Gigabyte Realtek Dolby Home Theater

[duckhunt]

on the new Gigabyte EP45 motherboards, some of the models

come with 889A + Dolby Home Theater, while the lower end comes with 888


I know i can download 888 drivers directly from realtek.com.tw...
my question is that does the driver for 889A + Dolby Home Theater come from realtek website or I will ONLY be able to get it from gigabyte?

the reason i am asking is because i know in a year or so, gigabyte will stop updating the drivers page for the motherboard and i dont want to get stuck with the old driver for years to come.

thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

The better question is, with the 889A chip (same chip), why do some of their boards offer DTS connect, and this new "Dolby Home Theater", and some don't? The hardware is the same, it seems like the driver checks the PCI subvendor ID, and only enables these extra features on certain boards.

It's such a shame that GIGABYTE SHAMELESSLY CRIPPLES FEATURES ON THEIR MOTHERBOARDS.

 

[duckhunt]

is dolby home theater just a software thing or a hardware embedded in the 889A?

EP43-DS3L vs EP45-DS3R is a $50 difference
i don't need crossfire, raid, esata, 6gear blah blah, but i do want to figure out if dolby home theater is worth the extra money and have driver updates down the road.

 

[DaveSimmons]

It's such a shame that GIGABYTE SHAMELESSLY CRIPPLES FEATURES ON THEIR MOTHERBOARDS

Probably because Dolby Labs SHAMELESSLY CHARGES THEM A LICENSE FEEE!!!!

You probably realize that intel, AMD, ATI, nvidia, HP, on and on shamelessly manufacture a single chip, motherboard, printer for multiple models and make them different by disabling features for the lower models? Similar idea.