Ps3 Audio Setup Question

[croops]

Would one get better sound if they used:

PS3 ---> Optical Out ---> AVR (choose optical sound in PS3 menu)

or

PS3 ---> HDMI Out ---> TV ---> Optical Out --->AVR (choose hdmi sound in PS3 menu)

Or is there no difference at all? IS there any difference between Optical and HDMI sound?

[AndrewW]

PS3 ---> HDMI Out ---> TV ---> Optical Out --->AVR (choose hdmi sound in PS3 menu)

You will get higher bit rate sound through HDMI than the optical (which is limited to 1.5Mpbs).

Your diagram is a little hard to understand.

To get the best quality (video and audio) you need PS3 to your AVR via HDMI, and then HDMI from your AVR to your tv.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Skid_MacMarx]

Lossless multichannel PCM can be transmitted via HDMi

whereas lossy multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS can be transmitted via optical..

If you always listen to your movies through your AVR .. I would take the direct route (ie PS3 optical out to AVR )

[croops]

You will get higher bit rate sound through HDMI than the optical (which is limited to 1.5Mpbs).

Your diagram is a little hard to understand.

To get the best quality (video and audio) you need PS3 to your AVR via HDMI, and then HDMI from your AVR to your tv.

Cheers,

Andrew.

I'd rather not go HDMI into the AVR and then HDMI into the TV coz then I need to use the same input for my DVD player and PS3 (the AVR has only 1 HDMI out). Reason I don't wanna do this is because I want to have different screen settings for gaming.

EDIT: Just reading some posts at the AVS Forums and it seems that Optical out wont work if an HDMI cable is plugged in??? Can anyone confirm/deny this?

[Trigg]

I'd rather not go HDMI into the AVR and then HDMI into the TV coz then I need to use the same input for my DVD player and PS3 (the AVR has only 1 HDMI out). Reason I don't wanna do this is because I want to have different screen settings for gaming.

EDIT: Just reading some posts at the AVS Forums and it seems that Optical out wont work if an HDMI cable is plugged in??? Can anyone confirm/deny this?

Optical out works fine with the HDMI cable plugged in

[AndrewW]

EDIT: Just reading some posts at the AVS Forums and it seems that Optical out wont work if an HDMI cable is plugged in??? Can anyone confirm/deny this?

This will work, but you will be short changing yourself on the audio quality.

Andrew.

[dunnas]

Optical out works fine with the HDMI cable plugged in

It will work but you will not get sound through HDMI when you have optical selected which means you have to change the audio options if you just want the sound to go through the TV.

BTW, why not have the HDMI from your DVD player going straight to the TV and optical to the AVR and use the HDMI input on the AVR for the PS3. Only the PS3 will have an advantage in sound quality by using HDMI as DVD's don't have any lossless sound formats that require more bandwidth than optical allows. .

[croops]

It will work but you will not get sound through HDMI when you have optical selected which means you have to change the audio options if you just want the sound to go through the TV.

BTW, why not have the HDMI from your DVD player going straight to the TV and optical to the AVR and use the HDMI input on the AVR for the PS3. Only the PS3 will have an advantage in sound quality by using HDMI as DVD's don't have any lossless sound formats that require more bandwidth than optical allows. .

Good thinking... I'll compare the video quality between the two and see how it goes. The Denon does a VERY nice job of processing video so I'll be interested to see how the Sony DVD performs when plugged directly into the Bravia.

[croops]

Found the source of the problem - a dodgy optical cable. As soon as I swapped cables, I started receiving sound via optical.

Turns out I ended up going PS3 into the AVR via HDMI and changing DVD into Bravia (video via HDMI and audio into AVR via optical).

Thanx for your help guys.

[AndrewW]

Turns out I ended up going PS3 into the AVR via HDMI and changing DVD into Bravia (video via HDMI and audio into AVR via optical).

That definitely sounds like the ideal solution to me

Andrew.

[elisiX]

Guys not meaning to hijak the thread but im in a similar situation.

Im using a Denon 1906 AVR which does not have HDMI. However my plasma does and ive been using this with my HDMI Denon 1920 DVD player.

Just got the PS3, so ive connected the HDMI cable from my plasma to the PS3 and picture+sound is fine. Now my TV is also connected to the AVR but itll only play in Pro Logic sound over HDMI. (ive selected DD etc in the option on PS3) But if I change this to an optical cable and select it on the PS3 it works with DD/DTS for Bluray and games. Playing motorstorn etc in DD EX is awesome but is there really going to be a difference from pro logic? I dont know about this much.

