Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gertjan /forum/post/18227013
In my experience, going from 5.1, the improvement you notice depends on the content.
* The start of Master & Commander, when the camera moves through the ship at night - 7.1 in my room made a big difference: It sounded like i was really in the ship, with sounds coming from everywhere. Not some diffuse ambient noise, but what seemed to be sounds originating from everywhere around me.
* Toy Story 2, when Al is in his chicken suit on the phone and then leaves to go to the store, the camera pans around, and ends up with him shutting the door when the door is behind you. With 7.1, the panning was much better than with 5.1, and the sound of the door slamming shut was anchored where it should be. In my old 5.1 setup it sounded good, but it was much less "pinpointy", if that makes any sense.
* Star Wars - Attack of the Clones (i think it was?) where it opens with the silver space ship approaching the planet and then landing - 7.1 again made it sound like the damn thing was actually coming in from the rear of the room and flying right overhead!. 5.1 was more "fuzzy".
* Wall-E - At one point Wall-E comes racing onto the screen from left-rear, and i swear each time it starts it startles me because its sounds like something's in the room at my 8 o'clock position.
(This was all on good ol' DVD, with my receiver creating the 7.1.)
For the majority of movies though, the effect of 7.1 vs 5.1 is mostly subtle in my experience. But there are those moments in various movies where the 7.1 does seem to pay off. That's just my experience though