Premature 7.1 speaker!

[admin_exported]

What are the benefits of a 7.1 speaker set up when there's not a great amount of Blu-rays discs that surport 7.1.
What happens to the two, or come to think of it which two speakers when you pump 5.1 surround sound thru the amp.
Also does anyone know why if the studio's went to the trouble of DTS Master Audio/Dolby True HD sound track, why did they not include 7.1?

 

[Big Chris]

I love having 7.1. The surround is more cohesive, there's no audible hole between the fronts and the rears.

When playing 5.1 the 2 rear speakers won't be used, but I can select DTS HD Master Audio + NEO:6, which fills in the rear channels. Sounds great and works very effectively.

 

[professorhat]

pdd001:Also does anyone know why if the studio's went to the trouble of DTS Master Audio/Dolby True HD sound track, why did they not include 7.1?
The main benefit of DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD is the higher supported bitrate which is available, allowing studios to include lossless soundtracks (or if not lossless, at least much less compressed). This improves the sound quality massively. I think the reason 7.1 hasn't become a de facto standard is because, in the grand scheme of things, very few people actually have home cinema setups at home. Even less of these actually have a 7.1 setup, so the demand for these soundtracks isn't high. It's a classic chicken and egg scenario of course since, if there aren't many 7.1 soundtracks, people aren't likely to shell out the money to upgrade to a 7.1 system... and so the circle goes on.