of news from one of their readers pointing them to some links on buy.com for some unreleased Creative products that include 2 new 5.1 Sound Blaster cards and the Cambridge SoundWorks Desktop Theater speaker systems. Here's the full cut of that news posting:
We still don't have any official details but the cat is officially out of the bag now so we will post what we have. By officially out of the bag, I mean the new products are showing up in wholesale catalogues and at online retailers such as buy.com, with pricing, but without specifications. Specifically we are talking about the Desktop Theater DTT3500 Digital 5 Satellites Subwoofer Decoder BX, the SoundWorks Playworks PS2000 Digital Speaker SubWoofer (which is one we do officially know about), the SoundBlaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1 and the SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1. Thanks to 703 for the pointer. What we have in addition to this thanks to some serious digging by an anonymous outside source is the new soundblasters have an ETA of around the end of this month and as you would gather from the new names, the SB Live lineup is being updated with onboard 5.1 support (6 channels of analog output from the card). They also had news of a product called the PC-DVD Ovation which apparently is a cost effective DVD solution using software decoding. We will hopefully have an offical update sometime soon on these products.
This news set me thinking. What can Creative do to enhance the existing Sound Blaster Live! platform for 5.1 sound? How would it enhance current applications like games and DVD playback? How would the card be able to output the extra channels of sound?
It's Time For A New Sound Blaster!
For the past 2 years since Creative introduced the first Sound Blaster Live! in September 1998, they have refreshed the product line a year later in September 1999 with the Platinum, X-Gamer, MP3+ and Player models. Now it is September 2000, so I believe that we are in the midst of the time frame where the next range of sound cards and speaker systems would be released. Moreover, the Japanese versions were already announced! Expect product announcements very very soon!
What's The Big Deal About 5.1?
Now that many users have come to expect 4-channel sound from their PC, especially enthusiasts and hard-core gamers, it is time to take the next logical step in the evolution of sound cards. Other companies like VideoLogic and Philips have already introduced their 5.1 sound cards. Creative would not be left behind, would they?!
What exactly makes 5.1 better than existing 4-channel sound cards? The most significant change is the addition of a center channel. With the center channel, the front soundstage is expanded. Sounds from movies make use of the center channel to localize dialogue and on-screen sound effects, while using the other speakers for ambience, music and surround effects. This could translate very well when used for games that support 3D sound, and playback of Dolby Digital encoded material on the PC.
A typical 5.1 home theater setup. (image Copyright Dolby Laboratories Inc.)
It would be very difficult to visualize the added benefit of a center speaker and how crucial it is in a home theater setup without hearing it for yourself. If you have access to a home theater system, have a go at a simple comparison test!
5.1 On The Sound Blaster
There are a few methods Creative can use to introduce 5.1 to the Sound Blaster. Here, I'll speculate on some of the more possible methods that may be implemented.
Method 1: Discrete 5.1 Output
Creative could go the way of manufacturers like VideoLogic by adding another stereo line-out at the back of the sound card to provide a center and LFE/subwoofer channel output. (Creative may opt to drop the LFE channel and rely on the speaker system's crossover circuits to do the job, for a 5.0 solution.)
With this method, the card needs to be paired with custom designed speakers to output the full 5 or 6 channels of sound from the sound card. These speakers will not need 5.1 decoders because every channel is connected one-to-one to the sound card using separate/discrete analog outputs.
2nd Generation
CT-4760 Card
Crammed!
Removing Old Connections
The back of the Sound Blaster Live! is already very crammed, especially the 2nd generation of cards that come with the yellow minijack digital output. Certain connections would have to be removed to make way for an extra output for the center and LFE/subwoofer channels. The joystick port, line-in, mic-in or the minijack digital output are likely candidates.
In the new Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 cards (model SB0060 - click here for a big image), the minijack digital output was removed and replaced with a center/subwoofer out.
> 
> Live!Drives & Break Out Boxes
Another way to cater for more outputs would be to bundle a break-out-box or module with the jacks on an external device. This will definitely increase production costs, so its very unlikely that such break-out-boxes will come bundled at all, or perhaps only with the high-end Platinum version.
