Moving the goal posts

[John Beaulieu]

goddamn has splinter cell pandora tomorrow not moved the bloody goal posts for audiophiles out there ,,,, 7.1 in-game sound action is all present and active.

Ubisoft are truely getting great things out this gen, the envelope has been well pushed

for me (true audiophile) this is the equivalent of Nintendo pushing Mario into the 3d universe, and when you consider that sound plays such an important part in this game the experience is sooo much better

so what else has moved the goal posts for developers to follow?

[Commander Marklar]

Capcom's Steel Battalion: Line of Contact. There are so many well-implemented features online, one kinda wonders why they aren't in all games (on or offline).

• Player control over all aspects of the game, from message boards to item trade.
• Optimatch implementation - has a refresh feature (applies to all lists too, from friend game filter to chat rooms). Why isn't this in every game?
• Replays -- everything is recorded online with the option to save the replay when a mission is over. Wanna see what other players were up too? Fine, select them in the list and check it out (inc. what buttons they're pressing on the controller, which light up, etc... great for spotting clip-dumpers). Cinematic camera angles and filters, explosive affects (etc...) make for some brilliant replay action. Replays with this many features should make it into all games (I'm looking at you, Codemasters).
• Best one for me, it doesn't cause the Xbox to reset when a dirty disc error is read Just press 'A' and it'll continue anyway

[007]

It does 7.1?

[007]

Is it in the sound options chief? What setting would I need to put my amp on to get the most out of it, THX?

[superkully]

You'd need two extra speakers as well, no?

I'm happy and sad that sound is becoming better and better in games. However, I hope this will not be at the expense of the two-channel output. Not everyone can have their surround sound blasting out death and destruction when they play - I for one play most of the time on headphones.

[Brats]

You need an amp that can handle 6.1 or 7.1.

7.1 is the same as 6.1 except the rear channel is output from two speakers instead of just one with 6.1. This is because the brain can confuse sounds coming from directly behind your head, so two speakers at slight angle give a better impression of a rear sound even though they both handle the same channel.

You don't select any audio options, your amp with pick up the extra outputs if it is a 7.1 amp, if not you just get vanilla 5.1.

It does make a difference, the extra rear channel fills a void that was present before and it helps with games such as PT immensely.

I agree with Marklar that LOC together with PGR2 and Moto GP 2 have moved the golaposts with online games, offering a package that is completely online (even when it's not). It annoys me in TOCA for instance that my friends can't see me online when I'm playing the single player game.

[007]

Ah, cheers for your help brats.

I've got the Yamaha 1400 RDS I think the model is. It's THX certified. So it will automatically pick up the 7.1 and put it on the right audio source? I don't need to change it to 7.1, Surround Enhanced or THX?

I was watching a DVD in THX, and it's amazing. True, it wasn't 'true' THX, it made two mock channels from the one rear source. But still, sounds ace. Can't wait to play some SC in 7.1 as long as I can get it to work.

[Commander Marklar]

It annoys me in TOCA for instance that my friends can't see me online when I'm playing the single player game.

And vice versa. How not to do an online mode? Sega GT: Online. Plays nice, totally seperate mode. Breaks the existing gameplay.

I think Moto GPs integration is probably the best so far 'cos you can see individual game modes your mates are playing and it is all nice and straight forward. I thought PGR2 was confusing as hell, but this is probably more down to the GUI [in both games] more than anything... still, it just works which is the point, I guess

Check this out for an example of the kind of thing possible with the LoC replay system (it's a compilation of his clan doing stuff together).

[mid]

Of course, any XBox game will play as 6/7.1 to some extent. XBox doesn't do realtime DTS, so this is all Dolby Digital. DD does its centre-rear channel matrixed in the two side rears (much like the centre is in DPL). It will 'work' for any 5.1 source, then - the difference, presumably, is that SC:PT knows to balance its sound design to avoid sounding wrong like this - which does happen with some surround mixes. If you've got mono atmospheric effects, they collapse out of the rear ambient soundstage into the centre-rear, which can be rather against what you were wanting.

DTS, however can do both the matrix trick and also has a 'proper' centre-rear discrete sound mode, which can be used. However, the last time I checked you coudn't just buy a discrete 6.1 encoder, but needed to involve DTS onsite to do it. Which isn't cheap.

[gooner]

I didnt know splinter cell had 7.1 audio too, ive got a Pioneer VSXA3 which is also THX 7.1 but i cant get 7.1 working with SC2 i can only play it matrixed beats pro logic 2 of the GC tho, i usually play that in DTS neo6 anyway

I think PGR2 has moved the goalposts more than any other game, its brought social gaming to the masses a lot of people go online to have a laugh and a chat with new people as well as play a great game. were deffo gunna see a lot more of that

[Brats]

007, THX isn't an audio compression like Dolby Digital or DTS, it's a set of standards used to define the supposed high quality that THX suggest for optimum audio. Like a really high quality control, audio manufacturers can submit their DVDs or AV gear to THX and if passed then can put a THX badge on it (for a big wedge of cash, natch).

Analogy time: If the different sound standards are all different kinds of meat (DD = Lamb, DTS = Beef, etc) then THX is Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range. It's better quality, but it's still chicken, if you see what i mean .

Mid, Any 6.1 amp can matrix a 6.1 from 5.1, but PT outputs DD6.1 EX, in that it provides more information to the decoder to produce the matrixed channel. It isn't quite as good as DD6.1 ES (if such a thing existed), but it's close.

Some DVDs output DTS 6.1 EX rather than ES because it's a lot cheaper to encode (I think Se7en special edition might do this).

[mid]

Brats - you're right about THX, of course, but I think 007 means he's activated the THX mode on his amp, which performs a re-eq of the sound, rolling off the top end from about 15kHz up. Its supposed to compensate for the fact that a surround mix designed for playing in a large cinema is mixed a touch too loud in the high frequencies to compensate for them being such dead spaces.

On many modern DVDs (everything from Warners/New Line, for instance) its redone at the mastering stage already, so you shouldn't use it on those discs. General rule of thumb is that WAMO always do it, Sony never, and I'm unsure about the others.

edit - oh, and if you want a direct A/B of the two DTS 6.1 standards, Gladiator is Discrete in the US, and only Matrix in the UK for some stupid reason (not that it bothers me, as I've got the US release and only have a 5.1 setup anyway).

[nips]

I like the idea that you can whisper in someone's ear before you snap thier neck! That's such a cool idea. I just wanted to add that

[007]

Brats and mid, excellant stuff, my knowledge of my amp is getting bigger everyday. I especially liked the way it seems it offers something to me, like Sainsburys does.

Anyhoo, I fired up SC, and (with the help of some guy on av forums) Put it so that it can detect ES and EX sources. I didnt know I could do that, you see.

So once I fired it up, it said on my screen, Dolby Digital ES (possibly EX, I can't remember)

Anyway, it sounded awsome. But is this as close as i'll get it?

Oh, I also put it on THX mode, and I got something like THX + ES Pop up on my screen. Very weird.

Cheers for your help.