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Creative Hopes to Jump into E-Reader Market with Zii MediaBook

Paul Lilly — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:10:50 -0600

Pretty soon, it might be easier to list out companies not releasing an e-book reader than ones ones that are. Just as quickly as netbooks took off, digital e-book readers are fast becoming the next must-have portable device, as evidenced by the number of product announcements from a variety of players. The latest comes from Creative, who will look to make a splash with its Zii MediaBook.

According to Creative, the Zii MediaBook will be unlike any other e-reader on the market. The Zii will come with a touchscreen, text-to-speech, an SD memory card slot, and the ability to play video files and roam willy nilly across the Internet. That means you can probably expect WiFi, though whether integrated 3G connectivity comes as part of the deal remains to be seen.

Creative will also implement a strong social networking element to its device by offering users access to Facebook and Twitter while on the go.

The Zii MediaBook will face stiff competition from Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's nook (with a lowercase 'n') right from the outset, and it won't get any easier over time. Asus, MSI, ViewSonic, and several other companies are either working on e-readers of their own or have shown interest in the fast growing digital reader segment.

Creative Patent Filing Reveals Nifty Drag and Drop Interface

Paul Lilly — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:00:50 -0500

Creative has filed a patent that could change the way we operate touchscreen devices. Filed back in January under the 3DLabs brand, the patent describes a drag and drop user interface with "action tabs."

In a nutshell, users would be able to manipulate "action" areas of the screen and drag objects (like a music title or video, for example) onto an action tab. Or as Creative describes the technology in its filing:

"A system and methods for a novel user interface of a touch sensitive screen for pocket device. The user interface contains display items and action tabs. Display items are configured to be draggable if being dragged at substantially horizontal direction; display items are configured to be scrollable if being dragged at substantially vertical direction. Dragging and releasing a draggable item to an action tab causes a specified action or a sequence of actions being applied to the item."

Because Creative filed the patent under its 3DLabs brand, now known as ZiiLabs, we wouldn't be surprised to see this technology show up on the Zii EGG.

Image Credit: Creative via creative.techinhiding.com

Creative Zii Egg Plaszma Runs on Android, Uses Flexible StemCell Architecture

Andy Salisbury — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:07:20 -0500

Thanks to a recent announcement, we now know that Creative’s new Zii Egg Plaszma (read: open source iPod Touch) will be the first to boast a flexible StemCell system architecture, which will make use of 24 floating-point processors.

The Egg, which is shipping out to developers now in a $399 SDK is being marketed as an Android-friendly “handheld computer,” that has many features similar to Apple’s offering, but beefed up in a few areas. Most notably, it features a full-sized SD card slot, a rear facing HD video camera, a front facing VGA camera, Flash Lite support, GPS, WiFi, and it has enough power under the hood to output 1080p video.

The Egg will likely retail for $199, but there’s no official as to when we can expect it on store shelves.

Image Credit: Creative

Creative's X-Fi Will Pimp Your Ride

Paul Lilly — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:15:06 -0600

Tuning and tweaking cars and PCs are two hobbies that are often likened to each other because of the many parallels, and thanks to JC Hyun Systems, the two even share some of the same DNA. That's because the South Korean car audio supplier has just developed the first automobile infotaiment system using Creative's X-Fi technology.

"I believe all motorists seek to enjoy music and videos of the highest quality when traveling in their cars," JC Hyun Systems said. "They expect the same high standards of entertainment experience they enjoy at home, something which most car audio or car infotainment systems in the market have been unable to match so far. By integrating the state-of-the-art Creative X-Fi audio technology to the RUNZ CI-7100, I am confident that we can propel car infotainment enjoyment to the next level and set the standard for next generation systems to come in the near future."

The svelte looking RUNZ CI-7100 Dash-Car Navigation Device comes with a 7-inch display with an 800 x 480 resolution, an Intel dual-core 360/300MHz processor, MMSP2 MPEG video hardware engine, SiRF III GPS chipset, and Creative's X-Fi audio processor with support for CMSS-3D and 24-bit Crystalizer. Other features include an SDHC card slot, Bluetooth, iPod 30-pin socket, USB host, and support for a variety of media formats, including MP3, WMA, OGG, WMV, MPEG4, DIVX, and XVID.

Creative Wireless Receiver

Michael Brown — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:30:00 -0600

Creative takes another stab at wireless audio streaming with its Creative Wireless Receiver, an AC-powered, 4.0x2.75-inch block that you plug into powered speakers or your hi-fi system. The $70 device receives audio streams from a transmitter -- such as Creative’s Xmod Wireless or X-Fi Notebook card (purchased separately) -- that's connected to your PC.

