Windows Vista includes HD audio enhancement
Two of the five versions of Windows Vista recently priced will include the functions you remember so fondly from Media Center, Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. Although it might get delayed in Europe, probably won't play HD DVD or Blu-ray out of the box and only recently got that silly SD tuner requirement straightened out, a few features giving you good reason to upgrade are the audio upgrades included. Loudness equalization, bass management, speaker fill, room correction, speaker phantoming, surround headphones and microphone arrays are all sonic effects available in the new OS. You'll even be able to set volume independently for separate programs, so you don't get that instant messenger ding full blast when you're trying to watch a movie. They've even apparently improved how the audio portion is handled in the OS, hopefully preventing crashes due to the audio driver. It appears there will be more reason than to have an HTPC in the home theater setup once Vista launches, now lets see if Microsoft swipes the Xbox 360's blade interface like their friends at Sony.
[Via Ars Technica & PVR Wire]
