Help with settings for PS3 & Receiver

[GIJoe]

Hello,

I have a PS3, a Denon AVR-3808CI receiver, and a 7.1 speaker setup, and I need some help.

I have connected the PS3 to the receiver with an HDMI cable, and connected the receiver to my HDTV with another HDMI cable.

Because the Denon can decode all kinds of sources: Dolby, Dolby True HD, PCM, DTS, etc., I set the PS3's audio output to bitstream for HDMI.

Then I put in the blu-ray disc of the movie "300" and selected "Dolby True HD" from its menu.

The problem is that the Denon doesn't show that it's playing in Dolby True HD. The display of the receiver, according to the manual, should say that when it's decoding a Dolby True HD source. Instead, the display just reads "Dolby Digital" or "Dolby Digital + PLIIx C" if I have the 2 rear speakers set to ProLogic II Cinema. If I set the back two speakers to "Matrix On" then the receiver shows "Dolby Digital EX" in the display. But I can't get it to display "Dolby True HD" as it is supposed to for this source.

Can the PS3 not handle Dolby True HD over its HDMI output? I thought the PS3 was HDMI 1.3a, which should do this; I have an HDMI cable that's specced to 1.3a, so I know it can carry the bandwidth. I know the Denon can decode it. The disc has a Dolby True HD audio track on it. So what's the problem?

Is there some setting I don't know about? I'm pretty frustrated.

Any and all help is appreciated.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by GIJoe

Hello,

I have a PS3, a Denon AVR-3808CI receiver, and a 7.1 speaker setup, and I need some help.

I have connected the PS3 to the receiver with an HDMI cable, and connected the receiver to my HDTV with another HDMI cable.

Because the Denon can decode all kinds of sources: Dolby, Dolby True HD, PCM, DTS, etc., I set the PS3's audio output to bitstream for HDMI.

Then I put in the blu-ray disc of the movie "300" and selected "Dolby True HD" from its menu.

The problem is that the Denon doesn't show that it's playing in Dolby True HD. The display of the receiver, according to the manual, should say that when it's decoding a Dolby True HD source. Instead, the display just reads "Dolby Digital" or "Dolby Digital + PLIIx C" if I have the 2 rear speakers set to ProLogic II Cinema. If I set the back two speakers to "Matrix On" then the receiver shows "Dolby Digital EX" in the display. But I can't get it to display "Dolby True HD" as it is supposed to for this source.

Can the PS3 not handle Dolby True HD over its HDMI output? I thought the PS3 was HDMI 1.3a, which should do this; I have an HDMI cable that's specced to 1.3a, so I know it can carry the bandwidth. I know the Denon can decode it. The disc has a Dolby True HD audio track on it. So what's the problem?

Is there some setting I don't know about? I'm pretty frustrated.

Any and all help is appreciated.

I remember reading another thread like this and i think the basic gist was that it is True HD but it doesn't display it. Can't find the thread, i'll carry on looking.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Under "BD/DVD Settings" on your XMB, try changing your "BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI)" setting to Linear PCM. See if that helps. It may not show up on your receiver display as DD TureHD, but it is still the exact same output. I've been reading that the PS3 actually decodes the Dolby TrueHD signal as a PCM track.

Here's a better question for you. If you have the ability to use the PCM track, why don't you? As an UNCOMPRESSED AUDIO FILE you will get so much more detail and depth out of it compared to the Dolby TrueHD

[aygie]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Under "BD/DVD Settings" on your XMB, try changing your "BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI)" setting to Linear PCM. See if that helps. It may not show up on your receiver display as DD TureHD, but it is still the exact same output. I've been reading that the PS3 actually decodes the Dolby TrueHD signal as a PCM track.

Here's a better question for you. If you have the ability to use the PCM track, why don't you? As an UNCOMPRESSED AUDIO FILE you will get so much more detail and depth out of it compared to the Dolby TrueHD

Hey Petra, quick (might be stupid) question, am i correct in saying that compressed sound is making the quiet sounds louder and the louder sounds quieter to have a more central noise level? and if so that means uncompressed audio's sound from low to high is a broader dynamic? does that make sense?