Is this how ill have to run it untill such time as I have an AVR which has HDMI?.. therefore being able to get HDMI directly into thew AVR which currently I cannot. Even with the 1920 connected via HDMI, I still had to have optical cable to get DD/DTS working otherwise simply over HDMI it'd only be pro logic, again cause the HDMI isnt connected directly to the AVR.

Did I answer my own question?

lol

[dunnas]

Guys not meaning to hijak the thread but im in a similar situation.

Im using a Denon 1906 AVR which does not have HDMI. However my plasma does and ive been using this with my HDMI Denon 1920 DVD player.

Just got the PS3, so ive connected the HDMI cable from my plasma to the PS3 and picture+sound is fine. Now my TV is also connected to the AVR but itll only play in Pro Logic sound over HDMI. (ive selected DD etc in the option on PS3) But if I change this to an optical cable and select it on the PS3 it works with DD/DTS for Bluray and games. Playing motorstorn etc in DD EX is awesome but is there really going to be a difference from pro logic? I dont know about this much.

Is this how ill have to run it untill such time as I have an AVR which has HDMI?.. therefore being able to get HDMI directly into thew AVR which currently I cannot. Even with the 1920 connected via HDMI, I still had to have optical cable to get DD/DTS working otherwise simply over HDMI it'd only be pro logic, again cause the HDMI isnt connected directly to the AVR.

Did I answer my own question?

lol

How is the TV connected to the AVR? That's what matters. You can't get DD or DTS through the old Red & white composite cables.

DD/DTS is in a different league than Prologic.

[brodricj]

Lossless multichannel PCM can be transmitted via HDMi

whereas lossy multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS can be transmitted via optical..

Which is what I just found out. My PS3 is outputting "Linear PCM 5.1ch 48kHz 4.6Mbps" over HDMI to my video processor, which then extracts the audio and sends it to the AVR via optical. In this configuration the AVR will only sense 2ch PCM, so to get 5.1ch I need to apply a surround mode. However, if I select the PS3 output to the next lower bit-rate (0.6Mbps) then the AVR will detect the 5.1ch and output in "direct" mode accordingly.

I guess this explains my earlier report about the SQ from BR on the PS3 being not much different than DVD. The PQ is certainly no different at 1080i to DVD (on BlackHawk Down anyway).

[peep]

Which is what I just found out. My PS3 is outputting "Linear PCM 5.1ch 48kHz 4.6Mbps" over HDMI to my video processor, which then extracts the audio and sends it to the AVR via optical. In this configuration the AVR will only sense 2ch PCM, so to get 5.1ch I need to apply a surround mode. However, if I select the PS3 output to the next lower bit-rate (0.6Mbps) then the AVR will detect the 5.1ch and output in "direct" mode accordingly.

I guess this explains my earlier report about the SQ from BR on the PS3 being not much different than DVD. The PQ is certainly no different at 1080i to DVD (on BlackHawk Down anyway).TRY 1080P

[attilathepun]

Hello all - I have a PS3 audio question I am hoping you can help me with.

My PS3 is connected via optical cable to my amp (Kenwood, non-HDMI capable).

If I set audio output to Bitstream, then the PS3 reports on screen that it is using Dolby Digital Multichannel. My amp auto detects dolby digital - but it is very very quiet. I have to turn it way up to hear it properly. If I exit out of the movie and play a game or something without turning the volume down the I almost perforate my ear drums.

If I change it to PCM, then the PS3 reports on screen that it is using PCM (I think) 5.1 (I am sure about that bit) - but my amp only detects it is as a stereo signal. The volume is normal but only coming from my front speakers.

As far as I am aware, games have no problem outputing dolby digital at normal volumes, does anybody have any idea whats going on?

Thanks

[Chesty]

Hello all - I have a PS3 audio question I am hoping you can help me with.

My PS3 is connected via optical cable to my amp (Kenwood, non-HDMI capable).

If I set audio output to Bitstream, then the PS3 reports on screen that it is using Dolby Digital Multichannel. My amp auto detects dolby digital - but it is very very quiet. I have to turn it way up to hear it properly. If I exit out of the movie and play a game or something without turning the volume down the I almost perforate my ear drums.

