I'd rather have the rear surrounds in play than the width channels, but my room is only 12' X 18'. If it were wider, then the width channels would have more of an effect. I find myself going back and forth between using the heights, width and both. Direct TV is horrible and it doesn't matter if it's HD or not. The way that DSX extracts information to send to the H/W channels is a mystery to me. When watching a BR movie however, it is quite enjoyable.