Which games have 7.1 support? I thought it was few and far between (Gran Turismo has it). Doesn't the PS3 only feature Linear PCM 7.1 which is kinda crap sounding compared to Dolby and DTS?

The FAT PS3 decodes the Dolby HD and DTS HD internaly and sends that to the Receiver (LPCM 7.1), the Slim does it internally and  can Stream it to the receiver for decoding @ that end, its all the same its just cooler to have your receiver light up the corresponding DD 5.1 or DTS HD 7.1 lights :) most of first party games have lossless sound options and some 3rd party.

All PS3 games have at least dolby digital 5.1, most have lossless 5.1 (not including multi-platform titles), Some of them have 7.1.

As far as linear LPCM vs Dolby and DTS, it is often time better. A linear PCM track on a Blu-Ray movie or PS3 game will be in the form of a lossless HD audio track. This fidelity of the lossless track will always be better then standard Dolby or DTS track. It is usually only slightly better then TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio. There are very few people in the world who can tell the difference between a fully uncompressed audio track vs a TrueHD or DTS HD master audio track.

I currently know only 2 people that have a full 5.1 audio system, and they are myself and my brother. My brother only has a 5.1 because my family pooled together to get him a cheap HTiB for his house. Everyone I know has at least a 720p TV. My brother does not use his 5.1 anymore becasue it was too much work to hook it back up after moving. So at this piont I am the only person I know including freinds, family and co-workers that has and uses a 5.1 or greater audio system.

So I watched the new Star Trek (on DVD) the other day on an HDTV with a 2 speaker set up (there is a 5.1 speaker system there, but it's not hooked up to that dvd player) and BOY did it suck. The sound I mean. I watched Star Trek (on bluray) in my room with 5.1 a few months ago and it rocked, having only 2 speakers seemed to drain so much out of the experience, I kind of felt bad for the people watching it for the first time as they're missing out. There is no way anyone can argue that 5.1 doesn't make a difference over 2, it makes a HUGEEEE difference, and it's not even one that "only audiophiles can pick out", there are THREE more speakers, plus a subwoofer, sending sound at you from all directions. It's just awesome, I don't think a gaming/theater system is worth it unless you have the sound to back up the picture.

both of you r the only people with an HDTV no offence but thats awful!! i have 3 HDTVs in my house either than my own in my room :P and im 14 years old!! but i dno wat kinda speakers it has as i dont really care lol and most of my friends have HDTVs too but like 3/4 of them dont have the HDMI wires sooo they have HDTVs for nothing as they probably dont even know they need a wire to make the graphics better lol

I believe you mean Picture Quality and not Graphics. As graphics relate to rendered images, while picture quality and special effect refer to films and TV shows and resolution.

They may be using a DVI or a component cable, either one can give the same quality picture as an HDMI cable, or may even be a better quality picture.

Worked at a cable company for a few years and a lot of our customers agreed that the component cables vs hdmi they saw no difference on the HD channels, but on standard definition the component cables made the image look a lot better.

Also your statement that you have 3 HD TV's in your house sounds slightly elitist, not everyone has enough disposable income to justify buying an HDTV.