PS3 Audio question

[nmycon]

Posted this in the PS3 forum earlier, figured I'd get a better response here, any help would be greatly appreciated:

Is there any way to get the PS3 to output uncompressed 2.0 audio over RCA cables?

I've poked around online and most explanations are for getting 5.1 lossless over RCA (using a splitter to split the audio sent over HDMI to 6 analog cables).

My PS3 is in a small bedroom, so I have neither the space, nor the neighbors to allow me to go to 5.1. However, I would like to give uncompressed audio a try and was wondering if this could be achieved by setting the PS3 to output stereo audio over the RCA cables.

I have the two audio cables plugged into my reciever's multi-channel L/R jacks and it sounds fine.

Up until today, I've been sending the audio & video to my TV over HDMI, the audio goes back to the receiver over stereo RCA cables (should I want to use headphones or speakers).

Now, I have both of these connections in place, and have been switching back and forth and the sound sounds () quite similar...

[BIslander]

If you play a lossless source, the stereo outputs should be a two channel downmix of the lossless source.

[DualEdge]

I didn't think you could get uncompressed audio period over analog cables (RCA)?
I know that you could get lossless 2 ch sound over an optical cable though.

[nmycon]

Originally Posted by DualEdge

I didn't think you could get uncompressed audio period over analog cables (RCA)?
I know that you could get lossless 2 ch sound over an optical cable though.

But you would have to have a receiver that decodes the HD audio, which I don't have...

With RCA cables, anything you put into one end comes out the other, I just wanted to confirm that the PS3 was able to output lossless over the RCA cables (via internal decoding) so that I would be able to use the multi-channel input on my receiver, as opposed to having my receiver downgrade to the core track.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by DualEdge

I didn't think you could get uncompressed audio period over analog cables (RCA)?
I know that you could get lossless 2 ch sound over an optical cable though.

Analog means the digital source has already been converted to analog by the player. It decodes the multichannel lossless source, does the downmixing, and then the digital-analog conversion. So, no, it is no longer uncompressed digital. It is analog. But, the same thing happens if you use an optical connection. The player decodes the lossless multichannel source and does the downmixing to stereo PCM. That gets sent to the receiver, which does the digital-analog conversion. Both approaches produce a lossless stereo output. The end result is never uncompressed audio. It is always analog.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by nmycon

But you would have to have a receiver that decodes the HD audio, which I don't have...

With RCA cables, anything you put into one end comes out the other, I just wanted to confirm that the PS3 was able to output lossless over the RCA cables (via internal decoding) so that I would be able to use the multi-channel input on my receiver, as opposed to having my receiver downgrade to the core track.

Once the PS3 has decoded the lossless track and downmixed it to stereo, it doesn't really matter how you send it to your receiver. You can do a direct analog stereo or digital connection between the player and receiver. Or, you can use an HDMI connection to the TV and then a digital output from the TV to the AVR. All three will give you a stereo output from the lossless track.

[nmycon]

Originally Posted by BIslander

Once the PS3 has decoded the lossless track and downmixed it to stereo, it doesn't really matter how you send it to your receiver. You can do a direct analog stereo or digital connection between the player and receiver. Or, you can use an HDMI connection to the TV and then a digital output from the TV to the AVR. All three will give you a stereo output from the lossless track.

So I guess I've been hearing the down-mixed lossless the entire time, because that was what I'd been doing up until now

Just to clarify one more thing... this is a direct downmix of lossless (TrueHD or DTS-HD) 5.1 to 2.0, it is not downmixing the "core" (Dolby Digital or DTS) track to 2.0, right?

[BIslander]

Correct, unless you have done something that tells the player to use the lossy version instead of the lossless one.