5.1 Surround upmix

[Mindmaker]

Hello,

I have a c-media 9761 5.1 sound card. It's working fine. The problem is that most sounds and programs are stereo. I have a plugin for WMP that upmix's from stereo to 5.1, this way i'll have a Dolby Prologic II virtual decoder. What i want to know is if there is a software or a driver that will do the same on the hardware level or globaly (For all programs). This way, i can for example upmix stereo sounds coming from my DVB card's software.

Thank you

[-pops-]

Are you sure you can upgrade from a two channel signal to 5.1?

As there is no extra information carried on a two channel system that could accomodate upgrading to any "surround sound" system, anything done to achieve this would have to be a fiddle and the effect produced would be a (poor) imitation of what it is intended to be.

Or have I misunderstood?

[Mindmaker]

Yes you can upgrade from a two channel to 5.1 by using a Dolby Prologic II decoder. This decoder will extract stereo sounds from the difference of the two channels and forwards the result to the rear speakers. As for the center, it use's the sum of the stereo channels, this way it will enhance vocals. As for the subwoofer, it's a low pass filtering of the sound.

The resulting sound is a virtual surround, it's not similar to sounds coming out from a 5.1 recorded track, but it give's you a great sensation of the song.

[-pops-]

Thanks for that information - I didn't know it could be done.

You will have to wait for someone with more knowledge to answer you question :)