Understanding hardware

[strangepork]

Hi LS,

My last question( 2part) is basically info on how hardware works for a system. I think this question will benefit most users who want a little more understanding on considerations for a couple of key components to a system.
For example:

Here is an excerpt from the audigy sound card :
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The THX® certified Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS delivers 24-bit ADVANCED HD™ audio, 108dB SNR clarity across 8 channels, and is the only available PC platform to deliver Advanced Resolution™ 24-bit DVD-Audio playback in 24-bit/192kHz stereo and 24-bit/96kHz 5.1 surround. EAX® ADVANCED HD™ effects produces ultra-realistic sound in supported games and multi-channel playback in 5.1, 6.1and 7.1 with over 400 existing 3D games. EAX ADVANCED HD™ acoustic enhancements dramatically improve all your music with features including Bass Boost, Graphic Equalizer, Audio Clean-Up, and more!
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How does this help us with audio, and capturing?

Same goes for the all in wonder 9800PRO capture card. The encoding is on the card so it frees up system resources, or it offers better, yadda yadda yadda. Ive read that divx is bad on the AIW, and that divx doctor would be prefered? But since the AIW is a great capture card why does it come out poorly? Tips like these will help us newbies out, in getting a good user experience.


Im sure some of this info is on your site, but i just ask so that others can refer to you expertise. On starting off on a good multimedia experience.

thanks and ill be registering for another lvl 1 within the week.

[admin]

Fancy marketing words, nothing more.

All you need is a soundcard that operates on it's own. The one "on board" or "built in" to a motherboard does not. It's shares things. A good card (one that does not share things) is all you need. Any $25 card generally works fine. Creative and Turtle Beach are regarded as the best. Just like there are only a few kinds of processors (Intel, AMD, etc), there are really only a few kinds of cards. Your audio needs to be stereo, and it needs to be true 48kHz quality. Not much. Only the cheapest and oldest junk has problems doing that.

The ATI AIW cards are geared for MPEG capture mostly, and then your run-of-the-mill AVI capturing. Best of both worlds, and at good quality. Things like DIVX never have been, and never will be, a capturing format. Those should be done with re-encodes. Most compression codecs are this way. MPEG2 is really one of the few exceptions, and can be used for capturing, given that you have the proper hardware. Even MPEG1 should not be used this way (but often is).

It takes a while to see through all the hype. Telling people they can capture DIVX is nothing more than catering to often-unreasonable consumers that expect the impossible.

Canon, Canopus, Panasonic, nVidia, Creative, Memorex, RCA, Sony ... these are companies that just really, really try to tell everybody their products rule the world, and can do everything including cook your breakfast. Those companies have more hot air than a balloon convention. Unfortunately, more people pay attention to loudmouths and smoke-blowers, and quite often the companies leave a trail of angry users.

Nikon, JVC, ATI, Pioneer, Sharp, Matrox, Samsung ... these I have found to generally quite dry about products. Sure, they do some marketing, but it's not in your face, and they are quite happy to let their products speak for themselves. They don't adopt happy labels (pro! pro! look at me!) like some of their competitors do. This can be good, as you don't get these bloated expectations, but it can also be bad, as this means some of the better products are generally more meek and hidden. Elite Video, DataVideo, LiteOn, LG, Taiyo Yuden, Minolta .. all examples of underdogs most people never hear of unless they look really hard.


Edited by: admin