Ok, it’s kinda funny how things go. I wrote the previous post about 6 hours ago, telling you how I really liked the new laptop and no problems so far. 2 hours later I started having problems with my laptop. I have a DVD I’m going to play tommorrow. I’m going to hook the laptop up to a TV and run it through there using the S-Video out function. I found that it’s really easy to turn on the S-Video output on this laptop by using the fn key and the key that has lcd/tv on it. Cool, works great. I planned on running the sound out of the laptops audio output into the TV. Here’s were the problems begin. The laptop has two 1/4″ jacks. One is labeled mic the other s/pdif. I pause for a minute because spdif is Sony Philips digital interface. I want a normal analog output from this, but I figure it probably has a setting to make it analog or digital and I plug it in. Nothing, no sound. I grab some headphones, nothing. Hmm. I grab the drivers cd that came with the laptop and run the audio install. A couple of reboots later I have audio out of it. I pop in the DVD and it’s messed up. There’s popping and it seems like the DVD is running at 1/2 speed or something. Hmmmm. I uninstall the DVD software, it’s called ASUS DVD. Basically it’s a LE version of Cyberlink’s Power DVD. I re-install it and audio is the same. MP3s work fine, DVD not so fine. I install a copy of WinDVD, no audio at all now. Install a regular version of Power DVD 6, popping and crackling. Hmmmm. I do a Google (is that really a verb?) on Realtek and find their site and download their HD Audio driver. A couple of reboots later, pop the DVD back in and voila it’s working. So, if you are having wierd audio problems with a Realtek HD audio soundchip head over to their website and download the latest driver. Why is it that laptop manufacturers are so bad about keeping updated drivers on their sites? My Gateway laptop was the same way. Thank you Realtek for not making me rely on my laptop manufacturer! :)
Man, I know this problem. Realtek must have really LOW PRICES for so many manufacturers still use them… Their audio cards have really some serious issues.
When in doubt, update the drivers ;) Always worked. I decided to do so after looking this up, my non-HD Realtek card having problems with SPDIF out, that decides to crackle once in a while, just for the hell of it. Real fun when you are listening to music.
Otherwise, quality-centric, I found it works, as long as you totally disable the analog outputs. If you say “numerical and analogical”, you are doomed to have sub-par quality, as it seems they are outputting using the D/A and then converting to spdif using a loopback in A/D. Always fun.
Oh, and Laptop owner, they do have horribly low prices. Their card is mostly a small D/A A/D multichannel converter in one chip, and everything else is software-driven. Besides, Creative is not much better quality-wise. These days, you need to go pro, or at least I haven’t had any problems with M-Audio so far.
About to give this a try. *fingers crossed*
Thank you so much. I just bought a new HP computer with a Realtek sound card that sounded like a 60’s record. I updated my driver to the newest one and now it runs perfect.
I blame HP more than Realtek, but I wanted to thank everyone for your help.