Choppy Sound when attempting 5.1 Sound

[Factory]

I apologize if this has been overly stated, but I just would like to submit this just in case...

 I attempt to play a dvd in 5.1 sound with vlc, but it gives me
alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe)
as output. Also sound become very choppy when attempting this, as well.

I followed the instructions here: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Surround_Sound in hopes of playing some mp3s with all of my speakers, but without avail.

Now, this DOES work in windows, but I HAVE read some audiophiles complain that windows does this, since this is not 'proper'; mp3s are not meant to be played in 5.1. However, I'd still like to know just WHY we, as linux users, don't have the option to replicate 5.1 as windows allows.

[Reinhard Tartler (siretart)]

nothing to do for vlc upstream, invalidating the bugtask

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for alsa-oss (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]