Penteo, LLC (www.penteosurround.com), based in the Bay Area, has developed an innovative system of processes that cleanly converts stereo mixes of music, movie, and TV soundtracks directly into superior-quality 5.1 surround sound. At the core of this system is a proprietary stereo "panorama slicing" algorithm which creates a much cleaner 5.1 experience than anything else on the market today.
Penteo provides an up-mastering service, most recently processing six 1970's music pieces for the upcoming Warner Brothers/Paramount/Fox/Universal $120M blockbuster "Watchmen". They presented a few of these pieces both in their original stereo formats and after undergoing the Penteo conversion.
Penteo's algorithm is also being incorporated into real-time units for the production of live television entertainment and sports programming, essentially turning every pan-pot on a stereo board into a 5-point joystick.
Penteo was founded by long-time Bay Area resident, computer programmer and Audio Emmy winner John Wheeler, formerly the Core Network Architect at EDnet, the Skywalker Ranch-founded pro digital audio network.