7.1 surround?

[isuguy]

Hey i'm just wondering what actually plays 7.1 sound right now? because nothing on tv or movies play 7.1 right? please educate me supposedly tv and movies will be going to that in the future but is it worth it now?

 

[Johnd]

Yes, there are dvd's and receivers that play 7.1 (6.1 actually, expanded to 7.1)

You need:
1) a receiver capable of 7.1 channels;
2) a dvd that is mastered in 6.1 (-es or -ex version); and,
3) a 6.1 or 7.1 speaker setup.

I think well worth it for those movies that are es...if you have the room for the rear speakers.

 

[avaserfi]

There really isn't much 7 channel source material. Some video games make full use of it and that is about it. Currently there are also some Blu-ray discs (ex. House of 1000 Corpses) and most likely some HD DVDs that are in the works with specs claiming to have seven discrete channels, but nothing has come of this yet.

The other way to take good use of 7 is through Dobly ProLogic IIx processing. Basically what this processing does is take a five/six channel signal and matrix out the audio to the extra two channels for a more full surround stage. PLIIx does a very good job at separating left and right sequences and sending them to the appropriate channel. With five channel native audio PLIIx just uses the surrounds for this information with six channel native audio PLIIx will matrix out the information that would normally be sent to the one rear surround.

Right now I wouldn't say 7 channels is really worth it unless you have a rather large room. While it does add to movies I would say focus on your front three speakers before getting more speakers .

Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

Do you go to Iowa State University (ISU)?

 

[isuguy]

negative on the iowa state.......it would be indiana state, home of larry bird! gotta get that one claim to fame out there. at any rate, thanks for the info