Anyone having trouble with center channel sound on the Xbox in DD5.1? (1 Viewer)

[steveC]

Here's an excerpt from the article at anandtech.com that

seems to verify that it might be software related.

"While 5.1 audio solutions have been around on the PC for years, games have yet to take full use of the capabilities. However on Xbox, even the launch titles are making use of some of the 5.1 capabilities of the platform. It is clear that there is much room to improve as titles such as Halo don't make proper use of the center channel in a 5.1 setup".

 

[James Nguyen]

Steve,

I was just about to post that quote...

pretty much ices the cake.....the "problems" with xbox center channels in Halo are due to programming issues and not because of some bug or defect.

 

[Micheal]

Don't worry about it any longer. If 5.1 works with DVD's then it has nothing to do with hardware, it's just a programming/software issue. No big deal...

 

[Dan_D]

yeh just for further emphasis, im in the same boat. The thign that really bothers me tho is that PGR doesnt use the sub channel! is this the case w/ all of yours as well? Im sure its just programming, it works in other games fine.
also anand from anandtech.com is in one of my classes. he goes to NCSU. hah

 

[MaxY]

Good News Guys...

I got Star Wars Starfighter and in DD 5.1 modes I actually get center channel sounds.

So I think my Xbox hardware is OK and the problems were software related not hardware. This is like the first game I have that seems to Use the center.

Max

 

[Doug Miller]

I will concur with the above post. Same center channel "problems", but DVDs work and sound great! In defense of DOA3, there is no center that I've heard, but the game play, voices, and action still sound tight. We're all complaining, but it still sounds much better than what we've had for gaming in the past. It will get there.

Doug

 

[MarkDavidson]

Not to put a twist in the whole puzzle here, but Im pretty sure that in-game is not going to be in dolby digital -- it'll probably be in some psuedo matrix or perhaps pro-logic. The reason: the amount of overhead required by the xbox (or any pc) to decode dolby digital on the fly is prohibitive. There would be timing problems out the wazoo (that's a technical term). You can find articles about this around the web (like in the article about how Rogue Squadron when the DPL II route to address this specific issue). SO -- you may hear true and active DD in cutscenes or other pre-renders, but not in-game. Hope this helps...

Mark

 

[Dan_D]

nope it has hardware realtime DD 5.1 encoding. Every sound you hear in game is encoded and of course your reciever/processor decodes it to 5.1 channels

 

[BrianB]

Not to put a twist in the whole puzzle here, but Im pretty sure that in-game is not going to be in dolby digital

Except it is, Mark. The XBox has hardware specifically dedicated to the encoding process.

 

[James Nguyen]

Not to put a twist in the whole puzzle here, but Im pretty sure that in-game is not going to be in dolby digital

and boy is it ever real time IN GAME dolby digital... just no turning back now that I had a chance to play games like halo in full DD....w00 boy!

 

[MarkDavidson]

my bad.
http://www.dolby.com/press/co.pr.0104.xbox.html
Mark