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Game Theater XP Discontinued?

M

MrMilney

Senior member
I've been waiting to order a Game Theater XP and now it seems I've waited too long. I've been looking online and in various stores and there are no GTXPs left to be had anywhere! Does anyone know if Hercules has indeed discontinued the card? If so, are they introducing something new to take its place? I haven't been able to find any news either way.
 
I have been looking for one as well... Been checking newegg frequently with no success. Hopefully a better one will come out on the market or Hercules will start producing their GTXPs again.

I have been leaning towards getting a Turtle Beach but I like the options the GTXP has.

Does the Audigy have good MP3 and CD quality? Their 24 bit dac seems better than the other cards according to stats.

Edit: newegg no longer has them on their site... (was there yesterday) Maybe they are being discontinued.

NE1 hear anything about the Gamesurround Fortissimo? II Digital Edition?
 
I know all about newegg. I saw on their site yesterday that the card was still listed but was out of stock. When I noticed that most other sites no longer listed the card I e-mailed newegg and asked if they expected to get any more in. What I got was a generic "if we're out of stock you can use the auto-notify button to be notified when the item comes in again." Then today, as HouRman noted, the GTXP is no longer even listed. 🙁
 
I was prepared to pay $129.95 at Best Buy today but they were out of stock! I called Fry's to see if they had any in stock and got "um, um, I dont see anything called Hercules here." Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and take the drive to Fry's tomorrow but I don't have a good feeling about it.

I may just end up going with the Santa Cruz.
 
I saw a few of them at CompUSA and Fry's a few days ago in a "new" box packaging with "6.1 Sound" in a huge font. :Q However, I think both places were selling them for $130. 😉

I have a GTXP here...... Interested? 😉

Just to mention, you can always try eGay. 😉
 
It'll be a pity if they discontinued the GTXP. A TBSC or Philips AE is probably the closest comparisons. The Audigy is clearly not a true 24/96 soundcard.
 
No, not discontinued. The reason why Newegg doesn't have them any more is because they were selling the "old" version of the GTXP... the current packaging includes the 6.1 drivers inside the box (v3.02 .... which there is a newer version found on the Hercules website) and also PowerDVD 6.1 Pro (actually a Dolby Digital Surround EX certified softDVD player... different from PowerDVD XP 4.0 Deluxe).

Best Buy and CompUSA seem to carry the newly packaged GTXP with the "new" old drivers and PowerDVD 6.1 Pro
 


<< No, not discontinued. The reason why Newegg doesn't have them any more is because they were selling the "old" version of the GTXP... the current packaging includes the 6.1 drivers inside the box (v3.02 .... which there is a newer version found on the Hercules website) and also PowerDVD 6.1 Pro (actually a Dolby Digital Surround EX certified softDVD player... different from PowerDVD XP 4.0 Deluxe). >>



MasterHoss -

I really do hope you're right. I don't understand why newegg would pull the card off thier page completely though. The thing that really worried me is the fact that you can't even buy the card direct from Hercules anymore. 😕
 
Yeah, I noticed you couldn't order from the Hercules store as well; however, you should realize that this is a somewhat common occurrence. I mean, Klipsch routinely runs "out of stock" on ProMedia speakers and hides the "buy now" link on their own website.

Hercules probably increased production if anything since the card is getting more attention with the 6.1 capabilities. Trust me, check your local Best Buy or CompUSA and you'll see what I mean... and plus, I doubt that Cyberlink would go "out of their way" to make a Dolby Digital Surround EX certified softDVD player exclusively for a sound card that's being discountinued. More proof... Hercules' next major driver update (I'm guessing version 5.xx) will make the card capable of 7.1 output!! Yup, I'm also guessing that Cyberlink will be there to make an exclusive 7.1 certified softDVD player.
 
dudes, hope you can get a copy of this card. it's sweet! i love all the connection options & especially love the breakout box. sure beats crawling around on the floor to plug in new devices! only complaint i have is that the usb ports are a little flakey - one doesn't seem to work at all & another one only seems to work with certain devices. fortunately i don't have 4 usb devices i need to connect at the same time, & don't anticipate having that many, so i can get by.

btw, i downloaded the new drives & now seem to have 6.1 support. guess it's just a driver tweak? not that it matters - don't really think i need that rear center speaker anyway.

what's with the new version of powerdvd? think herc. has a deal on their web site to upgrade for a small fee - is it worth it?
 
