I have a Lenovo(IBM) Thinkpad T61P on XP and an Advanced Minidock with coax S/PDIF output.
Device Manager says I have "Soundmax Integrated HD Audio"
I have an analogue set of speakers Altec Lansing VS3151
http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=vs3151
I really want to hear the bad guys behind me in Half-Life 2.
My options *seem* to be (I am no expert)
1) external USB sound card and my existing anaolgue speaker system with 3 mini-jacks
2) S/PDIF output and all new digital speaker system (will this even work with my inbuilt soundcard?)
3) S/PDIF output and a box to convert this to analogue for my existing speaker system (will this even work with my inbuilt soundcard? and if so will the sound totally suck?)
Can anyone give me some help on what will actually produce explosions behind me in HL2?
Lots of labels on HW and SW seem to say "5.1" and mean different things.......
Many thanks indeed
Quentin
P.S. I emailed Creative about their external USB card and got this, which doesn't sound very definitive (even if I did understand it):
Me : I have a Lenovo Thinkpad if I get the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 will I get true 5.1 from the game Half Life 2?
Them :
Please be informed that if the game is DTS/DDL encoded, you may need to buy a digital speaker because our X-Fi surround 5.1 does not come with a built-in decoder.
If the game sound is analog, you may use CMSS to upmix the stereo source to virtual surround sound."
Device Manager says I have "Soundmax Integrated HD Audio"
I have an analogue set of speakers Altec Lansing VS3151
http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=vs3151
I really want to hear the bad guys behind me in Half-Life 2.
My options *seem* to be (I am no expert)
1) external USB sound card and my existing anaolgue speaker system with 3 mini-jacks
2) S/PDIF output and all new digital speaker system (will this even work with my inbuilt soundcard?)
3) S/PDIF output and a box to convert this to analogue for my existing speaker system (will this even work with my inbuilt soundcard? and if so will the sound totally suck?)
Can anyone give me some help on what will actually produce explosions behind me in HL2?
Lots of labels on HW and SW seem to say "5.1" and mean different things.......
Many thanks indeed
Quentin
P.S. I emailed Creative about their external USB card and got this, which doesn't sound very definitive (even if I did understand it):
Me : I have a Lenovo Thinkpad if I get the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 will I get true 5.1 from the game Half Life 2?
Them :
Please be informed that if the game is DTS/DDL encoded, you may need to buy a digital speaker because our X-Fi surround 5.1 does not come with a built-in decoder.
If the game sound is analog, you may use CMSS to upmix the stereo source to virtual surround sound."
