5.1 is way cool

[tscales]

I've been using BTV for years and even HD with 5.1 recordings for a long time, but never had a 5.1 setup.

I happened to be surfing CompUSA's site tonight and saw they had a sale on Logitech's Z5450. They're great because the rear speakers are wireless. Problem is they're expensive.

CompUSA has them on sale. Normal price $499. Sale price $249!

Went and picked up a set. Connected them to my Creative Audigy NX (external USB sound card - very handy) with an optical TOSlink cable. Entire setup took less than 10 minutes.

Wow.

The difference is amazing. Things behind me in the show are behind me. Really cool.

Tom

[mlomker]

I just bought a pair of the Sony 5.1 headphones. It isn't quite as a good as speakers but they're a whole lot nicer than regular headphones...and the sound quality is excellent on HDTV programs.

[pwlong]

Originally Posted by tscales

Connected them to my Creative Audigy NX (external USB sound card - very handy) with an optical TOSlink cable. Entire setup took less than 10 minutes.

Wow.

The difference is amazing. Things behind me in the show are behind me. Really cool.

Agreed. I finally picked up an external USB SoundBlaster to my laptop link machine (see .sig) to my AV receiver and couldn't believe how good the sound was. It opens up a whole 'nuther "stage" for certain types of programming -- watching sports in 5.1 is a whole different experience! I ended up downloading all the Dolby Digital and THX trailers, just to hear them in all their surround-sound glory -- there's a couple really good ones, too (jungle sounds, fly-thru of a canyon, etc).

The other side of the coin is that my wife, not being as into the "immersive home theater experience" nearly as much as I am, gets annoyed when the rear surrounds occasionally startle her into thinking someone's at the door, the kids have knocked something over upstairs, etc. But hey -- that's the additional realism that 5.1 brings to the party -- gotta love it!

Welcome to the 5.1 club.

[queonda]

Hell, back in the day when I first had Dolby surround (back 2 speaker mono), I thought it was the bomb. Really, thought Stereo was COOOOOOOL, when it was upgraded from MONO. (showing my age abit ;-) )

I've had 5.1 surround for years. very very cool. I saw a move called pumkin head (movie sucked) but was cool when the camera was going around and round. But I think I watched in in dolby surround.
For those who have the XBOX connected to 5.1 and have the Halo 2 extra disk (i think its the map pack), they have a 5.1 trailer using a couple of alien characters. FUNNY!!!

I've recently went to a 6.1 surround. I was going to do 7.1 but decided to stick to 6.1. Also very very cool.