Disabled stereo remix discussion

[Mark_Lenovo Former Administrator]

All,

This discussion continues to surface, and to formalize the present Lenovo position, a formal tip has been published here.

For many of you, including revduane, drtigerlily, and Mixz1,  I realize the tip doesn't tell you much you don't already know.  

Please bear in mind that there can be a fair amount of lead time on new systems, and the new Montevina based products T400/T500 W500/W700, X200, etc were already well underway.  

Lenovo is aware of the polls, ongoing discussions, and moves of some competitors like Dell, to restore this functionality for at least some models in their portfolio.   Beyond that, I can't speculate on what future direction Lenovo may take on this subject.

Best regards,

Mark

[revduane]

Mark,

Thank you for the information.  I went and read the notice, and one thing makes me a little curious.  The announcement states:

"In the future, Microsoft and audio vendors expect individual applications developers pick up these functions."

I am curious about how application developers can pick up the functions that are missing when the audio chip won't pass the audio on to the OS in the first place?  The statement says that the audio was disabled on the chip.  As a developer myself, I can tell you it is kind of difficult to write software to do something that is not supported at a hardware level.

Could someone please clarify what this means?

Thank you,

Duane.

[mixz1]

For me, as the guy who started the thread on the "other" ThinkPad forum, this "official" resonse is a joke, an insult and yet another example of the baloney being used to hide what has been obvious to all of us from the start. The systems were disabled in response to pressure from the RIAA and other DRM czars. Unfortunately, while Dell left itself a back door to re-enable the functions via new drivers on at least some of their machines, Lenovo took the extra step of killing the chip completely.

What's worse is that there was no notice of this shortcoming. And to all the do-gooders and mods on these forums who like to say that we disappointed users should have done better due diligence, I'd like to ask if they check that their new car purchase comes with tires? Stereo mix was a standard item on notebooks and desktops and a "take-it-for-granted" item on the order sheet, unless you wanted to improve your sound card in your desktop.

I will never buy another machine without stereo mix, and although I love the speed and power of my T61p, between its terrible screen (about 1/3 less bright and readable than my A31p) and crippled sound system, I probably won't be buying any more ThinkPads.

[Yakumo]

Interesting thanks mark, thats the first time I've heard the blame put on Microsoft for this particular issue I think, i wonder what they've got to say about this.

Especially as clearly even by the images on that site, the functionality was fully present in Vista before, and still is on many systems.And is working for people buying other hardware solutions still also (eg. creative expansion cards)

Message Edited by Yakumo on 11-24-2008 11:07 PM

[eecon]

Maybe we will hear from MS sooner that expected:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afM4cju6NBv4&refer=home

[outouser]

Is this stereo mix issue fixed in new Lenovo models T400, W500, X200?

[eecon]

---

outouser wrote:
Is this stereo mix issue fixed in new Lenovo models T400, W500, X200?

---

No.

[mailxiaodan]

Hi, Mark,

I'm adding to why the stereo mix is important to me.

I prefer to record some of the audio conversation between my family members and myself. Audio archive is very important and easily missed part of the family history. (Btw, both parties agree on this, therefore no legal issues, and I don't think Lenovo/ Dell / etc would disable the function owing to privacy considerations anyway).

I also use the function to create some of my own recordings. Never thought this would be gone .... I think I have to roll back to my T43 for some tasks.. what a pity..

Xiaodan

[eecon]

You may soon get your wish about re-enabling Stereo Mix in future models.

Apparently, Chinese consumers and the Chinese government are getting a bit impatient with the current Lenovo management's policy of trying to please the wishes of other countries (per the Wall Street Journal):

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=474432#474432

[mailxiaodan]

The problem exists for all major brands, including Dell. It's bringing inconvenience to many consumers.

I don't think it makes any significant difference that Lenovo grew from China. Even Legend Holdings behind Lenovo can't be referred to in contribution to any explanation of this stereo-mixer issue --- as many other posts pointed out, it seems more plausible to be an issue between Microsoft and audio chip makers ..