# What is the Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect Pack?



## EastCoasthandle (Apr 29, 2009)

I came across this information from Creative and thought this was something everyone had with a X-Fi sound card.
Source.  They want a few $ to download this software.


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## novacheck (Apr 29, 2009)

I use the software myself.  It encodes your PC's audio into an AC-3 source, and routes it out of your spdif out, so you can hook your pc up to your home reciever and enjoy multichannel audio from your pc using either an optical cable, or digital coax.  Very good software.


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 29, 2009)

You mean like AC3Filter?


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## novacheck (Apr 29, 2009)

Something like that.  If you have ever looked into Redocnexk, an encoder for KX drivers, it is very similar also.  I have my pc hooked up to my home theater, so when I play a game, crysis for example, I will get the multichannel sound sent to my reciever.  Whereas, without the encoder, you will only get 2 channel sound out of your spdif output.


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 29, 2009)

Oh, I see.  Thanks


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## novacheck (Apr 29, 2009)

No problem, hope it helps.  I have to say, though, that it was worth the money for me.  But, if you aren't hooked up to a dolby digital reciever through spdif, you won't be able to use it for anything.  If you have a receiver that has multi-channel inputs, you can hook your sound card straight to those inputs, and not have to worry.


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## Nomgle (May 11, 2009)

novacheck said:


> I have to say, though, that it was worth the money for me.


Me too - for $5, it's absolutely *awesome* ! 

I used to use a DTS-610 to encode the analogue outputs from my card into digital DTS in realtime, to pass to my receiver (it has no multichannel analogue inputs - so surround sound has to come from DD or DTS) - but now there's no need for the analogue step


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## Darren (May 11, 2009)

I never understand these party tricks and workarounds that involve giving Creative additional money. Heck Creative shouldn't be selling a DD Live/DTS connect software package, it should be a part of the X-FIs sound cards features to begin with 


..how can creative justify their customers spending $5 more for a feature that is expected?

I refuse to line Creatives pockets further, my Auzentech X-merderian gives one all the Dolby Digital Live as part of a standard feature.


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## Nomgle (May 11, 2009)

Darren said:


> Heck Creative shouldn't be selling a DD Live/DTS connect software package, it should be a part of the X-FIs sound cards features to begin with


I'm not sure what you mean by this.
Years ago, when I bought my X-Fi, there was no mention of it being able to encode DD or DTS. At that time there were only a tiny number of audio solutions with encoding (the already-dead Soundstorm and Auzentech's HDA-Mystique).


Darren said:


> ..how can creative justify their customers spending $5 more for a feature that is expected?


See above - it certainly wasn't expected !
It's a great bonus now though 
Don't forget that Dolby and DTS both charge a licence fee for their technology - there's no way for Creative to provide the upgrade for free, even if they wanted to. There would be some almighty charges for them to swallow if they wanted to back-licence every X-Fi they had ever made !


Darren said:


> I refuse to line Creatives pockets further, my Auzentech X-merderian gives one all the Dolby Digital Live as part of a standard feature.


Unfortunately, your Auzentech card doesn't support EAX properly. The X-Fi gives you the best of all worlds 

(as long as you have an Intel Chipset - good luck getting it all working properly with a nVidia chipset !)


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

Nomgle said:


> Unfortunately, your Auzentech card doesn't support EAX properly. The X-Fi gives you the best of all worlds
> 
> (as long as you have an Intel Chipset - good luck getting it all working properly with a nVidia chipset !)




My auzentech supports EAX 4.0, as does my realtek onboard. You just need to know what drivers and software to use 
besides, try naming games that support EAX these days and you'll find its dying off. very few game titles these days use EAX at all.


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## Darren (May 11, 2009)

Nomgle,

Indeed the original X-Fi series does not mention Dolby Digital encoding in the specification but they did mislead their customers into thinking Dolby Digital encoding is possible. The X-Fi's boxes used to have the Dolby Digital logo and DTS logo covered all over the boxes and to the dismay of those customers that spend £200 on those soundcards only ended up with stereo via SPDIF, I can remember reading Creative’s forums and laughing my ass off!

But if EAX 5.0 was a huge concern Auzentech has a solution for EAX 5.0 with DD and DTS encoding as well with the Auzen X-Fi Prelude, Auzen X-Fi Forte, and the upcoming X-Fi Home Theater. 

