7.1 question ..

.. so I want to buy a Media PC for the lounge, throw in a TB or 2 of storage and play movies via the hdd or blu ray dvd player and into the Samsung full hd tv...

Question - How do I get 7.1 sound working from the pc to the 7.1 amp? So I need a special sound card? Best cable to use, co-ax or optical, or hdmi?

Also.... does anyone know if full HD (blu ray) movies can be transmitted on a wireless G (54mb) network or is that too much data?

If anyone knows any good links/reading material would be appreciated,

cheers!

If you want to run the true 7.1 formats (DTS HD and Dolby Plus) then you'll have to buy the (extremely expensive as I understand) appropriate certified soundcard and connect over HDMI - the other cable formats can't support the bandwidth.

If you just want Dolby Digital, DTS (5.1) formats with your amp artifically extending it to 7 speakers then a standard sound card with any of those cables would do fine.


Full 1080p HD over wireless is apparently very problematic and tends to stutter...

I'm running my media pc via wifi. even 720p x264 stuff is pushing it. uncompressed bluray you don't stand a shitshow.

Not much content actually utilises 7.1 anyhow.

Yeah, does ANY consumer-grade stuff use it yet? Blu-Ray would be the only media capable of carrying it I imagine and I haven't seen any discs claiming DTS-HD 7.1 etc...

How different is it? How much better? Is it better? I suppose it also depends on how well it's mixed...

Well the major difference with the true 8channel mixes is that they are done with DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD etc which are lossless formats at 24/192 etc. I imagine THAT is much better (and obviously requires the right gear from source through to speaker).

As for the spatial effects of true 7.1-mixed I couldn't say - never heard it. I thought 6.1 was a noticeable improvement of 5.1 but not groundbreakingly so.

Yeah, if it has been mixed at the studio in discrete 7.1, and the system is properly set-up and calibrated, yes, it makes a difference.

Most of the time though, it will be a 5.1 mix that the processing the the home theatre amp will turn into a phantom 7.1.

Denon HT amps, by default, will just not use the additional channels, unless it is a true 7.1 source. You can switch that in the preferences, but I would tend to use the additional amps to bi-amp my fronts instead.

Why do you guys add more speakers? Wouldn't you start losing sound quality along the way?

No reason to.

Provided you use the same quality speakers and the rear that you do the front.

Bearing in mind, that ideally, the speakers should be the same the whole way round, or at least, the tweeters.

How do you mean?

Its easier to fuck up a 7.1 system than a 2.1 setup

True. I have seen more than one system running in Dolby Pro logic, when the customer thought they were getting DTS.

either bitstream (i'm not sure if any software supports this yet highly likely it will software decode and pass it as 7.1 pcm) it over hdmi to a receiver that supports dts hd-ma or dolby true hd decoding or software decode it with the appropriate software and pass it over the motherboards/soundcards analog outs using 4 x 3.5mm to 2 x RCA to your receivers analog 7.1 in

thanks for all the replies guys, think I'll stick to 5.1!

Would I be right in saying the only benefit of having a full 1080p HD tv is to watch blu-ray movies and gaming via PS3? Any other advantages.. ie. is the extra cost justified?

TV HD signals are only transmitted at around 500-700p?

probably been answered but cbf looking for the thread

It depends a bit on the size of the screen. 42 inches and above i would be looking at 1080P. Sizes below that 720P is fine. In fact with Freeview and Sky HD it's actually preferable because the TV is essentially displaying the source natively (little or no scaling)
If you are planning on Blu-Ray or PS3 gaming get 1080P otherwise there are some right bargains to be had on 720P sets

720p

TV3 broadcast in 1080i

i was ignoring that since no one cares about 1080i :>

Thanks again... there are definitely bargains out there.. am looking for around 40-42"... so will go for a Samsung "HD Ready" .. as long as that displays 720p..