how critical is the diffrence cetween 5.1 and 7.1?

[LeorD]

how critical is the diffrence cetween 5.1 and 7.1?

[Ghost of Vincent Price]

Its not critical. 5.1 is fine.

[LeorD]

well thats what i thoguht but i just wanted to be clear on that..

[crazzeto]

If you're AVR and speakers are compatible with bi-amping I'd try that first... It's a lot cheaper, and while I haven't done it my self I hear that there is actually a bit of a differnce.

[/dev/null]

Critical? Mmmm.. I wouldn't call it that, but it can serve a purpose.

In most cases, the two(or one) back channels will be de-matrixing their source from the two side/surround channels.
For those of you who don't remember, Dolby Pro-Logic is what's called a 4:2:4 matrix. The four channels, left-center-right-surround, are mixed into two channels(remember folks, this is ALL analog). In the decoding, anything that's true mono will appear in the center channel. Anything out of phase goes to the surrounds. Dolby PLIIx basically applies the left-center-right de-matrixing to the side channels to derive the rear channels.

So, what does this mean to you? With a 5.1 system, here's what happens:
If you are the only, or one of the only people listening to the movie/music, you'll be in the 'sweet spot', and the common material in the side channels will seem to be coming from behind you. Now if you have a larger room, or people sitting way out of the sweet spot, the (surround) common material will most likely seem to come from the side speaker their closest to.
If you use a 7.1 system, the (surround) common material will always come from the rear of the room, no matter where you sit, because there are actually speaker there. You don't rely on imaging to produce the 'rear' channel.

Now if you listen to a Blu-ray disc that is mixed in 7.1, the rear two channels are mixed into the side surrounds to produce the 'phantom' rear.

Make sense? Good. Class dismissed, don't forget to read pages 231-265. You'll be tested on it in the morning!

Peter M

[LeorD]

Originally Posted by /dev/null

Critical? Mmmm.. I wouldn't call it that, but it can serve a purpose.

In most cases, the two(or one) back channels will be de-matrixing their source from the two side/surround channels.
For those of you who don't remember, Dolby Pro-Logic is what's called a 4:2:4 matrix. The four channels, left-center-right-surround, are mixed into two channels(remember folks, this is ALL analog). In the decoding, anything that's true mono will appear in the center channel. Anything out of phase goes to the surrounds. Dolby PLIIx basically applies the left-center-right de-matrixing to the side channels to derive the rear channels.

So, what does this mean to you? With a 5.1 system, here's what happens:
If you are the only, or one of the only people listening to the movie/music, you'll be in the 'sweet spot', and the common material in the side channels will seem to be coming from behind you. Now if you have a larger room, or people sitting way out of the sweet spot, the (surround) common material will most likely seem to come from the side speaker their closest to.
If you use a 7.1 system, the (surround) common material will always come from the rear of the room, no matter where you sit, because there are actually speaker there. You don't rely on imaging to produce the 'rear' channel.

Now if you listen to a Blu-ray disc that is mixed in 7.1, the rear two channels are mixed into the side surrounds to produce the 'phantom' rear.

Make sense? Good. Class dismissed, don't forget to read pages 231-265. You'll be tested on it in the morning!

Peter M

lol.. Tnx!

[Chickengas]

It certainly isn't worth the extra cost of the amp and additional speakers. You really don't hear much difference at all. If you have the extra speakers and your amp is 7.1, then go for it, it won't hurt anything, but it certainly isn't worth spending $$ on.

[Godstar]

Practically none at all, since 7.1 soundtracks are about 3-5% of all HD disks and 0 DVD's I know of. It's a 'cool' thing that they use to sell systems/receivers, but in reality the software hasn't caught up yet to make it really worthwhile.

[DrMaustus]

I guess it depends on your receiver/home theater setup. I agree with most of the people on here that it's not worth it to invest new money in a 7.1 system if you already have a good 5.1 system. That said, I'm building a home theater now and I'm doing 7.1 there because I already have a 7.1 capable receiver.

In addition, about 10% of my movies have a 7.1. soundtrack, and I only think more and more studios will start supporting this feature (Lionsgate seems to use 7.1 on all their releases).

[STR8UP&DOWN]

I have 2 questions:

I'm looking at getting this receiver ...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1200703058207

It's listed as $299.99, but it's actually $249.99 (in the cart) and it's the lowest priced one that's got the HDMI video & audio capability. It's a 7.1, though, and I only have a 5.1 speaker setup ... and don't even have the room to expand to a 7.1 setup.

1. Is this a good HDMI receiver for $250? (I might be able to get 15% off, too)

2. Will I miss a lot using a 5.1 speaker setup with this 7.1 receiver?

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by STR8UP&DOWN

I have 2 questions:

I'm looking at getting this receiver ...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1200703058207

It's listed as $299.99, but it's actually $249.99 (in the cart) and it's the lowest priced one that's got the HDMI video & audio capability. It's a 7.1, though, and I only have a 5.1 speaker setup ... and don't even have the room to expand to a 7.1 setup.

1. Is this a good HDMI receiver for $250? (I might be able to get 15% off, too)

2. Will I miss a lot using a 5.1 speaker setup with this 7.1 receiver?

Are you able to afford more? Honestly I would consider the onkyo 606 the bare min AVR i would be happy with unless budget is the number one over riding factor.

Further, I didn't read too far but do you know this accepts PCM over HDMI for a fact? Or is it a HDMI pass through only? I just wouldn't buy anything that didn't at the very least accept PCM over HDMI, and I have a strong preference for AVR's that can also handle the decoding of all the lossless codecs. Good integrated video processing is also a nice bonus.

[STR8UP&DOWN]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

Are you able to afford more? Honestly I would consider the onkyo 606 the bare min AVR i would be happy with unless budget is the number one over riding factor.

Further, I didn't read too far but do you know this accepts PCM over HDMI for a fact? Or is it a HDMI pass through only? I just wouldn't buy anything that didn't at the very least accept PCM over HDMI, and I have a strong preference for AVR's that can also handle the decoding of all the lossless codecs. Good integrated video processing is also a nice bonus.

I read the reviews and yes, it does accept PCM over HDMI. It doesn't decode the lossless codecs, but my PS3 does. So for around $250, I can get lossless ... even 7.1 if I ever decide to expand. I just won't get the "pretty lights" on the front.

So ... what do you think?

[/dev/null]

You'll find that you'll lose two of the aforementioned "pretty lights", and that a few of the 7.1 only decoders won't be available. You will have the ability to add two more speakers later on, though.
I don't know enough about the Sony to say either way. My usual suggestion, is to buy the most for what you have, keeping with your goals. Looking to upgrade later is always good, but try not to sacrifice too much quality in the process.

Peter M

[STR8UP&DOWN]

Originally Posted by /dev/null

You'll find that you'll lose two of the aforementioned "pretty lights", and that a few of the 7.1 only decoders won't be available. You will have the ability to add two more speakers later on, though.
I don't know enough about the Sony to say either way. My usual suggestion, is to buy the most for what you have, keeping with your goals. Looking to upgrade later is always good, but try not to sacrifice too much quality in the process.

Peter M

I didn't understand what you meant by "a few of the 7.1 only decoders won't be available". The PS3 is the decoder, right?

Also, if the receiver is 7.1, but I'm only using 5.1, does the receiver recognize that those two speaker terminals aren't being used and send that sound to the other speakers ... like the normal downmix to 5.1?

[/dev/null]

No, I was referring to Dolby Surround EX, and a few of the other 7.1 only modes. The PS3 will be fine.
Yes, the receiver will down-mix the rear four channels to two.

Peter M