*ahem... auditioning to be the new Dell guy*
DUUUUUUDDDDE, I'm glad to hear you like your GTXP. 😛

Yeah, you're correct about the drivers making the 5.1 sound card a 6.1 sound card (v3.02 started it and they now have a v4.10 driver). And they're next driver upgrade (not update like the 3.02 to 4.10 is) will make the GTXP go from a 6.1 sound card to a 7.1 sound card.

HOME THEATER TIME if you're interested in paying $12, getting some more speakers, and watching a Dolby Digital Surround EX encoded DVD movie, it's all you brotha'

I'm sure anyone can buy this softDVD player but from what I've been told, it's useless without the GTXP and v3.02 or higher drivers. So if you buy that Maya 7.1 card, you won't get DD Surround EX output.

Think of the Cyberlink/Hercules deal as a Wintel agreement for computer sound. 😉
 
My USB's are a little funky at times as well, but I can easily live through that as I consider them a bonus anyway.

This card is the best
 
Mine also seems to have flaky USB ports. My scanner does not seem to work at all with the rear ports but is going strong on one of the front ports. Otherwise this is one great card.
 


<< I doubt that Cyberlink would go "out of their way" to make a Dolby Digital Surround EX certified softDVD player exclusively for a sound card that's being discountinued. More proof... Hercules' next major driver update (I'm guessing version 5.xx) will make the card capable of 7.1 output!! Yup, I'm also guessing that Cyberlink will be there to make an exclusive 7.1 certified softDVD player. >>



MasterHoss -

Escellent points about the software, hadn't looked at that angle. It's just that I am finally able to order all the parts for my new machine (after waiting oh, so long) only to find my choice of sound card is AWOL! I'll just have to hold out. 🙂
 


<< Mine also seems to have flaky USB ports. My scanner does not seem to work at all with the rear ports but is going strong on one of the front ports. Otherwise this is one great card. >>



interesting ... i had exactly the same problem with my scanner on the rear usb ports. and my scanner also worked on the front. in the end i wound up just plugging it directly into my pc since i wanted to keep the front ports open for devices that only require periodic access (digicam, gaming devices, etc.). still, it'd be nice if all four ports were reliable.

btw, has anyone else found that hercules support is worthless? there's no phone number to call, very limited info on the web site, & they don't seem to reply to emails. what's the deal?
 
You guys have to understand that the 4 port USB hub found on the GTXP's breakout box is for gaming perihperals; therefore, the USB ports are UNPOWERED. So, if you're plugging in a mouse, keyboard, or gamepads, you'll be fine. If you're plugging a scanner or printer to it....
 


<< You guys have to understand that the 4 port USB hub found on the GTXP's breakout box is for gaming perihperals; therefore, the USB ports are UNPOWERED. So, if you're plugging in a mouse, keyboard, or gamepads, you'll be fine. If you're plugging a scanner or printer to it.... >>



not sure this is correct - my scanner has seperate power supply, don't think it needs power from usb. on the other hand, my webcam which does need power works just fine on usb3 but not on usb4 (nothing seems to work on this port).

oh, wait ... i think i'm being dumb. the webcam/mouse/etc are obviously pulling power from the usb port since they don't have their own power supply. so what exactly does UNPOWERED mean? that the ports are only for unpowered devices? can someone explain to me how that works - how an unpowered device would work but a powered one wouldn't?
 


<< so what exactly does UNPOWERED mean? >>


Good question. I just did a google search... here's a link to a very vague explanation USB FAQs.

**hey Andy, maybe you should add a little somethin' on the FAQ page discussing powered versus unpowered.**
 
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