Or maybe we'll see a Live!Drive with IR port and a cool remote control, like the Japanese Sound Blaster Live! Platinum Plus.
Method 2: Extending The Mini-DIN
The Sound Blaster Live! is able to provide 4 SPDIF outputs, with each SPDIF output carrying a digital stereo signal. In current 4-channel models, only 2 of these SPDIF outputs are used - one to carry the front left and right channels, and the other for the rear left and right channels. Creative would most probably enhance the Mini-DIN to provide another SPDIF output to carry the center and LFE channels.
With this method, even existing Sound Blaster Live! cards are able to output a 5.1 channel signal through the Mini-DIN output, although they are lacking the extra analog output (for the center channel) that may be included with the new 5.1 Sound Blaster.
If Creative does use this method, existing Sound Blaster Live! owners do not need to upgrade to a 5.1 Sound Blaster. All that is needed is a digital I/O card that sports the Mini-DIN output, and a pair of 5.1 speakers that supports the Mini-DIN output including the 3rd SPDIF signal. These speakers would most likely be available from Cambridge SoundWorks.
Method 1 & 2: 5.1 Decoding Issues
Both methods require the sound card to place sounds in the respective speaker channels (front left, center, front right, rear left, or rear right) outputs, before sending the sound from each speaker via discrete analog or digital outputs. Therefore, no decoder is required on the speaker system itself, unlike Dolby Digital multimedia speakers like the Desktop Theater range from Cambridge SoundWorks and VideoLogic's DigiTheatre systems, which are required to decode 1 SPDIF digital signal into 6 (5.1) channels of sound.
By using discrete outputs, everything is done on the sound card and CPU, thus bringing down the costs of the speakers, making this method a more cost effective solution for consumers.
Method 3: Dolby Digital Output
An alternative method to output 5.1 channels to a speaker system is to use the industry standard Dolby Digital system. This would require the card and/or drivers to encode all the sounds from each of the 6 channels, before sending them to speakers via a single SPDIF Dolby Digital output.
The obvious advantage of this implementation is that common Dolby Digital AV receivers would be able to accept and playback all 5.1 channels from the Sound Blaster through a single SPDIF digital connection.
On the other hand, many of us who do not have full-fledged home theater setups beside our PCs may feel the pinch, as multimedia speakers with built in Dolby Digital decoders tend to cost more than other speakers that do not come with decoders.
In addition, Creative will have to license the Dolby Digital encoding algorithm from Dolby Laboratories, which would mean addition costs. We also do not know if the EMU10K1 used in current Sound Blaster Live! cards is able to handle Dolby Digital encoding in real-time.
Alternatively, Creative may have a new EMU DSP to handle Dolby Digital on the 5.1 Sound Blaster. If this is true, then the new DSP may even be able to do on-board MP3 decoding!
Which Would You Choose?
To benefit from the new 5.1 Sound Blasters, you would need to buy a new pair of speakers, especially if you do not have an AV amplifier with discrete 5.1 inputs.
Method Output Format
1 Discrete 6-channel analog output (3 stereo outputs through stereo minijacks)
2 Discrete 6-channel digital output (1 Mini-DIN connection)
3 Dolby Digital 6-channel 5.1 output (1 Dolby Digital SPDIF connection)
Discrete outputs or Dolby Digital output?
Many of our readers have actually been requesting for Dolby Digital 5.1 output in our wish list ever since Live!Surround was introduced. Live!Surround only provided a Dolby Surround/ProLogic-compatible output that had a mono surround channel.
In my opinion, the 3rd method utilizing a Dolby Digital output is highly unlikely considering the costs of implementation. Creative would most likely go with a combination of the first and second methods.
The first method would require a speaker system that has discrete 5.1 inputs to playback all the channels provided by the sound card. The second method would require the speakers to support a Mini-DIN input.
