Sound Guidelines
4. Cautions Regarding the Sound Output Modes
4.1 Hardware
streaming
The Hardware Streaming feature of Nintendo GameCube™ does not have monaural playback capabilities,
and can only play stereo sound data in stereo. However, the monaural AV cable used to connect the
Nintendo GameCube
TM
and a monaural television converts stereo sound to monaural sound by mixing the
L channel and R channel in the monaural AV cable. Therefore, there is no need to provide hardware
streaming data that supports monaural playback when the sound output mode is monaural.
However, you need to be careful in the following situations:
•
The L channel and R channel of the hardware streaming sounds have opposing phase waveforms thus
cancelling each other out. This results in the sound produced by hardware streaming with mixing using
the monaural AV cable to be cancelled out. It could also result in problems like the sound being played
at an extremely low level.
•
In a game where the sounds played with hardware streaming are a main feature, and the quality of the
game is affected by the mixing associated with a monaural AV cable.
•
Due to mixing by the monaural AV cable the user is lead to mistakenly believe there is a problem with
their Nintendo GameCube
TM
or with their software.
To deal with these situations you need to create monaural playback hardware streaming data separate
from that for stereo playback.
However, with hardware streaming you can only playback stereo data in stereo. So even with data for
monaural playback, you need to have 2 channels, L and R (L and R channels have same data), as with
stereo data. This causes the entire data size to be doubled in comparison to data that only includes stereo
playback. This will of course have an effect on your open Game Disc space.
In addition, if you are concerned about users connecting the Nintendo GameCube
TM
and the monaural
television with a stereo AV cable, you need to be careful in the following situations:
•
The pan for the playback sound with hardware streaming has moved in an extreme fashion to either L
or R. This results in the sound produced by hardware streaming not being heard or being played at an
extremely low level when a stereo AV cable is used to connect the monaural television and the
Nintendo GameCube
TM
(only the L or the R plug of the stereo AV cable is actually connected to the
television).
•
In a game where the sounds played with hardware streaming are a main feature in an environment as
described above, and the quality of the game is affected.
•
In an environment like that described above and the user is lead to mistakenly believe there is a
problem with their Nintendo GameCube
TM
or with their software.
To deal with these situations you need to create monaural playback hardware streaming data separate
from that for stereo playback. Or you can include a statement like the one below in the game’s Instruction
Booklet urging the user to exercise caution.
If you are using a monaural television and connect the Nintendo GameCube
TM
to this with a stereo AV
cable, the game’s sound may not be played back correctly. Please use a monaural AV cable to
connect your Nintendo GameCube
TM
to a monaural television.
4.2 If you use Dolby Surround
MusyX and AX support Dolby Surround encoding. If you use Dolby Surround, you must obtain approval
from Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
DOL-06-0030-001-A2
8
© 2001-2002 Nintendo of America Inc.
Released: 2/8/02
