FebruaMaximumPC 2008 02

how 2 IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME

A-V-C-H-D H-E-L-P

I recently settled on the Panasonic AVCHD

HDC-SD1 digicam, which received a 9

verdict in the November 2007 issue. I have

now begun the daunting task of finding a

software solution to edit, compress, and

burn the film I shoot. As I see it, there are

only two choices that support AVCHD and do

what I need: Nero 8 Ultra and Pinnacle 11.

But which should I pick? I want to edit the

footage I shoot, keep it in high def to burn to

an HD DVD disc, or compress it to a lower

resolution/quality to play on a website. The

more options, the better!

—Rob King

Actually, quite a few other applications

also support AVCHD editing, including

Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus, Sony

Vegas Studio Platinum 8, and Cyberlink

PowerDirector 6. Depending on the pro-

gram, you may have to buy the full version

of one of these apps in order to access

the AVCHD support. Software companies

typically pay a third party for the codec

based on the number of units sold. With

many of today’s video editors, you’re

prompted to activate a codec only if you

need it. This saves the company (and sup-

posedly you) cash, as the software developer

pays only for the codecs its customers use.

For the most part, the editing software’s

functionality will be the same whether you’re

working with DV, HDV, or AVCHD content. You

should make your pick based on the feature

set of the application. The Doctor has not

used the latest version of Vegas, but he is

partial to Pinnacle’s Studio 11, which is much

improved from the previous version.

CONNECTING THE COSMOS

Being the power-hungry person I am, I decided to

build a new machine based on your Dream Machine

(September 2007). I’m having two small issues

connecting the Asus Striker Extreme motherboard

to the Cosmos case, and I’m curious how you guys

resolved them. The first issue concerns the power

LED coming from the case. It’s a two-pin female

connector; the motherboard requires a three-pin

connector. I looked online and was able to find a

store that sells a three-pin female to two-pin male

power LED adapter/connector. Other people have

suggested cutting the existing cable. Help?

—Ray Mileo

We didn’t use the Striker Extreme board; we

used an EVGA 680i SLI board. The Striker

Extreme makes connecting front-panel fea-

tures to the mobo easy by providing Asus’s Q

Connector, a small block of pins on a piece of

plastic. You hook your front-panel connectors to

this block and then plug it right into your moth-

erboard. Should you need to pull the board out,

all you have to do is pull the connector out as

one single block.

To address the pin discrepancy with your

power LED, you’ll need to remove one of the

female connectors, so you can attach them

independently to the mobo’s three-pin config.

Use a small paper clip to pry out the plastic

finger that holds in one of the female con-

nectors. Next, plug each of the connectors

independently into the Q Connector (as shown

in the image) and then plug the connector into

your motherboard.

HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE EAX?

Why is it that when I plug my Logitech

Premium 350 USB headphones into my

notebook and select Hardware and EAX for

Battlefield 2, it actually sounds like EAX is

working? Is this software emulation through

Microsoft’s built-in USB headset drivers, or

does the hardware USB soundcard actually

decode EAX? And what chip is actually in

these damn things? I’m about ready to rip

them open to see what makes them tick.

Finally, is it possible to get hardware

decode EAX 5.0 in a notebook?

—Mark Miller

You didn’t mention what operating system

you’re running, but if it’s Windows Vista,

there’s no hardware audio support, as

Microsoft removed that feature from this

“gaming” OS. What you’re getting is gen-

eral audio that’s perhaps enhanced slightly

by the headset’s drivers. It’s a good sound,

but not a great sound. If you use analog

headphones, an EAX 5.0 card does add

some worthwhile nuances. For example, it

will allow you to crank BF2 audio all the

way to Ultra, which allows 128 simultane-

ous sounds. But, sadly, there are no EAX

5.0-capable audio solutions for notebooks

right now. Even Creative’s X-Fi Xtreme Audio

Notebook isn’t a true hardware X-Fi and is

capped at EAX 4.0 support.

THIS SOUNDS GREA... BRZZZ

I built a nice gaming rig with an EVGA 680i

motherboard and a Sound Blaster Fatality 1

XtremeGamer Professional Series soundcard. The

card works great for a few hours, or sometimes

a few days, then all of a sudden, for no reason at

all, the sound stops working. The card and driv-

ers still appear in the device manager. Nothing

changes. Once the sound stops working, I have to

physically take the card out and reinstall it, then

reinstall the drivers. Have you heard of any prob-

lems with this soundcard?

—Slick

The good news is that there is a known issue

with the nForce 680i SLI and Sound Blaster

X-Fi card. Unfortunately, neither Creative nor

Nvidia has a definite solution for it. Creative

officials told the Doc that the company had

to resort to buying back problem machines

because they could not reproduce, and thus

We separated the wires on our two-pin

female connector to make it fit in the

three-pin space provided by Asus’s

mobo Q Connector.

Ask the Doctor

Diagnosing and curing your PC problems

54 MAXIMUMPC | FEB 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com