By any luck we might see Creative going belly-up

[lopri]

Take a look at this article as well as the picture that displays the next-gen LCD prototype from Dell.

http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Dell+Di...t+LCD+Coming+this+Year/article7352.htm

I got my tax return a few days ago and was thinking about one of those 30 inch'ers, but now I changed my mind and will probably wait till this thing comes out. And there seems to be a fierce format war between DisplayPort and UDI to be the successor of DVI port. Not sure about UDI but DisplayPort, like HDMI, carries audio signal by default.

I understand that the sound card could still be utilized via cable or electrical traces on the motheboard, but I'm hoping this will hasten the demise of X-Fi and Creative's sound cards in general. This could drive AMD/NV to integrate high quality audio-chip in their video cards or even decent on-board sound from motherboard manufacturers.

Will you pay, say, extra $30 for a (high quality) sound-integrated video card or motherboard? I know I certainly will - indeed I've already ditched my X-Fi some time ago.
It doesn't have to be one way or the other. They could make 2 separate SKUs (one with integrated audio and one without). Market will show the preference.

Anyway, that monitor looks gorgeous. I wonder when they will be production-ready?

 

[cmdrdredd]

If creative can market a product that appeals to people and sell, they go nowhere. They also have alot more than just sound cards. Also, it will not be long before Creative comes up with something like EAX that works under Vista that makes gamers want their cards for the extra features. They will no doubt come up with some proprietary thingamajig to market on.

 

[BFG10K]

Also, it will not be long before Creative comes up with something like EAX that works under Vista that makes gamers want their cards for the extra features

They already have EAX working on Vista now.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
If creative can market a product that appeals to people and sell, they go nowhere. They also have alot more than just sound cards.

That's what I'm saying. Creative has a rather huge distribution channel in Asia that deals with their products as well as others, so I'm guessing the Taiwanese mobo manufacturers are fearing the backfire. But the worst of all is that Creative owns quite a few patents that they don't do s*it with. But in no time they will file a lawsuit if someone looks to be making money out of anything remotely similar to their patents.

I really wish that company goes out of business.

Edit: Couldn't help but bitching about Creative but I really liked that monitor. I don't know much about LCD technology so someone could elaborate the technology behind? (The article quotes 0.5" thickness, iirc)

 

[Lonyo]

Mobo manufacturers are already integrating Creative solutions into motherboards (SB Live!) at the moment.
I'm sure if necessary Creative would come up with an integrated Audigy solution.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I don't much care for Creative in some ways, and in other ways, I see that I don't want them to go out of business...

There are no true replacements for their cards that make use of audio processors since soundstorm is gone (sadly)..so until we get a new CPU architecture other than the "how many processsors can we superglue together?" (can we say "contention"?) I don't see systems that use the CPU to handle audio processing as being a solution. Perhaps if the PCs once get a setup much similar to the Cell's PPE/SPEs and can then handle audio data without a performance hit, then onboard will become the solution.

What I'd PREFER to see is competition. rather than companies like Voyetra/Turtle Beach and MAudio producing cards that are just on par with onboard, have companies with different solutions than Creative's, have some competition forcing these companies to support their products, and to try to meet deadlines rather than saying "Linux driver? Sure...in Q2" then getting "Uh, yeah. We decided to make drivers for an OS less popular than linux. Did we mention these drivers don't really work?"

 

[yacoub]

Am I the only one who understands that the ability to pass through audio from a source is not the same thing as a true soundcard? Why do so many people confuse the ability for a GPU that can pass HDMI audio, with a true soundcard?
"OMG YO THAT GPU NOW HAS A SOUNDCARD ON IT TOO!!"
No, no it doesn't.
"DOOD WHY CANT MY GPU'S SOUNDCARD PLAY MY MP3S"
Because it's not a soundcard, it's just able to pass the audiostream of HDMI through to your speakers.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: yacoub
Am I the only one who understands that the ability to pass through audio from a source is not the same thing as a true soundcard? Why do so many people confuse the ability for a GPU that can pass HDMI audio, with a true soundcard?
"OMG YO THAT GPU NOW HAS A SOUNDCARD ON IT TOO!!"
No, no it doesn't.
"DOOD WHY CANT MY GPU'S SOUNDCARD PLAY MY MP3S"
Because it's not a soundcard, it's just able to pass the audiostream of HDMI through to your speakers.

That's for Home Theater use (DVDs etc with encoded multichannel audio) and not gaming anyway. I'm interested in gaming on my PC right now.

 

[Pabster]

DisplayPort rocks. Can't wait.

 

[xtknight]

The analog output from a sound card will probably just get fed to the video card like a pass-through. I don't think putting a sound card on the same PCB is a good idea (interference, plus less flexibility because you're stuck with one GPU+sound combo).

 

[Bateluer]

Which of these nextgen standards was loaded with DRM?

And is it just me, or does there appear to be a large pane of glass on that prototype display?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Which of these nextgen standards was loaded with DRM?

And is it just me, or does there appear to be a large pane of glass on that prototype display?

I'm assuming DisplayPort because it's similar to HDMI.

My opinion now is that neither standard will move on. They will likely use HDMI for a while yet.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Which of these nextgen standards was loaded with DRM?

And is it just me, or does there appear to be a large pane of glass on that prototype display?

All of them have DRM, IIRC.

It sounds like DisplayPort is the one we computer guys need to watch out for. HDMI doesn't improve on DVI at all except to integrate the audio into one connection. We will probably hit the bandwith limits of DVI the next time we switch display technologies. DisplayPort will come in handy then.