7.1 is it goin to take off?

Harrocks

If you have invested in a 7.1 set up do you feel let down by the lack of 7.1 blu rays available?Or are you happy to let your amp do its work on the likes of dts master5.1 and dolby truehd 5.1 and boost them using doly pro-logicIIx or Dolby ex or dts neo6.Any opinions on this subject welcome.
Lionsgate seem to be the only producers interested in 7.1 releases.

Idleater

I don't own any 7.1 dvds or BRs but would be interested to hear what they specifically add to the SBL/SBR channels.

Currently I'm running a single rear channel, and don't notice the psuedo sweeping effect that the AVP does, so I guess I'm happy with it at present.

I didn't specifically invest in extra setup for 7.1, the AVP does it by default, and I bought one 5 channel power amp for surround duties and another 2 channel power amp for Front L+R. I run no centre.

Mathiasb

7.1, 9.1 and 9.2 are definitely worth it, if you have a big enough room. If the room is big enough, the gaps between the speakers in a 5.1 setup would be too large, which would result in a sub-optimal sound.

Harrocks

Added the 2 extra surbk speakers on friday tried dvds 1st the avr didnt do a grt job on using the surrounds and surroundbks with both dts5.1 and dd5.1.Tried transformers blu ray next which is dolby truehd 5.1 and the avr filled the 7.1 set up using dolby d ex and dolby pro logic IIx.Same result with ps3 games got 7.1 from 5.1 dts and dolby d.Got hellboy2 blu ray which is dts master 7.1 and was blown away all speakers are constant through out the movie.So is it worth it well hell yes it is.Just need more 7.1 mixed blu rays.

Red Alert

Do many people use the surround rears to instead bi-amp the fronts I wonder? It seems a lot of receivers can do it and I notice that most "bundles" are a 7.1 receiver with a 5.1 setup.

Mathiasb

Red Alert wrote: »

Do many people use the surround rears to instead bi-amp the fronts I wonder? It seems a lot of receivers can do it and I notice that most "bundles" are a 7.1 receiver with a 5.1 setup.

Why not, since the amps in the receivers are pretty small to begin with, biamping is sometimes a good way to get better sound, especially in stereo

Harrocks

yes bi-amping if your fronts allow will improve there sound bass and tone.there is also the front height option for the surbks if your avr has dolby prologic IIz supposed to add to the effect of rain falling etc in movies.

Codpeas

Harrocks wrote: »

Just need more 7.1 mixed blu rays.

Yup.

I've had a 7.1 setup for a while now and have my AVR use the following rules:

If Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio then just pass it straight on through to the speakers, let's not tamper with it.

If anything else then process and output as Dolby ProLogic IIx.

For the most part this works great but you do get some odd results with the occasional DD5.1 DVD and the results for my non-HD UPC box tend to depend on what you are watching and what channel it's on - can get a bit weird there from time to time.

But when you have an actual 7.1 BluRay the magic begins...:cool:

slave1

Interesting thread, I'm doing a new build at the moment and have wired up for 7.1 so will let ye know how I get on regarding perceived 5.1 'upscaled' to 7.1. As a matter of interest I opted for the rear speaker setup, with stereo speakers for music as well as front left and right and centre and sub all on the screen wall I felt another two speakers would have been overkill.

Harrocks

Codpeas wrote: »

Yup.

I've had a 7.1 setup for a while now and have my AVR use the following rules:

If Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio then just pass it straight on through to the speakers, let's not tamper with it.

If anything else then process and output as Dolby ProLogic IIx

But when you have an actual 7.1 BluRay the magic begins...:cool:

yes have been doin alot of checking out on this and the common though among others like yourself is to leave the lossless 5.1s alone.Goin to use dolby prologicIIx on everything else apart from cds.Ill be hitting xtra vision for more 7.1s me thinks rambo this weekend.:)

Harrocks

slave1 wrote: »

Interesting thread, I'm doing a new build at the moment and have wired up for 7.1 so will let ye know how I get on regarding perceived 5.1 'upscaled' to 7.1. As a matter of interest I opted for the rear speaker setup, with stereo speakers for music as well as front left and right and centre and sub all on the screen wall I felt another two speakers would have been overkill.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on.Dolby pro-logicIIx seems to be the one to use to upscale to 7.1.Dolby ex and neo6 are 6.1.

akaSol

I love the 7.1 sound flow , in many cases I feel its far more impressive than 5.1.
While you have to hunt for movies in 7.1, I own quit allot of music in this sound field. However I do like playing Games in neo:6 not forced seven. Sound field on my speakers gets a little weird if I force it to seven channels.
Two "tall boy" fronts, big centre and book shelf rears/rear presence make's my enjoyment of Bluray allot more enjoyable.

>Sol
( Easily the best "waste" of money well spent:) )

Harrocks

Just looking threw blu-ray.com and it seems alot of 7.1s are released in the USA but when it come to Ireland and the Uk there released in 5.1 for some bizaare reason.Got rambo which is in 7.1 in the US both only 5.1 here for example.

akaSol

Harrocks wrote: »

Just looking threw blu-ray.com and it seems alot of 7.1s are released in the USA but when it come to Ireland and the Uk there released in 5.1 for some bizaare reason.Got rambo which is in 7.1 in the US both only 5.1 here for example.

Try Axelmusic.com they have a listing for 7.1 and Indicate what's region free.

>Sol

Harrocks

akaSol wrote: »

Try Axelmusic.com they have a listing for 7.1 and Indicate what's region free.

>Sol

Thanks for that its a good site clearly states about the region coding and has dedicated region free list.