If I change it to PCM, then the PS3 reports on screen that it is using PCM (I think) 5.1 (I am sure about that bit) - but my amp only detects it is as a stereo signal. The volume is normal but only coming from my front speakers.

As far as I am aware, games have no problem outputing dolby digital at normal volumes, does anybody have any idea whats going on?

Thanks

Your amp is detecting PCM as a stereo signal as you will only get 2 channel PCM over optical, not 5.1. You will get DD via 5.1 which your PS3 and amp will detect.

Sorry but not sure why its so quiet when you run DD.

[attilathepun]

Your amp is detecting PCM as a stereo signal as you will only get 2 channel PCM over optical, not 5.1. You will get DD via 5.1 which your PS3 and amp will detect.

Sorry but not sure why its so quiet when you run DD.

cool, thanks.

Yeah, it is really annoying. It is particularly bad as the menu screen will usually be in stereo only (even if running bistream) so if i exit out of the movie back to the menu screen, my speakers get a blast. I almost crapped myself when i existed black hawk down to the menu screen as it uses a gun shot sound effect every time you move the cursor

so which is the "better" format? When you select bitstream it gives a warning that "some parts of the audio may be not be played". Am I eventually going to have to buy a better amp and run PCM?

[Chesty]

cool, thanks.

Yeah, it is really annoying. It is particularly bad as the menu screen will usually be in stereo only (even if running bistream) so if i exit out of the movie back to the menu screen, my speakers get a blast. I almost crapped myself when i existed black hawk down to the menu screen as it uses a gun shot sound effect every time you move the cursor

so which is the "better" format? When you select bitstream it gives a warning that "some parts of the audio may be not be played". Am I eventually going to have to buy a better amp and run PCM?

My setup is the same as yours. I connect to a non HDMi enabled Yammy and have to tolerate DD and DTS. I dont have the same issue as you though as the sound is uniform no matter what i use.

I use DD and DTS over using 2 channel PCM. Yes you will need to update down the track as i will but thats a whole other story. With an upgraded amp you will be able to take advantage of HD codec such as PCM 5.1 and Dolby True HD.

[attilathepun]

I had a thought - my TV is a bravia X series, which has an optical out (from memory) - would it be feasible to run the PS3 via HDMI (video and audio) into the TV, then optical from the TV to the receiver? I am not sure how "smart" the TV is about re-routing the audio signal out, or whether it will just output the signal from its inbuilt tuner.

[Hydrology]

I had a thought - my TV is a bravia X series, which has an optical out (from memory) - would it be feasible to run the PS3 via HDMI (video and audio) into the TV, then optical from the TV to the receiver? I am not sure how "smart" the TV is about re-routing the audio signal out, or whether it will just output the signal from its inbuilt tuner.

I doubt the TV has the ability to convert HDMI audio to optical. I also wouldve thought that optical outs on TVs were really more for the inbuilt tuner than anything else.

[attilathepun]

Cheers - my searching/googling has shown that you are almost certainly correct - the optical output is just for the inbuilt tuner.

Oh well, I was considering a new amp anyway. That Onkyo 605 looks promising...

[Chesty]

Cheers - my searching/googling has shown that you are almost certainly correct - the optical output is just for the inbuilt tuner.

Oh well, I was considering a new amp anyway. That Onkyo 605 looks promising...

Another thing you need to consider is that not all amps decode PCM 5.1 audio over HDMI. I dont think the 605 does.

[Goneincognito]

Hi guys,

This may have been covered but it's all to technical for me.

I have my PS3 hooked up to my TV (Samsung LA40R71BD) via HDMI and the optical out on the TV to my amp. With this setup I am not able to get 5.1 sound from the amp. Is there a setting I have missed or do I have to run the optical directly from the PS3 to the amp as I can get 5.1 to work this way?

Thanks.

[brodricj]

This may have been covered but it's all to technical for me.

I have my PS3 hooked up to my TV (Samsung LA40R71BD) via HDMI and the optical out on the TV to my amp. With this setup I am not able to get 5.1 sound from the amp. Is there a setting I have missed or do I have to run the optical directly from the PS3 to the amp as I can get 5.1 to work this way?

Yeah, this has been well and truly covered here. The optical output can''t carry the bandwidth required for uncompressed multi-channel PCM. You need to connect the PS3 directly to the amp by optical, with appropriate settings in your PS3 sound setup menu.

[Goneincognito]

Cheers.