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Hey Petra, quick (might be stupid) question, am i correct in saying that compressed sound is making the quiet sounds louder and the louder sounds quieter to have a more central noise level? and if so that means uncompressed audio's sound from low to high is a broader dynamic? does that make sense?

Sort of. I'm not a technical expert when it comes to the finer points of audio. But, what I do understand is that with ALL sound tracks included on a DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray that are not "Uncompressed Linear PCM" are in fact stored as compressed data on the disc. That means that the file is treated much like a ZIP file on your computer. They have to encode it into a shrinked little package. This means that they not only remove the really fine detail to make it more space conservative, but then the players have to actually work at decoding the information before it gets output to your receiver. With the "Uncompressed Linear PCM" tracks, none of that process affects the quality of sound since the information is neither shrunk for storage nor does the player have to work to decode the information. It would be comparable to a dam. Uncompressed Linear PCM would be like having a river run its natural course. You get all of the beauty of how the experience is meant to be seen. Put a dam in that same spot and you have created a scenario like every other track on the market. Only some of the water gets through and the energy needed to do so thrusts the signal through without consideration for the finesse of its natural beauty!

Does that answer your question?

[aygie]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Sort of. I'm not a technical expert when it comes to the finer points of audio. But, what I do understand is that with ALL sound tracks included on a DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray that are not "Uncompressed Linear PCM" are in fact stored as compressed data on the disc. That means that the file is treated much like a ZIP file on your computer. They have to encode it into a shrinked little package. This means that they not only remove the really fine detail to make it more space conservative, but then the players have to actually work at decoding the information before it gets output to your receiver. With the "Uncompressed Linear PCM" tracks, none of that process affects the quality of sound since the information is neither shrunk for storage nor does the player have to work to decode the information. It would be comparable to a dam. Uncompressed Linear PCM would be like having a river run its natural course. You get all of the beauty of how the experience is meant to be seen. Put a dam in that same spot and you have created a scenario like every other track on the market. Only some of the water gets through and the energy needed to do so thrusts the signal through without consideration for the finesse of its natural beauty!

Does that answer your question?

Perfectly! What you were saying about storing the audio on the discs was next question! Cheers.

[Amon37]

The PS3 cannot send True HD through bitstream for the receiver to decode yet. So you have to set the the setting to PCM as Petra pointed out. That way the PS3 does the decoding and you will see Multi-channel on the receiver.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by Amon37

The PS3 cannot send True HD through bitstream for the receiver to decode yet. So you have to set the the setting to PCM as Petra pointed out. That way the PS3 does the decoding and you will see Multi-channel on the receiver.

GIJoe, this is the reason why when you set to bitstream and select Dolby TrueHD that your reciever displays "Dolby Digital" or "Dolby Digital + PLIIx C"
What is being sent as bitstream is the "core" Dolby Digital mix.

Unfortunatley NO player is capable of sending High Definition audio via bitstream, even if its hdmi v1.3

I think your Denon should still be able to apply PLIIx to a PCM signal? For the movie 300, since its in Dolby TrueHD 5.1, your reciever should be able to apply post processing and make the 5.1 into 7.1. Try it out.

Set PS3 to output Linear PCM, select the trueHD track (or even the Uncompressed PCM track) and toggle the surround mode...so you should be getting a 5.1 Lossless Linear PCM signal then your reciever will turn it into 7.1

enjoy.

[GIJoe]

Thanks, everyone.

I switched the PS3 back to Linear PCM and the Denon receives that just fine as Multi-Channel, 5.1, then adds a matrix for the rear speakers. I brought up the display on the PS3 while the movie plays and it notes that it is Dolby True HD.

Note, however, Petra, that Dolby True HD is also lossless, just as the PCM is. So there shouldn't be any difference between letting the PS3 decode the True HD, sending it to the receiver as PCM, and passing through a bitstream of True HD and letting the receiver handle it.

I hope that Sony is able to fix this via firmware updates to the PS3.

The inconvenience is that the Linear PCM setting on the PS3 can only do 5.1 channels. As soon as I put in a feature that has more, say the Lord of the Rings (6.1 DTS) then the PS3 outputs it as 5 and I lose a channel. So I have to go in to the PS3 and change it back to bitstream so that the receiver can output all 6 channels. It'd be nicer to just leave it on bitstream and forget about it. That's why I bought a receiver that'd handle everything.