5.1 soundcards

[mrhata]

I am looking into upgrading to a 5.1 soundcard.
What are the main differences between Soundblaster brand compared to other brands that are about $20 cheaper?

Is it just the brand or are there alot of features that Soundblaster really does better?

[808smokey]

What other brands are you refering to?

Sound blaster usually comes with extra stuff. A jukebox, editing stuff. I have the SBLive5.1 card and it's nice, I don't use any of the stuff it came with.

[rallynavvie]

Are there still 5.1 channel sound cards out there? I thought everything was going over to 6.1/7.1 and higher channels.

Another brand to check out is Hercules. I've got the GameTheaterXP Pro 7.1 on my box. I don't think they make that specific one anymore but their two best models are pretty affordable and do really well. I personally like soundcards with either breakout boxes for audio connections or a 5.25" breakout panel for the front of a case.

[TOMMO]

If you are interested in making home movies, then the Audigy 2 card from Creative has ASIO drivers. This allows you to specify what sound come out of which sspeaker when you are editing in Vegas 4 or Premiere Pro.

[rallynavvie]

Yeah, mine has ASIO drivers as well though it doesn't have EAX 3 like the latest cards do.

[mrhata]

Thanks all.
I wanted to upgrade to something better.
Also in hopes that sound quality from capturing VHS will be better and less hissssss.