For our tests, we used the Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook ($90), plugging it into the ExpressCard slot in HP’s monster-sized Pavilion HDX9000 notebook PC. The combination sounded great—at close range, at least. We placed the notebook and the sound card in a bedroom and streamed music to several locations within a 2,700-square-foot single-family home.

Creative says the receiver (which operates on the 2.4GHz frequency band) has a range of 100 feet. That's a very optimistic claim. In our first tests, the receiver had no problems synching to a transmitter located inside a wooden entertainment center and streaming high-bit-rate MP3s, WMA Lossless tracks, and even WAV files. We experienced no signal drops, and the remote control was able to send commands to several different media players (including Creative’s Media Source and Windows Media Player) on the host PC.

The distance between the transmitter and receiver in this scenario is only about 12 feet, but it's important to note that our media room is a "room-within-a-room" design that, in the past, has proven very hostile to wireless devices. So kudos to Creative for making the connection. The receiver also performed well in the kitchen, which is about 28 feet from the transmitter with one wall in between.

But a 100-foot range? Not in our tests. Now, we weren’t surprised when the receiver couldn’t establish a connection when we moved it to the front porch (about 20 feet from the transmitter) because our media room is in between. But the receiver also couldn’t connect in the dining room (also 20 feet from the transmitter) or the laundry room (40 feet away). We had better luck on the back patio (18 feet away), but walking in front of the receiver was enough to cause dropouts. There’s no other way to say it: The range of the Wireless Receiver (and/or that of the X-Fi Notebook card) sucks.

The range issue is unfortunate, because there’s plenty that we like about this system, especially the 24-bit Crystalizer signal processing. It’s a relatively cheap system, too -- especially if you need to cover multiple zones.

Then again, zones don’t matter much if you can’t reach them in the first place.

Creative Wireless Receiver

Michael Brown — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:25:09 -0600

Creative’s Wireless Receiver has one major flaw; unfortunately, it’s related to the device’s core functionality: The ability to stream music over distances.

Creative takes another stab at wireless audio streaming with the Creative Wireless Receiver, an AC-powered 4.0x2.75-inch block that you plug into powered speakers or your hi-fi system. The $70 device receives audio streams from a transmitter, such as Creative’s Xmod Wireless or X-Fi Notebook card (purchased separately), connected to your PC.

We used the Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook ($90) for our tests, plugging it into the ExpressCard slot in HP’s monster-sized Pavilion HDX9000 notebook PC. The combination sounded great—at close range, at least. We placed the notebook and the sound card in a bedroom and streamed to several locations in a 2,700-square-foot single-family home. Point your browser to http://tinyurl.com/6js8o6 for more information about how we tested.

Creative claims the receiver (which operates on the 2.4GHz frequency band) has a range of 100 feet. They’re very optimistic. In our first test, the receiver had no problems synching to the transmitter inside the wooden entertainment center in our media room and streaming high-bit-rate MP3s, WMA Lossless tracks, and even WAV files. We experienced no signal drops and the remote control was able send commands (play/pause, track forward/back, mute, etc.) to several different media players on the host PC (including Creative’s Media Source and Windows Media Player).

The distance between the transmitter and receiver in this scenario is only about 12 feet, but the media room is a room-within-a-room design that has proven very hostile to wireless devices. The receiver also performed well in the kitchen, which is about 28 feet from the transmitter with one wall in between.

We weren’t surprised when the receiver couldn’t establish a connection when we moved it to the front porch (about 20 feet from the transmitter) because the media room is in between, but the receiver couldn’t connect in the dining room (also 20 feet from the transmitter) or the laundry room (40 feet away), either. We had better luck on the back patio (18 feet away), but walking infront of the receiver was enough to cause dropouts. There’s no other way to say it: The range of the Wireless Receiver (and/or that of the X-Fi Notebook) sucks.

The range issue is unfortunate, because there’s plenty that we do like about this system, especially the 24-bit Crystalizer signal processing. It’s a relatively cheap solution, too; especially if you need to cover multiple zones (although you’re limited to four). Then again, zones don’t matter much if you can’t reach them in the first place.

Can't Hear Jack

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:45:04 -0600

I finally took the plunge and built my own rig. Everything worked fine until I plugged my Boston Acoustic Digital BA735 speakers into my EVGA 680i motherboard’s onboard outputs: Nothing happened. I received no sound at all. I tried the same speakers with a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer card and got the same result: zilch. Am I missing something here?

