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| Intel has worked with the industry to
develop a new specification for integrated audio that is capable of
delivering the features and high-end performance of an add-in audio
card. Intel® High Definition Audio (Intel® HD Audio) is capable of
playing back more channels at higher quality than previous integrated
audio formats. In addition, Intel High Definition Audio has the
technology needed to support the latest and greatest audio content. By
enabling enhanced usage models, Intel High Definition Audio, when
combined with the Intel® 925, 915 and 910 Express chipsets, will also
change how computer users interact with sound. |
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| When AC‘97 was initially developed, users
were typically listening to only music and movies with stereo sound.
With the success of DVD movies encoded with Dolby* Digital and DTS*
multi-channel audio formats, users have become accustomed to listening
in full surround sound with anywhere from six to eight speakers. While
AC‘97 technology has struggled to keep pace with all these advancements,
Intel High Definition Audio is designed specifically for the
high-quality multi-channel audio experiences. Newer audio and video
encoding/decoding algorithms also enable a higher-quality listening
experience. More and more consumers are moving their computers into
the living room or family room so they can enjoy digital music or
movies throughout the house on state-of-the-art multi-channel stereo
systems or big screen TVs. With better speakers connected to their
computers, the limitations of current computer sound subsystems, whether
integrated or add-in, can ruin the digital experience.
Many consumers are also starting to ask for the ability to play
two different audio streams through their PC at the same
time-perhaps classical music in the study and a movie in the living
room. These demands cannot be met with previous audio solutions. |
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| Intel HD Audio delivers significant
improvements over previous generation integrated audio and sound
cards. Intel HD Audio hardware is capable of delivering the support and
sound quality for up to eight channels at 192 kHz/32-bit quality, while
the AC‘97 specification can only support six channels at 48 kHz/20-bit.
In addition, Intel HD Audio is architected to prevent the occasional
glitches or pops that other audio solutions can have by providing
dedicated system bandwidth for critical audio functions. |
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| Dolby Laboratories* selected Intel HD Audio
to bring Dolby-quality surround sound technologies to the PC, as part of
their recently announced PC Logo Program. The combination of these
technologies marks an important milestone in delivering quality digital
audio to consumers. Intel HD Audio will be able to support all the Dolby
technologies, including the latest Dolby Pro Logic* IIx, which makes it
possible to enjoy older stereo content in 7.1 channel surround sound.
Consumers also need to play back two different audio tracks, such
as a CD and a DVD simultaneously, which can‘t be done using current
audio solutions. Intel HD Audio features multi-streaming capabilities
that give users the ability to send two or more different audio streams
to different places at the same time, from the same PC. |
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| Send a game's sound through 5.1 speakers while the
Internet chatting audio is sent through your headset. |
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| Send a DVD movie with 5.1 audio to a surround sound
system in the living room, while you listen to digital music and surf
the Web on the PC. |
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| Microsoft* has chosen Intel HD Audio as
the main architecture for their new Unified Audio Architecture* (UAA),
which provides one driver that will support all Intel HD Audio
controllers and codecs. While the Microsoft driver is expected to
support basic Intel HD Audio functions, codec vendors are expected to
differentiate their solutions by offering enhanced Intel HD audio
solutions. The result is high-quality PC based audio that delivers a
seamless convergence of digital entertainment between the PC and
consumer electronic devices. |
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| Intel HD Audio also enables enhanced voice
capture through the use of array microphones, giving users more
accurate speech input. While other audio implementations have limited
support for simple array microphones, Intel HD Audio supports larger
array microphones. By increasing the size of the array microphone, users
get incredibly clean input through better noise cancellation and beam
forming. This produces higher-quality input to voice recognition, Voice
over IP (VoIP), and other voice-driven activities. Intel HD Audio
also provides improvements that support better jack retasking. The
computer can sense when a device is plugged into an audio jack,
determine what kind of device it is, and change the port function if the
device has been plugged into the wrong port. For example, if a
microphone is plugged into a speaker jack, the computer will recognize
the error and can change the jack to function as a microphone jack. This
is an important step in getting audio to a point where it ‘just
works‘-users won‘t need to worry about getting the right device plugged
into the right audio jack. |
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| Designed for "glitch-free" audio playback,
multi-streaming, jack retasking, and UAA support, Intel HD Audio offers
an audio solution for years to come. As one of the many new technologies
introduced with the Intel® 925, 915 and 910 Express chipset family,
Intel HD Audio enhances the end-user experience and enables the
convergence of digital entertainment for both PCs and Consumer
Electronics (CE) products. |
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Integrated Audio
for Today and Tomorrow