With Dolby Virtual Speaker technology, as few as two speakers, placed in front of you in a typical stereo setup, actually sound like the five separate speakers in a full-bore home theater system. DVS is bound to be adopted by Cyberlinks PowerDVD and Intervideo's WinDVD. Dolby Virtual Speaker technology is a next-generation process that reproduces the complex sonic cues necessary to locate precisely where sounds are coming from. Previous virtual technologies communicated only a portion of these critical cues. But Dolby Virtual Speaker technology has the power to convince your ears that you are literally surrounded by sonic activity. Read more... The official launch of Dolby Virtual Speaker is part of Dolby Laboratories' broader "Dolby in PC" initiative, unveiled today. This new initiative provides a comprehensive overview of the role of Dolby technologies in today's PCs and how Dolby audio technologies positively impact the PC's evolution into a home entertainment gateway. The algorithm at the heart of Dolby Virtual Speaker is based on advanced psychoacoustic parameters that include an understanding of sound from both a technical and a human, experiential perspective. In a typical listening environment, the sound from a speaker is reflected within the room before reaching a listener's ears, arriving at different times at each ear, and at different amplitudes and equalization from the direct sound. The brain's interpretation of these separate audio elements supplied to the right and left ears allows the person to identify the direction and distance of the sound's source. Source: Dolby Laboratories