Side speakers?

In a 5.1 the sound will go to the designated "Surround" speakers while the rears will remain silent.

Not sure what you are refferring to as "Side" Speakers, even in 7.1 systems you have the left, center, right, surround right, surround left, rear right, and rear left. If you mean the "Sides" as the Surround then yeah they wil still play. It is the rear speakers that will not.

As far as i know you should set up a 7.1 system the same as you would a 5.1, the only difference is the inclusion of the 2 rear speakers. The "Surrounds" location would be the same in a 5.1 or 7.1 system.

the hard part of comparing it to a commercial theater is the size of a theater, andvery diverse seating possibilities. Normally the speakers on the side are the surround channels, while the side-rear would be the rear channels. Home Theater and Commerical Theater have as much in common as they they do differences.

I think that there really are just 5 discrete channels, 6 counting the LFE. The rears are matrix-derived from the surrounds. Is this correct?

Eldartford,
the rear surround can be discrete in DTS i believe.
The Rear-right/rear-left setup uses the discrete 6th channel and feeds it to each rear, at the same time depending on track it will matrix the surround left with the surround rear and the surround right with the surround read to give a more diffuse sound field and better ambience affects.

i think....