How Do I Set Up TrueHD on PS3?

[robertc88]

I have "Stomp The Yard" BD which has True HD track. I selected it for playback for the audio.

Under optical for PS3, I have all options checked for "ON".
For HDMI, I selected "Automatic".

Am I suppose to use optical input on my AVR (in my case "CD" was set to this) or HDMI input (in my case "DVD" was set to this).

Should I be using an optical choice or HDMI choice on the PS3 for audio playback?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Either of the inputs I try on the PS3 or AVR, I cannot get True HD to light up. Both the AVR and PS3 support it.

[mike_schultz]

Set your PS3 for HDMI and under ther BD settings set it for LPCM. The PS3 will encode the TrueHD in PCM and transmit it through.

[robertc88]

Mike,

That BD also has a PCM uncompressed soundtrack. I'm getting the same PCM indication readout on my amp when I play other BDs that also have a PCM soundtrack and no True HD track.

I would think I'd get a different indication on my amp for True HD if indeed it is the one playing. Seems like it is defaulting to the PCM uncompressed soundtrack.

[CAB]

Originally Posted by robertc88

Mike,

That BD also has a PCM uncompressed soundtrack. I'm getting the same PCM indication readout on my amp when I play other BDs that also have a PCM soundtrack and no True HD track.

I would think I'd get a different indication on my amp for True HD if indeed it is the one playing. Seems like it is defaulting to the PCM uncompressed soundtrack.

The PS3 decodes the TrueHD and outputs it in linear PCM at the same bitrate as the source. If you don't choose LPCM on the PS3, you'll end up with Dolby Digital decoded by your receiver. Mike is dead on balls accurate. I've done the same thing with my Pioneer, my Pop's Sony BDP-S1 and my PS3.

[mike_schultz]

Ya, my receiver does the same too. The skinny on this is that at this time the PS3 cannot run TrueHD as a bitstream, therefore it packages the TrueHD sound in PCM and the receiver just takes it from there. There are many different opinions on if it really makes a difference if TrueHD is run as bitstream or packaged in PCM. TrueHD has a higher bitrate than PCM, but other will argue that if the track is not recorded to take advantage of the higher bitrate it will not make a difference. I will say this though, I started watching 300 on PCM and about a quarter of the way through I changed it to TrueHD and the sound got considerably louder. So I guess it made a difference there.

Some of the newer Blu-Ray players coming out can bitstream TrueHD, so I am guessing that sooner or later Sony will release a new patch for the PS3 so that it can also bitstream TrueHD. I have read some of the threads today about patch 2.0, and other people are hoping that it will also run bitstream for other audio codecs.

So the good news is there is nothing wrong with your PS3 or receiver, and it is just a matter of time that you will see that "TrueHD" signal on your receiver.

[UltimateFighter]

Wouldn't your receiver have to be capable of decoding TrueHD for it to actually display TrueHD? Does the same hold true for DTS MA-HD? This is just a guess on my part or does the display take the wording from the bitstream?

[dakota81]

Originally Posted by mike_schultz

Some of the newer Blu-Ray players coming out can bitstream TrueHD, so I am guessing that sooner or later Sony will release a new patch for the PS3 so that it can also bitstream TrueHD. I have read some of the threads today about patch 2.0, and other people are hoping that it will also run bitstream for other audio codecs.

So the good news is there is nothing wrong with your PS3 or receiver, and it is just a matter of time that you will see that "TrueHD" signal on your receiver.

No, the PS3 is not physically capable of passing the bitstream through hdmi, no firmware will ever change this. When the PS3 is redesigned in a couple of years, if Sony decides to do so, you'll likely get this ability. But not on the current consoles.

[mike_schultz]

Originally Posted by dakota81

No, the PS3 is not physically capable of passing the bitstream through hdmi, no firmware will ever change this. When the PS3 is redesigned in a couple of years, if Sony decides to do so, you'll likely get this ability. But not on the current consoles.

Really? I was unaware of this. Why is not physically possible to do this with a firmware upgrade?

PS- Not trying to be a smartass

[dakota81]

Originally Posted by mike_schultz

Really? I was unaware of this. Why is not physically possible to do this with a firmware upgrade?

