Creative Labs buys large part of THX.

[Eug]

See here.

I wonder what this means for gaming.

 

[kgraeme]

THX amounts to squat in consumer electronics. The only benefit is to pay higher costs. True THX is a complete set of standards that are not only for the speakers used, but the placement, room dimensions, the entire accoustical charactersitics from any location in the listeneing room. It is impossible to control any of these factors in consumer equipment.

 

[Adul]

repost.

 

[Workin']

Originally posted by: kgraeme
THX amounts to squat in consumer electronics.

And now it means even less. Creative Labs is not exactly known for high-performance audio.

True THX is a complete set of standards that are not only for the speakers used, but the placement, room dimensions, the entire accoustical charactersitics from any location in the listening room. It is impossible to control any of these factors in consumer equipment.

And room acoustics and speaker placement can amount to 50% or more of the perceived sound quality.

THX certification for consumer audio is just a marketing gimmick, nothing more. And for multimedia stuff like Logitech Z560's and other "THX Certified" cheap crap speakers it's beyond a gimmick, it's a joke. Hopefully George Lucas is laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[Eug]

Didn't know it was a repost. Did a search in Off Topic and here and didn't find it.

As for THX not being important, that's true in reality. I never make my purchases based on THX support. OTOH, it does make a difference for some Joe Schmoes. It may not really matter, but some people will consider it when buying anyway. Thus I could see it change part of the market, although in what direction I don't know. One can only hope this will mean that more good sounding computer systems will appear, instead of most of the cr@p that's currently available. OTOH, it may just mean that the THX designation will become even more useless.

The one thing I find useful for consumer audio with THX is re-equalization circuits. Some movie tracks are not really remixed for home use, and have too strong a upper treble range, and thus will sound harsh at home, where you're sitting 10 feet away from the speakers. However, it seems that this isn't really a problem with current remixes, and when necessary 3rd party companies have their own algorithms for this which do essentially the same thing.

 

[TheWart]

argh, creative will lower THX standards even more now prolly.