Judging from the way Creative has included both discrete analog inputs for their FourPointSurround and Desktop Theater speakers, as well as a Mini-DIN input for power users, the new speakers would most likely have 5 or 6 channel discrete analog inputs and a Mini-DIN input as well.
5.1 For Movies
The only source for movies in 5.1 on the PC are DVDs encoded in Dolby Digital or DTS. The new cards would most probably continue the existing capability to output the Dolby Digital or DTS signal directly through a SPDIF output.
The current generation of Sound Blaster Live! cards output the Dolby Digital signal through the front SPDIF channels, thereby killing any Mini-DIN or SPDIF output whenever a DVD Player application like WinDVD or PowerDVD is loaded. This effectively, disables the front outputs from all the sound sources available in the mixer, including wave audio, CD audio and others.
There are 2 unused SPDIF signals on the EMU10K1 that can be used for this purpose, I wonder why the front SPDIF signal was chosen. With the new cards, I hope Creative has moved the Dolby Digital output to another SPDIF signal.
DVD Playback
A software DVD player would definitely be included with the new cards. The bigger question is: How would Dolby Digital decoding be implemented? Would it be done on-board by the DSP chip, or would it eat up CPU cycles by software decoding?
Since software DVD players need to licence Dolby Digital to playback DVDs encoded in that format, Creative would most probably go the software decoding route, thus eliminating the need to redesign a new DSP or reprogram the EMU10K1, and yet sell loads of these 5.1 sound cards!
My guess is that either WinDVD is bundled, since it was bundled with other Creative products like the GeForce cards, or Creative may have combined the WinDVD or other software DVD player's code into the new PlayCenter 2.
PlayCenter 2
5.1 For Games
Besides the proprietary A3D positioning API, Microsoft's DirectSound3D would be the API used by game developers to position sound in a 3D space. The current generation of Sound Blaster cards are able to do this with 4 speakers, as well as producing virtual surround for 2 speakers and headphones.
These new cards would most probably support the center speaker when positing sounds that are in front of the listener for a more accurate and wider front soundstage that is spread across 3 speakers.
After watching so many movies on a home theater system with all the dialogue and on-screen action coming directly from a center speaker perched on top of the TV screen, it was uncomfortable to go back to only left and right channels for games on my PC!
5.1 would be a welcomed improvement for DirectSound3D gaming!
5.1 For Stereo Sources
Music from CDs, MP3s and games without 3D sound support may not be specially mixed for 5.1 but current home theater receivers do provide several DSP processing aptly named "hall" or "club" to add ambience and spread the sound to all 6 (5.1) speakers, very much like what EAX does for 2 channels.
I wonder if the new cards would be able to do this. It would be a great improvement over the method used by current Sound Blaster Live! cards. They simply mirror the front channels to the rear, so what comes out in front, also comes out from behind at the same volume level. Not very satisfying!
Possible Products
Expect to see a revamped line of products that follows closely to Creative's successful strategy of diverging their product lines with a product for high-end systems (like the current Platinum cards), to the more afforable solutions (seen in the Player, X-Gamer and MP3+ packages).
We may also see new peripherals like an improved Live!Drive or break-out-box with Dolby Digital and discrete 5.1 analog inputs, especially if they back of the card gets too squeezy, a break-out-box may be mandatory.
Also expect speakers from Cambridge SoundWorks to match the 5.1 output implementation that Creative chooses, like the reported Desktop Theater DTT3500 that appeared in online retailers like buy.com.
Software Updates
The DirectSound3D driver will need to be updated to support the center speaker. Hopefully the EAX algorithms will also be updated to support more advanced DSP processing across 5.1 channels that I have described in 5.1 For Stereo Sources.
There would also be an enhanced speaker applet that controls the 5.1 output of the new cards. There is a bass redirection feature for the LFE/subwoofer channel, and individual volume controls for the center and subwoofer channels.
For the first time, we would be able to hear the lady go "center channel" during the speaker test!
Мдя видимо я погорячился - про креатив 5.1 -- FOXTREE -- 16.10.00@13:33 (Чит.: 132)