—Rich M.

The BA735s can’t be used as digital speakers—at least not with your hardware. The Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer supports optical out, not coaxial digital audio. And your EVGA 680i also supports only optical SPDIF out. The Doctor believes that the BA735 speakers support only coax SPDIF in for its digital mode. You can’t run optical digital-out to a coaxial input.

Fortunately, the speakers have an analog port. You should buy a standard 1/8-inch cable and connect the analog-in port on your speakers to the green audio-out of your soundcard or motherboard.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

High-End Gaming Headset Roundup -- Check Out These Sweet Cans!

Reed Porter — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:55:42 -0500

You’d never credit your headset after winning a Team Fortress 2 match, nor would you ever brag about your soundcard after just acing a round in Call of Duty 4, but any gaming veteran knows that having a sweet set of cans is a must for even the casual gamer’s setup. This is especially true today with the vast majority of professional gamers using headsets instead speaker systems.

Unfortunately, deciding which audio hardware is right for you can become aggravating very quickly with USB headsets, 5.1 headphones, onboard mixing, analog inputs, and incompatible interfaces confusing the market. With this roundup, we’re going to scrutinize six gaming headset options, and examine the largely unspoken differences between analog and USB audio technology.

If you like your existing soundcard, you won’t need a USB headset. This is because the only way for audio to be produced through the USB headset is by bypassing the soundcard entirely. A USB headset is recognized by your operating system as a completely separate audio device. While this is convenient for laptops and desktops with cheap onboard soundcards, it creates a headache for anyone looking to play music or film audio through their speakers; you'll have to change the default Windows audio device, swapping between the headset and whatever sound card your speakers are plugged into. A USB headset will usually require software installation to function with your OS and to allow customization and mixing control. This brings us to the very reason companies are making USB headsets in the first place, to allow for inline hardware acceleration which remixes the audio before sending it to the speakers. Essentially you have a mini soundcard embedded in the headset.

This is both a good and a bad thing. For gamers without soundcards (or have soundcard driver problems in Vista), USB headsets are an unbeatable value. You get hardware acceleration and a physical headset in one package. If you already have an expensive and fully-functioning soundcard, however, buying a USB headset can be pointless – the audio quality won’t necessarily be better with USB. The only option for you is using analog jacks, or if you have a newer soundcard, optical cables (although it would be amazing, we have yet to see a high end optical headset).

That said, deciding upon a testing method was difficult. We eventually settled on testing the analog headsets with a PCI-Express X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty soundcard and the USB headsets on their own.

With that important difference explained, we take a look a few of the latest headsets to see which pair is truly king of the cans.

Creative HS-1200

We’re typically wary of wireless gaming products due to their spotty battery life and ironically more inconvenient set up process. We were pleasantly surprised, then, when Creative proved us wrong with this wireless offering. The HS-1200 mixes audio onboard like other USB headsets, but unlike its competitors it makes use of Creative's X-FI Crystalizer and CMSS-3D technologies. This portable X-Fi implementation comes pretty close to the surround directional accuracy and audio quality of an actual X-Fi soundcard. Despite this, games would only allow us to enable older version of EAX. OpenAL does not work with this headset and Battlefield 2 wouldn't let us set the audio quality to "Ultra." Another drawback is the lack of underwhelming bass; although punchy, there was no real boom.

The wireless functionality impressed us as it worked within 40 feet of the transmitter, through walls and electronics, before fading out. Also, the headset comes with volume control buttons on the earpads themselves, which is a necessity when going wireless. The earpads felt comfortable enough, but they sit on top of your ears, making you sweat a little. And although the microphone performed well in Skype and games, we would have liked to see it retract or detach.

All in all, the audio fidelity of the HS-1200 is excellent and the wireless functionality is near-perfect, but the poor EAX support and small earpads force our smiles to wane.

Verdict: 7

Creative Fatal1ty HS-1000

While this headset carries the official seal of approval from the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) and uber-gamer Fatal1ty, these endorsements are obviously more of a marketing gimmick than a certification of quality, since we don’t think any professional gamer would ever use a budget headset like this one. The HS-1000 contains the same inline acceleration as the HS-1200, and the CMSS-3D and Crystalizer are a welcome inclusion. Despite this, the EAX support remains just as spotty as it was on the HS-1200 and OpenAL support is nowhere to be found. Even with the far more comfortable earpads, this headset’s speakers aren't as accurate as the HS-1200's, producing little if any bass.