Indeed, the Auzentech X-Meriderian doesn't support EAX 3.0-5.0, but who cares? EAX is dead there is very few games that support it fully. I'd take Dolby Digital and DTS encoding over Creative’s dodgy EAX implementation, my AV receiver has enough DSP effects to satisfy my cravings.

PS. Mussels the Auzentech X-Mystique supports EAX 2.0.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2009)

Darren said:


> PS. Mussels the Auzentech X-Mystique supports EAX 2.0.



alchemy universal. 4.0 support for every card that ever existed.


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## Nomgle (May 12, 2009)

...but now that the X-Fi cards do support DD Encoding, and DTS Encoding, for the affordable sum of $5, this discussion isn't really going anywhere.
I've got full EAX 5.0 support, "X-Fi Mode" in Battlefield 2, and DTS Encoding, all thanks to my X-Fi 

Are you trying to suggest I'd have been better off buying a whole new soundcard, instead of spending $5 on the DD/DTS pack ?

Don't forget that when I bought my X-Fi, the only available card with DTS Encoding, was the HDA Mystique ... which only supported EAX 2.0, didn't support hardware acceleration, and generally wasn't much good for gaming !


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## craigo (May 12, 2009)

lol..my ONBOARD shipped with dolby...


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## Bundy (May 12, 2009)

and DTS....


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## craigo (May 12, 2009)

the onboard audio is Dolby Certified and has the standard 7.1 mini jacks and an S/PDIF optical output. no digital coax jack though.


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## Mussels (May 12, 2009)

just make sure you all understand the difference between dolby/DTS passthrough, and realtime encoding.


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## Bundy (May 12, 2009)

um maybe I dont? My onboard outputs DTS all the time, no matter what signal I send it. Isnt that encoding?


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## craigo (May 12, 2009)

I run 2.1 speakers anyway..not that i dont care just that i dont care..
anyway here is a very informatve link for dolby schooling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital


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## Mussels (May 12, 2009)

bundyrum&coke said:


> um maybe I dont? My onboard outputs DTS all the time, no matter what signal I send it. Isnt that encoding?



that sounds like encoding, yes.

Any digital output can do passthrough.


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## craigo (May 12, 2009)

hey mussels, Do you think my hardware does encoding?
Here's IDT's description of their CODEC.

The STAC9271/74 CODEC is a Theater Quality 10-channel audio CODEC that enable systems with 7.1 audio playing simultaneously with VoIP or another stereo audio stream. IDT's proprietary S? technology provides high fidelity with an estimated DAC SNR up to 105dB. Up to four digital microphones are supported enabling high quality voice input for increased usability of voice applications.

Features

    * High performance HD Audio CODEC provides Theater Quality Audio
    * High performance ΣΔ technology
    * 105dB DAC SNR
    * 90dB ADC SNR
    * Five Stereo DACs and three stereo ADCs
    * Supports 7.1 Audio with simultaneous Real Time Communication (RTC) channel such as VoIP or separate stereo audio stream
    * 24-bit resolution with up to 192 KHz sample rates
    * Digital Microphone Interface (STAC9274)
    * Direct interface up to four Digital Microphones
    * Analog Stereo Microphone
    * Microphone Boost 0, 10, 20, 30, 40dB
    * Six adjustable Vref outputs for microphone bias
    * Integrated Headphone Amps (3)
    * S/PDIF In and Out
    * ADAT® Optical “Lightpipe” Output Support (STAC9274)
    * Volume Up/Down Control
    * Jack Insertion Detect and Impedance Sensing support Jack Retasking and Universal Jacks
    * Digital PC Beep to all outputs
    * +5 V analog power supply options
    * Environmental 48-pin LQFP package Software Support
    * SKPI (Kernel Processing Interface)
    * Enables plug-ins that can operate globally on all audio streams of the system
    * 12 band parametric equalizer SKPI plug-in
    * Constant, system-level effects tuned to optimize a particular platform can be combined with user-mode “presets” tailored for specific acoustical environments and applications
    * System-level effects automatically disabled when external connections made
    * Dynamics Processing SKPI plug-in
    * Enables improved voice articulation
    * Compressor/limiter allows higher average noise level without resonances
    * Dolby PC Entertainment Experience Logo Program
    * Dolby Master Studio™ (STAC9274D)
    * Dolby Home Theater™ (STAC9271D, STAC9274D)
    * Dolby Sound Room™(STAC9271D, STAC9274D)
    * Dolby Technologies
    * Dolby Headphone™, Dolby Virtual Speaker™
    * Dolby ProLogic II™, Dolby ProLogic IIx™
    * Dolby Digital Live™
    * Intel Audio Studio™ from Sonic Focus
    * Maxx Player™ from Waves
    * Microphone Beam Forming, Acoustic Echo Cancellation, & Noise Suppression from Knowles™

im not sure, can you dig up any links for me...or tell me if it does?


