Dolby Digital Live Backwards compatible?

[systemlines]

I apologize if my question is of the basic variety but I was wondering if DDLive was backwards compatible with standard DD and if current and old video game titles would work in straight dolby digital with one of these new cards. So far Im looking at the turtlebeach... thanks for any suggestions/answers you might have on this.

 

[Xeero]

a ddl card works with all streams. it doesn't even if the matter if the game isn't surround supported. the encoding will make it dd. this can be a good or bad thing

 

[dandragonrage]

Dolby Digital Live just means it can encode regular sound (PCM) to dolby digital on its way out so you can fit 6 channels over S/PDIF.

 

[needmorecarnitine]

a ddl card works with all streams. it doesn't even if the matter if the game isn't surround supported. the encoding will make it dd. this can be a good or bad thing

I've read similar things before

Why do some games have the Dolby Digital logo while others don't?

 

[griff30]

I've read similar things before

Why do some games have the Dolby Digital logo while others don't?

Some are Dolby Digital certified. Thats all it means. Does NOT mean that it's 5.1. Dolby Digital LIVE means that a sound card can make 2 channel sound into quasi 5.1. I say quasi 5.1 because in some games and movies each channel out of six has different sounds to emulate movement, enviroment change (like someone comming from behind.) But with DDL this is faked and uses the 2 stereo channel to fake 5.1.
Hope that helps make things clear as mud.

 

[needmorecarnitine]

Some are Dolby Digital certified. Thats all it means. Does NOT mean that it's 5.1. Dolby Digital LIVE means that a sound card can make 2 channel sound into quasi 5.1. I say quasi 5.1 because in some games and movies each channel out of six has different sounds to emulate movement, enviroment change (like someone comming from behind.) But with DDL this is faked and uses the 2 stereo channel to fake 5.1.
Hope that helps make things clear as mud.

So what does Dolby Digital certified mean?

Does it just mean they certified that the check cleared?

are you saying that all Dolby Digital certified games are really only 2 channel stereo?

 

[griff30]

So what does Dolby Digital certified mean?

Does it just mean they certified that the check cleared?

are you saying that all Dolby Digital certified games are really only 2 channel stereo?

What Im saying is for a game to be 5.1 it will say 5.1.
My car stereo says dolby digital, and its not 5.1, its 2 channel stereo.
Heck I have a "Dolby" 8 track stereo.
I also have some 4.1 THX speakers they are simply speakers that are approved by the standards set by Lucas' THX labs. The same for Dolby, they approve the speakers.
If it doesn't specifically say "5.1" then it might not be.
Now Dolby Digital Live is 5.1 , it either passes a 5.1 signal or makes one out of a 2 channel source.

 

[needmorecarnitine]

What Im saying is for a game to be 5.1 it will say 5.1.
My car stereo says dolby digital, and its not 5.1, its 2 channel stereo.
Heck I have a "Dolby" 8 track stereo.
I also have some 4.1 THX speakers they are simply speakers that are approved by the standards set by Lucas' THX labs. The same for Dolby, they approve the speakers.
If it doesn't specifically say "5.1" then it might not be.
Now Dolby Digital Live is 5.1 , it either passes a 5.1 signal or makes one out of a 2 channel source.

that doesn't make sense

I haven't seen any games that specifically say "5.1"

They list the Dolby Digital certification. I don't think 5.1 is a trademarked term so why would Dolby use that to inform consumers of thier presence?

and what car stereo do you have that claims Dolby Digital without having 5.1 outputs?

Dolby also has many different products and I have never seen Dolby approve any speakers.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

that doesn't make sense

I haven't seen any games that specifically say "5.1"

They list the Dolby Digital certification. I don't think 5.1 is a trademarked term so why would Dolby use that to inform consumers of thier presence?

and what car stereo do you have that claims Dolby Digital without having 5.1 outputs?

Dolby also has many different products and I have never seen Dolby approve any speakers.

I don't think you're getting it. Dolby Digital is simply a way of translating information. If whatever is playing back the source is capeable of decoding dolby digital, then it's more than possible to have a 2.0, or 2.1 system that can decode it.

DDlive on the other hand does the opposite. It takes whatever the soruce is and encodes it to dolby digital. Of course this means that your speakers (or most often receiver) will have to be able to de-code it as the seperate channels.

You're right, 5.1 isn't trademarked, and dobly does have competition through DTS and Sony's SDDS. However they all work the same in that they use one audio source that is encoded, and then decode it to several different signals. Like HD-DVD, and Blu-ray it's many different standards fighting for supremecy. Most would argue that DTS is the least lossy (as far as I know) but as far as computers are concerend that isn't an option. Likewise you could decode a DTS or SDDS signal with only two speakers, this of course means you're only getting two channels of playback. Hopefully your receiver will at least be able to mix a center channel.

Back to your original question, yes a DDlive card will encode older games into a dolby digital stream. This is provided you use the s/pdif.

 

[systemlines]

After seeing the performance hit your computer takes running the current batch of cards, I had second thoughts. Do you guys think that new bluegears card (jan release) will reduce the amount of cpu cycles used and help improve performance via an onboard processor or something?

 

[UnknownSouljer]

3-5% loss isn't a big deal to me. Basically if you have a 3500+ and a 6800GT or above it shouldn't matter much.
If you want game performance get a Creative labs card, if you want audio fidelity choosing the HDA card, or an EMU card might be a better choice.

There are also a select few on this board whom run both.

 

[Chastity]

If you want game performance get a Creative labs card, if you want audio fidelity choosing the HDA card, or an EMU card might be a better choice.

Have you run all three cards to make this statement?

 

[needmorecarnitine]

I don't think you're getting it. Dolby Digital is simply a way of translating information. If whatever is playing back the source is capeable of decoding dolby digital, then it's more than possible to have a 2.0, or 2.1 system that can decode it.

DDlive on the other hand does the opposite. It takes whatever the soruce is and encodes it to dolby digital. Of course this means that your speakers (or most often receiver) will have to be able to de-code it as the seperate channels.

You're right, 5.1 isn't trademarked, and dobly does have competition through DTS and Sony's SDDS. However they all work the same in that they use one audio source that is encoded, and then decode it to several different signals. Like HD-DVD, and Blu-ray it's many different standards fighting for supremecy. Most would argue that DTS is the least lossy (as far as I know) but as far as computers are concerend that isn't an option. Likewise you could decode a DTS or SDDS signal with only two speakers, this of course means you're only getting two channels of playback. Hopefully your receiver will at least be able to mix a center channel.

Back to your original question, yes a DDlive card will encode older games into a dolby digital stream. This is provided you use the s/pdif.

that wasn't my original question

My question is "What does Dolby Digital certification mean on videogames?"

I suspect the answer is more than "simply a way of translating information". Not every game has the certification and does anyone here know why?

 

[Deleted member 72990]

that wasn't my original question

My question is "What does Dolby Digital certification mean on videogames?"

I suspect the answer is more than "simply a way of translating information". Not every game has the certification and does anyone here know why?

maybe the sounds were sampled better and of higher quality? i dont really know. i like my HDA a lot though.