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New Motherboard Details?
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SilentPanda
Moderator emeritus
5 unidentified connectors? I hope they are an audio/video connection of some sort but I would think if they were your standard RCA jacks (for component video) and/or mini-jacks for sound they would at least tell us that they look like a/v jacks. Then again if they had no clue they might describe them anyhow which they didn't.
I hope these unidentified connecters are for the new media mac. RCA video input/output. S-video output. Spdif-in/out.
Frobozz
macrumors 65816
This is only my own ignorance, but on the back of a receiver with 5.1 it has 6 connectors. One for each channel of audio. I am assuming that there is some pre or post-processing if you have only 3 connectors? Is there a custom speaker system to handle this?
For example: left, right, and center (3). The location of the audio (back and front) is done in software/hardware, and routed to the speaker it needs on a receiver or standalone system. The low frequencies are routed to a subwoofer, etc. Would this be right? I'm confused!
BUZZ, thanks for playing our game, jimmy tell him about our consolation prize....
Anyways, SPDIF can carry digital audio in a variety of formats, least of which is PCM Stereo.
http://organics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~viveks/cs150/labs/project/SPDIF_explanation.pdf
Now granted, the problem now becomes, how do you get your 5.1 audio into a compressed format in realtime? I guess that question is best answered by the game developers and apple themselves.
A stereo mini jack can handle more than one line i.e. a set of headphones, one jack = one left + one right channel. So therefore if you have three stereo mini jacks you could have two speakers running off of each jack and thus 6 speaker 5.1 sound. Now just hope it's true 😀
edit: though I don't know why they would use mini jacks for 5.1?
Is this possible - Mac lives by the stereo/Tv acting as a PVR and feeding music /soundtracks to surround amp. Then screen and B/T keyboeard are in a different room with wireless connections. (power direct to screen).
This is the sort of setup I want and this m/board seems to sort the Mac audio issues. Am I dreaming or am I just waiting for Steve to burst my bubble 🙄
Here's what I reckon it could be :
2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 1.1 (for keyboard/mouse)
3 Audio Connectors :
stereo line-in
stereo line-out
Apple Speaker connector (0r whatever it's called)
All 24bit, like the MDD models have.
The unidentified connectors :
3 together
All 3 could be RCA style outputs to allow an additional 3 speakers for surround sound.
An adapter could be supplied so the back 2 speakers would connect to the apple speaker jack and another adapter could be provided to allow the analogue line-out to be used as the subwoofer output.
2 together
SP/DIF in
SP/DIF out
I hope it's 5.1 audio, then I wouldn't have to buy a sound card when I buy the 970 machine
Could anybody do a translation of this?
Could anybody do a translation of this?
Originally posted by pyrotoaster
================
quote:
"If MacBidouille is actually posting real info here, all they'd need is one really good source in just the right place. "
================
From their articles, it sounds like their inside source is in manufactruring. All of the info is from a non-engineer point of view, and the info on the color of the MLB and the wrapped boxes are similar to aapl manufacturing practice.
The manufacturing plant in Ireland makes PowerPCs and servers, and has a European call support facility, and probably where the source is from.
================
quote:
"If MacBidouille is actually posting real info here, all they'd need is one really good source in just the right place. "
================
From their articles, it sounds like their inside source is in manufactruring. All of the info is from a non-engineer point of view, and the info on the color of the MLB and the wrapped boxes are similar to aapl manufacturing practice.
The manufacturing plant in Ireland makes PowerPCs and servers, and has a European call support facility, and probably where the source is from.
Um, and these new fangled things called DVD players 😀
Seriously, the lack of a standard digital output (preferrably optical TOSLINK) on Macs is a bit of a pain for watching DVDs.
ZildjianKX
macrumors 68000
Btw, still on the audio theme, IF the 970s are going to use HyperTransport in any way, and Apple decided to go with nVidia for the chipset (since they have HT experience from the nForce 3) it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the nForce's 'realtime dolby digital encoding' on multi-channel audio.
However, its probably unlikely that Apple would choose nVidia for the chipset. Though that doesn't rule out Apple have approached Dolby Labs for an AC3 encoding license for their own chipset.
However, its probably unlikely that Apple would choose nVidia for the chipset. Though that doesn't rule out Apple have approached Dolby Labs for an AC3 encoding license for their own chipset.
I keep hearing this, but I wish someone would tell it to my MDD, it only claims to support 16bit audio.
Of course, it doesn't upset me much, I have a m-audio card in there for 24/96, but still...
Postal
macrumors regular
Before I say anything else: remember that it's not so simple as whether or not MacBidouille is telling the truth or not; they claim that they aren't the sources for the rumours, they just pass them along. It's possible that MacBidouille is honestly posting what the sources say, but the sources themselves are wrong. "Don't shoot the messenger," and so on.
On to the rumour at hand: assuming this report is true, I would personally suspect that the extra connectors are for audio - though you would expect someone who can recognize audio connectors to know that he/she is looking at an audio setup. They could potentially be for video instead.
We also don't know if those unidentified connectors are on the inside or outside. If on the inside, Serial ATA is a distinct possibility.
