Hey guys,

I was recently reading a review of the new Return of the King Extended Edition DVD and 6.1 surround sound was mentioned. I've never heard of it before but the article makes it sound as if it is much better than 5.1. What is it exactly? Is this something that can be mixed cheaply?

It's called "DTS ES" or "DD ES". Since it is fairly new, there are not a lot of encoders (e.g.,
DTS Pro Series surround encoder (http://www.dtsonline.com/pro-audio/products.php?ID=1002434300)).

Seems gimmicky to me, but what do I know.

well, its not really another channel which is encoded withint the Dolby or DTS stream, its Extended bitstream data sent to the decoder to "advise" it how to configure the extra channel.

Its not brain surgery, basically any Dolby Digital encoder (ie TRUE dolby digital encoder found in Vegas, NOT premiere or liquid) will allow you to set the extended bitstream values depending on your configuration within the encode.

Dolby Digital and DTS is only TRUE 6 chanels, anym more and you run the risk of excessive bandwidth.
The "EX" or 6.1 or 7.1 refers to extended bitstream (which is another word for Metadata) within the stream. Its not actual audio data within the AC3 or DTS file.