Quote Originally Posted by markw
Actually, I don't think there's any native 7.1 material out there. Some 6.1 and a boat load of 5.1 but no 7.1 as far as I know.

Plus, it doesn't magically turn two channel into 5.1 channels. It "interpolates" sounds and assigns them to different channels according to some algorithm. IOW, it's an artificial construct.

But, ultimately, it wouldn't be a valid reason for me to upgrade.
And I highly doubt that we will ever see anything in native 7.1. The fact that discrete 6.1 is hardly used or promoted indicates to me that 5.1 is sufficient enough for most people and since you can use your receiver settings to create a phantom middle rear channel even on material that does not have an encoded middle rear, should allow those with 6.1/7.1 capabilities to remain happy while the rest of us enjoy 5.1 just fine. I don't think there is much advantage to discrete 7.1 outside of maybe a movie theater, but that's typically only in the case of SDDS.