Dolby Digital Live (DDL) is a real-time hardware encoding technology for interactive media such as video games. It converts any audio signals on a PC or game console into the 5.1-channel Dolby Digital format and transports it via a single S/PDIF cable. A similar technology known as DTS Connect is available from competitor DTS.
Dolby Digital Live is currently available in sound cards from manufacturers such as Creative Labs, TerraTec, Turtle Beach, HT OMEGA SYSTEM, Auzentech and Asus using C-Media chipsets. The SoundStorm, used for the Xbox game console and certain nForce2-based PCs, used an early form of this technology.
DDL is also available on motherboards with codecs such as Realtek's ALC882D, ALC888DD and ALC888H.
DDL is also supported by all Creative X-Fi based sound cards, but is intentionally disabled in the drivers by Creative on all but the Auzentech Prelude. A programmer named Daniel Kawakami has re-enabled this feature and fixed other bugs in the Windows Vista drivers in a series of modified drivers that he made available. Creative Labs has alleged that Daniel has violated their intellectual property and has demanded he cease distributing his modified drivers.[7][8] Creative has since released the X-Fi Titanium sound card which fully supports Dolby Digital Live.
In September 2008 Creative began selling the "Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect Pack" software which un-cripples Dolby Digital Live on Creative's X-Fi sound cards. It can be purchased and downloaded from Creative.[9]
An important benefit of this technology is that it enables the use of digital multichannel sound with consumer sound cards, which are otherwise limited to PCM stereo or multichannel analog.
