Creative over and under does it at the same time..
Written: Jun 15 '03 (Updated Jun 16 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great for gaming, 5.1 channel surround, EAX addon for UT from website
Cons: Long installation, includes some programs never used, limited Linux support.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this card for anyone that needs a quality just below top-of-the-line Sound Card and/or is an _advanced_ Linux user.
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| speeddy's Full Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 Sou... |
First off let me say, if you dont do any gaming, or if you dont have a _good_ 5.1 speaker system, dont bother getting this card, you will never fully appreciate it.
Other than that this card is the best I have used so far (havent gotten a chance to try out Audigy or Audigy2).
I should also mention that the only reason it is called platinum is because it comes with so many different programs, half of which I never used..
Now on to the review:
This card does it all and more. It comes loaded with Analog and Digital output jacks for either kind of speaker system, supports 5.1 channel surround sound (5 Speakers and 1 Subwoofer), has mic in and line in on the back of the card, and has an advanced EAX2 chip for the most realistic (not to mention in-depth) and involving sound ever. It also includes the Live!Drive, which is the best feature of them all.
The Live!Drive is actually an addon component that you stick in an empty 5 1/4" drive bay on the front, and it is optional. It has 1 USB port, SPDIF in/out for any optical devices you may want to plug into your computer, has an IR sensor for the remote and plenty of other features I can't even remember right now.
As for the software package:
It comes with many great games and apps as well as some that I wasnt able to find any use for (but you may).
Among the games are Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament.
Among the apps are Prody Parrot (voice command/voice feedback program), MediaRing Talk, PixScreen CE, and many others which I can't remember.
My only complaint was the driver and program install. I opted to install all of the programs along with the drivers so I could figure out which ones I could or at least would like to use, and which ones I would never use. The install took me between 10 and 30 minutes, and then I found out that there was an update for the drivers and some of the apps as well, so I downloaded and installed them, which took about another hour or so for a combined total of an hour and a half of boredom installing and downloading drivers.
Once I got past the installation it was all smooth sailing, I had no problems with buggy drivers, or crashing programs, and was even able to find an update for Unreal Tournament that added EAX effects to the Deathmatch and CTF modes.
This card is also for the MP3 enthusiast, as you can enable EAX effects for your desktop sound. I personally enabled the Alien effect and listened to my MP3's as though an alien was singing them. There are also settings such as Living Room, Concert Hall, Drugged, Dizzy, Underwater and many more.
Update:
I feel that this needs to be added to boost the helpfulness of the review.. ;)
This card as I said is one of the better cards if you want good gaming sound, but now that the Audigy and Audigy2 are out, I say to check the reviews of them as well.
I also bought this card brand new at $199.95, current market value should anywhere from $50 to $120 for a new one and $25 to $75 for a used one.
The card also uses gold (or at least gold plated) leads and connectors on the board instead of the standard green ones for better audio quality.
I did have some problems with this card in a couple of games.. the one that sticks out in my mind the most is Diablo II. The sound worked, but sometimes after reinstalling or updating drivers on Windows 2000 I was unable to enable the enhanced sound like the environmental effects in the game.. Now this may have been some configuration error on my part, but I am not totally sure.
I should also mention that this card performed beautifully under both Slackware Linux and Linux Mandrake, and I had no problems getting it installed under either one, as the drivers were included with the distributions. The only problems I had was that the drivers didnt come with programs for the Live!Drive and the 3rd party programs didnt work like I had hoped, and that the drivers on Creative's OpenSource site http://opensource.creative.com did not support ALSA at last check, only OSS. As of last check, they were working in conjunction to get drivers released for ALSA, though, so that may be different now.
So if you are planning to use it under Linux, plan on only being able to use it with OSS and not ALSA, and not being able to use the remote control or the Live!Drive (unless things have changed recently)..
One last note is that the card worked with KDE's aRts and Enlightenment's esd (which is also used by GNOME).
So all in all the card works great under Windows, and only with limited functionality under Linux, but its better than no sound at all. ;)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.95
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Epinions.com ID:
speeddy
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Member: Dustin Booker
Location: Houston, TX, US
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Age: 19,
DOB: July 26,
Computer fanatic, loves writing reviews.
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