Fortunately the mids and highs were a bit more up to par. One thing this headset is good at is maintaining audio clarity at extremely high volumes; there was little distortion when pushing levels to the limit. The Fatal1ty's had the worst microphone among the sets we tested; it would pick up background noise with every bit of fidelity as it did our voice. In addition the recording quality was only mediocre.

For its relatively low price, the Fatal1ty HS-1000 is good, but it simply can't compare to what real professional gamers use in competitive gaming leagues such as the CGS.

Note: In a smart move, Creative is producing analog and USB versions of this headset. Both are identical except for the inclusion of an inline mixer with the USB version and the analog set will cost you much less.

Verdict: 6

Sennheiser PC350

As a company renowned for producing some of the best headphones on the market, Sennheiser recently released their first high-end headset designed specifically for gamers. With this in mind, we were incredibly eager to get our hands on the new PC350's. Out of the box, we noticed the earpads on the headset can fold inwards for portable storage as well as twist 90 degrees to the side allowing you to comfortably lay them flush against your shoulders.

During testing, the PC350's produced the best sound out of the roundup so far; we were able to discern sounds previously unheard when testing other sets. The highs were very crisp while the bass reproduction was accurate down to very low frequencies. We were actually able to make the headphones vibrate with no distortion. The microphone performance was great, although we would have liked to see it tuck away into the headset as it did on the Plantronics GameComm. The set was comfortable to wear for prolonged periods, more or less due to the headset resting on your head rather than your earlobes.

Our only gripe about this headset is that it's a closed-ear design. The unit’s earcups rarely sat identically over each ear; occasionally one earcup would leak in sound while the other wouldn't. We could blame it on our tester’s misshapen head, but it took a good deal of shifting around before the unit completely engulfed our ears letting no sound in from either side. Overall, we think the closed ear design is more annoying than it’s worth.

Even so, the PC350's were the best sounding headset we tested, producing exceptional sound.

Verdict: 9

Medusa 5.1 ProGamer Edition V2

While we had high hopes for these luxurious-looking pair of cans, we were slightly crestfallen after running the Medusa through testing. This is the only headset we tested with 4 speakers per earpad, producing true 5.1 surround sound with simulation. In this regard, it succeeds: the aural positioning was the best we've heard, beating out any other set in the roundup.

Unfortunately this is the only merit the ProGamer's can claim. The 5.1 audio comes at the price of severely reduced audio fidelity. Bass reproduction was almost non-existent and only audible at ear piercing levels while the highs and mids sounded rather drained. The unit’s physical design is misleading as well: soft cushy earpads and headstraps at first looked very inviting, but during actual testing they felt much more rigid and cheap.

If Medusa didn't sacrifice fidelity in place of directional sound and the unit was as comfortable as it looked, this headset would easily have been our favorite in the roundup. Unfortunately, superior directional sound results in downgraded audio quality and the headset is only faux luxury.

Verdict: 5

Razer Piranha

In searching for the ‘king of the cans’, we were bound to find a lemon scraping the bottom of the barrel. The Razer Piranha unfortunately fills that role. Unlike all of the other headsets we tested, the audio sounded completely flat and static.

After wearing them for hours our ears began to hurt as they sat right on top of our ears. Many sounds that we could hear clearly in other headsets were indiscernible on the Piranhas, while the highs and mids were very drained.

Oddly enough however, the headset had punchy bass that held clear even at high volumes. In addition, the microphone quality was respectable. The Piranhas perform great in those areas, but in every other respect they were sub-par.

Verdict: 4

Plantronics GameCom 777

These GameComs shocked us in nearly every area of testing. The 777's come with a detachable "5.1 Dolby Headphone USB soundcard" that allow for either analog or USB input, making it perfect for the LAN party gamer. In addition, the inline mixer is a plug-and-play device, so it requires no software installation.

When testing the USB card we found its directional mixing was surprisingly accurate and close that of an X-Fi soundcard. The headset was also very comfortable to wear with velour padding on both the earcups and the headband. The microphone also folds up into the headset itself, flush with headband – something we’ve never seen before. We wonder why it took so long for companies to implement this seemingly obvious idea, and hopefully we'll see more headsets following suit in the future.

Thankfully, Plantronics decided to build the headset with an open-ear design which results in increased fidelity as well as a more natural listening experience. The highs and mids were crisp and clear while the bass was wholesome and thunderous. Only at VERY high volumes would the bass cut out.

The GameCom’s sexy and comfortable aesthetics, mixed with superb audio make it our favorite headset in the roundup.