iPod and Home Stereo

[mike31154]

So do mp3 files play properly on a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound? Are they encoded with sufficient data to separate the signal into the 5 or 7 channels plus sub woofer or is it the software in the surround sound systems that work the magic? I know certain DVDs have specially encoded soundtracks to play properly on 5.1 or 7.1 surround systems and older ones have less sophisticated soundtracks. The better home theater systems will still mix/multiplex the signal and send sound to each speaker but the quality will suffer on 2 channel stereo encoded soundtracks. How do mp3 files compare to one of these DVD soundtracks? If I were to seriously consider limiting my system to an ipod with mp3 files, I would want to be certain they're going to sound proper on a multi channel system, not just two speakers and a sub.