My problem with creat

Question

It isn't just vista that they crippled the drivers on. I had an x-fi platinum once that with the original disk would support dolby and DTS decoding. With that I decided to update the drivers to the newest version as I usually do and came to find out that all of a sudden my decoding features came up missing. At first I thought it was a glitch so uninstalled the drivers and then reinstalled the updated version. Still I had the missing decoding features with the UPDATED drivers. Once I uninstalled those drivers and reinstalled the drivers that came on the CD itself I now found myself with the dolby and DTS features re-enabled. This agitated me a little bit as I'm sure you could imagine that to get their updated version of the drivers I had to sacrafice a feature that my card was supposed to support and to this day I still couldn't figure out why one should do that to update.
My second problem also stems from the dolby and DTS decoding features with the x-fi fatalty series. Right on the back of th box it shows a great picture showing DTS and dolby digital leading one to believe that the card supports those features like the previous x-fi cards do. If you look at the support files that came with the x-fi fatalty it showed that support with dolby and DTS decoding was possible through the card. on creatives websit back then if you went to the specific fatalty card and then from there to get support for it there was specific instructions on how to use dolby and DTS decoding and showing you which tab you needed to click on and how to use it. yet every time I went to where?I was told to go that tab was just flat out missing. Not once was there mention that the card did not do dolby or DTS decoding. not once did they say that the card only acts as a passthrough and that the software being used has to be setup for SPDIF. All that was lacking and instead all that was showing was go here click here and select either passthrough or onboard decoding.
Even their own tech support at first wouldn't tell me this feature was no longer offered. In the original email I gave my specific model and serial number for the card. first email they sent me was just to uninstall the drivers and move the card to a different pci slot and then also give them the info from start > run > ctsi.exe. did all that and even installed on a fresh install of windows with the same problem. then it was on to install the update off the website (read the above paragraph on how well that would of worked to begin with). so I email them back clarifying I have tried that and that I know the original x-fi line had support for decoding and bluntly asked does this model support internal decoding as well.
their reply this time around? we don't think you have the fatality pro series and instead only have the x-fi xtremegamer. now they want the model number on the card, disc id, and?the black ink stamp on the card itself. gave them that and then next reply was back on to trouble shooting my problem telling me to go to entertainment mode and just click the decoder tab that I've been missing and telling them is missing from the start and this time even sent them a picture of my console.
ok so now in their own words "As I have checked the CTSi that you have attached previously, I noticed
that your Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatalty Pro is listed as
Creative X-Fi Audio Processor instead of Creative SB X-Fi .... This
means the X-Fi XtremeGamer is being detected as a generic sound card
from Microsoft Windows." and want me to uninstall and reinstall ONCE AGAIN!!!
so once again I bluntly asked does this card do onboard decoding and if not can I get a list of those models that do support it. all I get FINALLY is this reply "The X-Fi Fatalty Pro does not have a built-in decoder for Dolby
Digital/DTS. For you to be able to do Dolby Digital/DTS decoding, we
recommend that you try to download and use Cyberlink PowerDVD which
comes with your sound card. Decoding with PowerDVD would have the same
effect as decoding using the sound card."
why could I not get a straight answer from them on this till how many emails later? of course I couldn't call creative as their number was nowhere to be found so instead I had to waste my time doing their email support. by this time it was too late to return the product to the store for a refund and I'm stuck with a crippled card. This is their product they should know with the info they asked for that this did not support dolby and DTS decoding.
Why is it that their website was giving faulty information? why is it that the CD that came with the software gave faulty information? why is it that their tech's don't even seem to know about their own product?why is this card crippled for dolby and DTS coding in xp? this I know has nothing to do with the OS itself as I was still on XP at the time.
Why is it my x-fi platinum I would have to sacrafice features to update my driver?
This is not a company I would like to have products from anymore. I stuck with them cause it is what I knew since I built my first computer that had a SB awe32. Anymore though I would be willing to try something new though to get away from creative with their heavy handed tactics ,ignorance and misleading products. ll

Answer 1

well thank you mods for at least letting me voice a complaint but I will say a better soluttion would be to see how this problem can be addressed though. I would like to stay with?creative name but I can not say that I'm pleased with the company at the moment.