PS- Not trying to be a smartass

The hdmi port does not connect directly into the cell processor, there's a separate chip that sits inbetween that handles the transmissions, and it's this chip that is not capable handling bitstreaming of the hd audio formats. It's just a case of what was available a year ago when the PS3 was launched. It's just like how none of the 1st & 2nd gen Blu-ray players will transmit the bitstream either, you'll be seeing the feature finally available in the new players coming out next month.

The PS3 is capable of internally decoding TrueHD, which is just as good, and we can only hope that a future firmware update can add internal decoding of DTS-HD.

[mike_schultz]

Originally Posted by dakota81

The hdmi port does not connect directly into the cell processor, there's a separate chip that sits inbetween that handles the transmissions, and it's this chip that is not capable handling bitstreaming of the hd audio formats. It's just a case of what was available a year ago when the PS3 was launched. It's just like how none of the 1st & 2nd gen Blu-ray players will transmit the bitstream either, you'll be seeing the feature finally available in the new players coming out next month.

Oh ok, I was not aware of that. I kept on reading that the PS3 was the most "future proof" Blu-Ray before I bought it and I was hoping it could be upgraded for TrueHD etc. I have read many other posts from people saying that they would like to see an upgrade to DTS-HD MA etc. I guess you cannot firmware upgrade that either.

So Robert, I stand corrected, it does not look like we can upgrade to get that audio via bitstream.

Dakota, thanks for the info.

[robertc88]

I'm not sure I totally understand from what I'm reading so I'll ask this: if I choose the True HD track on Stomp The Yard for the audio and leave HDMI set to Linear PCM, am I getting any better sound than just choosing the PCM uncompressed track when I'm using the PS3? Guess I can try a chapter or two to see if I detect a difference.

Also, I guess from what I'm reading True HD is really accessed via a bitstream audio option one should be using for HDMI (not LPCM) but one just cannot get TrueHD that way for the time being at least?

[mike_schultz]

Originally Posted by robertc88

I'm not sure I totally understand from what I'm reading so I'll ask this: if I choose the True HD track on Stomp The Yard for the audio and leave HDMI set to Linear PCM, am I getting any better sound than just choosing the PCM uncompressed track when I'm using the PS3? Guess I can try a chapter or two to see if I detect a difference.

Also, I guess from what I'm reading True HD is really accessed via a bitstream audio option one should be using for HDMI (not LPCM) but one just cannot get TrueHD that way for the time being at least?

To your first question:
My personal opinion, is just that- a matter of opinion. I have read some people say that TrueHD and PCM are just as good as one another, and I have read other people argue that TrueHD is better because of the higher bit rate etc. To be honest, the only TrueHD movie I have is 300, and like I said earlier, it seemed louder on the TrueHD setting and a little bit more clearer than PCM. So, if I had to go on that, being my own personal experience, I would say that TrueHD sounds better than PCM. I wish I could be more definitive, however there are a lot more guys on the forum who would have more in depth knowledge than me and they may be able to give you a more technically accurate answer.

To your second question:
Yes, to get TrueHD its rawest form, you would have to set it bitstream, not LPCM. In addition, to send TrueHD in its rawest bitstream form, you must use HDMI 1.3. However, as many other people have said, it is just as good to have it packaged by the PS3 into PCM and sent across to the receiver. The reason being, from what I understand, is that the PS3 is simply decoding the TrueHD and sending it across to the receiver for output. If the PS3 were to send TrueHD via bitstream to the receiver, then the receiver would simply decode and output it. I guess the PS3 is doing the work for receiver. Here is a pretty good link explaining TrueHD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD



Like you, I would like to see the PS3 send it bitstream to the receiver just for the "gee whiz" factor, and I was hoping that the PS3 would be able to do this with a firmware upgrade, but Dakota told me this is not possible. Oh well. On the bright side, I did think that TrueHD in LPCM sounded awesome.

I hope that helps and makes at least a little bit of sense.

[robertc88]

Mike,

Thanks again for your input.

I had read once in my travels through forums where True HD and PCM go separate ways is something called "dialog normalization". I cannot decribe it to you as it is way over my head at that point and I didn't focus on it to tell you the truth. I do plan to follow up on it in the future. For now, I suppose one can just do a comparison betwwen LPCM and True HD on the BDs that carry both (not very many at this juncture).

One can probably google True HD or Dialog Normalization for an explanation if interested.