On to the rumour at hand: assuming this report is true, I would personally suspect that the extra connectors are for audio - though you would expect someone who can recognize audio connectors to know that he/she is looking at an audio setup. They could potentially be for video instead.
We also don't know if those unidentified connectors are on the inside or outside. If on the inside, Serial ATA is a distinct possibility.
deepkid
macrumors regular
Don't be silly. Its common knowledge that no one outside of Steve's first layer knows anything about what's not available, with regard to new products.
He was probably looking at you, refraining from showing his stressful natural reply when confronted by overzealous fans. Some of store workers follow the sites just like you and me, and are not privy to some internal Apple product grapevine. This, from a couple of the store reps I've spoken to.
They barely know anything until the product hits their shelves.
hvfsl
macrumors 68000
There are people saying on this thread that there would be no use for 5.1 sound on the Mac since nothing supports it, well thats only true because (as far as I know) there are no 5.1 sound cards on the Mac. All pc apps that use sound now support at least 4.1 sound. If the new Macs do have 5.1 sound I will at last be able to listen to DVDs as they are meant to be heard and Macs that are meant to be good at sound will have finally court up with PCs in the sound department. I dont know why people use current Macs for sound since PCs are so much better, nothing on the Mac beats a PC with a creative audigy2 or fire DMX 24/96.
USB 2 is backwards compatible, so having a separate 1.1 controller would be pointless.
However, FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) is not backwards compatible. The cables are different and the connectors are different. There is no way to pipe FireWire 400 traffic through a FireWire 800 cable while maintaining adequate throughput. The only option is using an adapter, which inherently slows things down.
Thus MacB's claim about the board having two FW800 ports and one FW400 strikes me as absurd. Now, if Sony camcorders, hard disks etc. widely supported FW800, this wouldn't be a problem, but that's just not the case. The current setup, with one FireWire 800 and two FireWire 400 ports in the tower Macs, makes a hell of a lot more sense.
C'mon people, think about it: the iPod uses FireWire 400. If you had an iPod and a MoBo like MacBidouille is describing, you'd have to unplug your iPod to plug in your camcorder or your external hard disk.
Either MacB's post concerns a proto board or it's just wishful thinking.
Actually, there are a few 5.1 sound cards, m-audio even have a 7.1 card that claims to support the mac (the Revolution 7.1). CoreAudio happily supports 'Multi-channel' devices (most drivers even provide both 'paired stereo' groups and a single 'Multi-channel' device that offers all the channels together) whether apple's DVD player app support them for surround playback, I have no idea, I haven't tried (despite having a card with a 'multi-channel' option)
As for 'nothing beating a creative audigy2' they are sadly, very poor choices for pro-audio or even prosumer-audio work.
Most 'pro-audio' cards for the PC also have Mac drivers, a few don't, but the majority do, even some of the terratec cards (although not the DMX cards *yet*)
Sayer
macrumors 6502a
Do more than "want"
You know most PeeCee mobo's don't have optical output for 5.1 surround sound, so why should a Mac?
Just about all PeeCees get audio support via a PCI card, and it has tons of features built in and lots of software support.
SoundBlaster tried this one the Mac, once, and apparently very few people bought it which translated into weak support for drivers which meant weak support in Mac software.
So before you whine about what Apple isn't doing in some particular area, ask yourself why you aren't whining to some PCI card maker to support the Mac and when they do you actually BUY their product and hound them to make it work to the same levels on the Mac as Windoze.
Or why is there no open-source route to high-end Audio PCI cards for Linux? Do Linux users not care about 5.1 surround from DVDs played on their PeeCees?
If there is some open source drivers for sound cards why are they not being ported over to Mac OS X? Not enough talented programmers? Could be. Or is there simply not any interest in inserting a PCI card to add what you THINK should be built in from the start? And yet you whine about how many PCI slots a G4 DOESN'T have.
Mac users are the biggest bunch of hipocritical whiners ever. "Wahhh they don't make workstation graphics cards for the Mac, but even if they did I wouldn't want to spend $2k for one because I am sooooo pooooooor! Apple should make one for me and include it for FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
You know most PeeCee mobo's don't have optical output for 5.1 surround sound, so why should a Mac?
Just about all PeeCees get audio support via a PCI card, and it has tons of features built in and lots of software support.
SoundBlaster tried this one the Mac, once, and apparently very few people bought it which translated into weak support for drivers which meant weak support in Mac software.
So before you whine about what Apple isn't doing in some particular area, ask yourself why you aren't whining to some PCI card maker to support the Mac and when they do you actually BUY their product and hound them to make it work to the same levels on the Mac as Windoze.
Or why is there no open-source route to high-end Audio PCI cards for Linux? Do Linux users not care about 5.1 surround from DVDs played on their PeeCees?
If there is some open source drivers for sound cards why are they not being ported over to Mac OS X? Not enough talented programmers? Could be. Or is there simply not any interest in inserting a PCI card to add what you THINK should be built in from the start? And yet you whine about how many PCI slots a G4 DOESN'T have.
Mac users are the biggest bunch of hipocritical whiners ever. "Wahhh they don't make workstation graphics cards for the Mac, but even if they did I wouldn't want to spend $2k for one because I am sooooo pooooooor! Apple should make one for me and include it for FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"