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## Mussels (May 12, 2009)

Dolby Digital Live = Dolby encoding.

I dont see DTS connect listed, so you cant encode that.


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## craigo (May 12, 2009)

* Dolby PC Entertainment Experience Logo Program
* Dolby Master Studio™ (STAC9274D)
* Dolby Home Theater™ (STAC9271D, STAC9274D)
* Dolby Sound Room™(STAC9271D, STAC9274D)
* Dolby Technologies
* Dolby Headphone™, Dolby Virtual Speaker™
* Dolby ProLogic II™, Dolby ProLogic IIx™
* Dolby Digital Live™

oh, thanks dude, it would seem that the hardware does indeed do encoding..its listed at the bottom of the dolby functions..a few down from master studio, thanks for your help


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## Steevo (May 12, 2009)

My old Turtle beach did DTS for FREE!! And not the dumbed down version either.


Creative is just screwing people left and right.


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## Mussels (May 12, 2009)

Steevo said:


> My old Turtle beach did DTS for FREE!! And not the dumbed down version either.
> 
> 
> Creative is just screwing people left and right.



my realtek onboard in my media PC has DTS connect. it might cost a few $ in licencing, but creative had hardware support for this all along. they just decided nto to advertise it then, so that they can make more money off the same products now. its the same as how they wanted to charge for alchemy, for audigy users.


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## EastCoasthandle (May 12, 2009)

It was my understanding that this Digitial Live/DTS Connection pack allowed you to use 5.1 (or higher) receiver setup instead of just your receiver using 2 speakers (in a nutshell).  As for Dolby Digitial the X-Fi inherently supports this as long as you have a proprietary speakers or some decent headphones.  All the movies you play will flash up Dolby Digital if it's supported.  So you don't need the pack for it to work.  It also will give you EAX in BF2 without the pack.  You just need the pack when you want to hear DD/DTS to work on your receiver.  Doing so will give you 5.1, etc instead of just 2 speaker support.  This is just the gist of it.


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## Mussels (May 12, 2009)

EastCoasthandle said:


> It was my understanding that this Digitial Live/DTS Connection pack allowed you to use 5.1 (or higher) receiver setup instead of just your receiver using 2 speakers (in a nutshell).  As for Dolby Digitial the X-Fi inherently supports this as long as you have a proprietary speakers or some decent headphones.  All the movies you play will flash up Dolby Digital if it's supported.  So you don't need the pack for it to work.  It also will give you EAX in BF2 without the pack.  You just need the pack when you want to hear DD/DTS to work on your receiver.  Doing so will give you 5.1, etc instead of just 2 speaker support.  This is just the gist of it.



the point of DD live and DTS connect is that if you're using 5.1 speakers over a digital connection, you *only* get greater than 2 channel audio if its pre encoded. You go playing a game (say, BF2) - you'll only get stereo. EAX has nothing to do with it.


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## EastCoasthandle (May 12, 2009)

Mussels said:


> the point of DD live and DTS connect is that if you're using 5.1 speakers over a digital connection, you *only* get greater than 2 channel audio if its pre encoded. You go playing a game (say, BF2) - you'll only get stereo. EAX has nothing to do with it.


Yes, it does as I was addressing another posters response about using the pack in BF2.  EAX already works without the pack.  And, as I've said before the pack is in essence needed to get 5.1 speaker (or better) support from your receiver, nothing more nothing less.  Which is why it cost $5.  This is a feature that should have been inherently supported with X-Fi cards but they are not :shadedshu.  It will work but you need to use a proprietary speaker setup or headphones but will not work properly if you use a receiver (which it should).  Which is why I said that this is the "gist" of it.


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## Mussels (May 12, 2009)

yep. wasnt sure if you were agreeing or disagreeing - we are agreeing (and i didnt get the BF2/eax reference)


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