Hey there, I've now registered! (formerley as AlanGrant). Anyway, I have a 5.1 digital surround system, and I have certainly heard the benefits both at my cousin's house and at the cinema of 6.1 surround sound. But is there any need to create 7.1 and 8.1 for home theatre. I mean, your home theatre is generally a lot smaller than the cinema, so what is the point of going up to 8.1? Sony seem to be keen on this, what with their SDDS. And another question - will 5.1 sound be phased out, or will it happily co-exist with 8.1?
"Anyway, I have a 5.1 digital surround system, and I have certainly heard the benefits both at my cousin's house and at the cinema of 6.1 surround sound. But is there any need to create 7.1 and 8.1 for home theatre. I mean, your home theatre is generally a lot smaller than the cinema, so what is the point of going up to 8.1? Sony seem to be keen on this, what with their SDDS. And another question - will 5.1 sound be phased out, or will it happily co-exist with 8.1?"
There are some listening environments that are large enough to warrant the use of 7.1 and 8.1 amplification.
However, 7.1 and 8.1 for home theater uses the extra channels for sharing the rear surronuds (and the rear surround center for 6.1 Dolby EX and DTS-ES material). This is to cover for any potential "dead spots" in the listening environment that a 5.1 setup might leave behind.
7.1 Sony Dynamic Digital Sound has the extra channels mainly for the fronts behind the perforated screen in an equipped cinema. SDDS has a left, left center, center, right center, and right channels for improved forward sound directionality and to cover any "dead spots" in the auditorium (especially big auditoriums). The two remaining channels are allocated for surround effects.
Not all films with SDDS will take advantage of the 7.1 capability, however, as some films with this format have been mixed in 5.1, taking the right center and left center channels out of the equation. SDDS is also strictly a theater format. Sony has rightly indicated that introducing another surround format for the home would just be redundant with Dolby Digital and DTS already in place, which is one reason why SDDS has remained exclusively in the theater circuit. Another is the fact that you'd have to make room for five front speakers to cover SDDS' forward directional capabilities; introducing SDDS for the home as another 5.1/6.1 format won't signidicantly set it apart from Dolby Digital and DTS to make it worthwhile. - Reinhart