5.1 Sound Question

[legios]

I'm going to betray an area of my technological illiteracy here, but I need the assistance of the Hub's collective intelligence.

I have a DVD player that apparently outputs surround sound Audio data over two audio channels. (It has left and right channel optical outputs on the back if that is relevant). What I want to know is this. Do I need to then hook that up to an external amp and dolby decoder to drive a 5.1 setup? Or is it possible to get surround sound output from it as it stands?

(I apologise if the question itself is unclear - like I say, this is an area of ignorance for me).

Karl

[Deleted]

This might be of some use to you:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater

[legios]

zudobug said:

This might be of some use to you:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater

Ta for the link Zudobug, but I think my cluelessness on this is of such an epic level I may need to do more research before I can follow a lot of that. But ta anyway, t'is appreciated.

Karl

[Deleted]

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help to you as I haven't got such equipment myself.

[legios]

zudobug said:

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help to you as I haven't got such equipment myself.

No worries. I shall make use of your link there as my "starter for ten" and shall in due course no doubt come to understand this technology.

(I'll work my way up from "stick with rock attached". :-) )

Karl