HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Podcast #425: Surround Sound – The New Formats

Started by arad • May 14, 2010 • 2 posts

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#1 May 14, 2010 at 6:43 am

We came across an article at Home Theater Magazine about the various 7.1 speaker configurations available today. It got us thinking. Do we take the standard 7.1 configuration: 3 in the front, 2 on the sides, 2 in the back, for granted? If we could put the speakers anywhere we wanted to, where would they go?

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#2 May 14, 2010 at 1:50 pm

DVDs max out at 5.1, so they’re off the table.

Not exactly. DTS supports both a matrixed and discrete 6.1 soundtrack and Dolby Digital also supports a matrixed 6.1 soundtrack on DVD.

That said - I actually removed my rear surrounds from the home theater and used them as front speakers in the Family room with a matching center I bought as a floor model from Audiogon. There just wasn't enough content to use them. And that's the problem I see with this technology - unless there is a discretely mixed channel (whether it's really discrete or just matrixed) I don't think it will work.