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Live 5.1 Platinum or X-gamer?


Pulse301

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I really like the idea of having a remote control for the front of my comptuer where I can control volume...and whatever else I'm wanting to take over. But is $100 extra for the Live Drive really worth it??? Is there another alternative to getting remote control functionallity in your comptuer thats like $30 or so? I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something where I can control the volume, stop/pause on the DVD, fast forward, just the basics.cwm28.gif

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Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

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Ummm, Gluegun? The X-gamer IS a SB Live card. I assume you meant that the X-gamer is a better value then the Platinum? Well, the cards are essentially the same, except for the livedrive, of course, so it boils down to weather or not you want to spend the extra $$$ for it. Also, consider the Game Theatre XP, which would be a higher quality solution then ANY of the SB Live cards, and gives you the breakout box which you can put on your desk, rather then having to goto the front of your computer.

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It depends on what you want it for, I record a lot of my own music and I find the SBL PLatinum 5.1 a great tool for music creating, with its included software Cubasis VST, also the variety of inputs including midi set up in the front of the "live drive" are nice and easy to access too. The remote is a nice feature but i find myself hardly ever using it.. but that would depend in each user.

For just gaming and and DVD or MP3 listening (or any other sound format), the Gamer offers a really good value, if you are decided on a "Creative" product that is...

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I forgot to tell you, I have the Logitech cordless Keyboard and Mouse combo Wich I bought for $78 including shipping, and you can control the loudness up and down with the KB, and I pause DVD movies with the Mouse, this from anywhere in the PC room... I dont really load the "creative remote center" as it takes a considerable amount of resources and I really find it unnecesary, but again that would depend in the user needs.

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Thats a really good idea with the wireless k/b and mouse, but I have the Razer Boomslang 2000, so I won't be giving that up, plus I don't like the possibility of being in the middle of a frag fest and my batteries dying. I had a prof in College who had a wireless mouse that was actually just a remote with an arrow key on it, it was really neat, anyone know who may have made that? As far as I'm concerned the GameTheatre XP is not a viable solution for me, because of the fact it doesn't do DD decoding onboard, and I want 5.1 with games...if it is ever supported. I know that the X-gamer and the Platinum are the same card, its the live Driver I really wanna know about. Is buying that combo the only way I can get remote control use w/ my computer, or is there a cheaper alternative that lets me use a remote w/ my computer, perhaps through USB or even something I have to use a PCI slot for that has a box for the front, eitehr one is perfectly acceptable for me, considering I have 2 open 5 1/4 slots and 1 open 3 1/2 and I think 2 PCIs. So really I'm just looking for a cheap remote control for my computer.

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Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

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If 5.1 games is what you're looking for, toss the Acoustic Edge into the hat as well.

Heh, wireless devices are cool, but I think I'll stick with corded items Smile.gif I have a MS Intellimouse Explorer (also have the Logitech Mouseman, if I wanted to use that), and this nice lil' keyboard, it's one of the ones HP shipped with their computers a few months ago. It has the regular beige keys and stuff, but the purple translucent frame around it, with ALL kinds of extras. volume control, play/stop/ff/rr/eject for movies/music, all kinds of stuff Smile.gif

This message has been edited by VIV on 07-24-2001 at 11:43 PM

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I'm not sure who makes it, but I know my roommate had an infrared receiver that plugged into a serial or parallel port I believe. It allowed him to change volume,skip through songs in playlists, pretty much do anything you can bind a keyboard key to I believe. I think the infrared receiver was around 30-40 bucks, and then he bought a universal remote to use with it. From there you just bind the settings you want to different keys on the remote. I'll check with him to see who sells the receiver and get back to you.

Shea

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thanks isburns, I'll kepp a look out for your post. As far as the Acoustic edge goes, I kinda wonder how well it does over the SB card. I'm looking for a card that does the decoding for me, I don't want something that will eat up more clock cycles, I mean after all, Windows uses enoughcwm1.gif. I know I'm gonna go with a SB card, most likely the X-gamer. Is there any review for the acoustic edge. And also does the acoustic edge do 5.1 on games the same way someone was saying they do it on MP3s? Where it breaks them up itself and sedns it to a certain channel? That just doesn't seem like it would make for good sorround sound, it seems like it would just kinda screw it up, possibly sending sounds to channels that wasn't suppose to get those sounds. Although it sounds neat that it would send different sounds to each sat. from MP3s, it also seems like that wouldn't improve sound unless you were sitting exactly in the center. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I would love to learn more about the AE.

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Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

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