PS3 audio format switching

[G-Dogg55]

I am having a problem with the proper audio setting on my PS3 to get 5.1 Surroundsound. It is hooked directly to my TV via the HDMI cable. From there, it comes out of the TV output through a Toslink cable and into my receiver. It worked perfectly for my regular DVD player, but not for PS3.

The problem is a lot of games don't utilize the "Dolby 5.1" setting on the PS3, only the "Linear PCM 5.1." But when I try to use the Linear setting to watch movies, I am missing my dialog channel and have to reset the PS3 back to "Dolby." And I am not sure I am getting true 5.1 stereo, or if my receiver is only simulating it. I tried leaving it set to both and I lose the dialog until I deselect the Linear setting.

Am I going to have to keep switching to watch a movie or play a game, o is there a way to set up the unit to autodetect?

[justinbaily]

Well the problem is unlike ps-2 which could output analog l /r and toslink at the same time the ps-3 oddly can only do 1 audio format at a time.
This means that the tv with hdmi WILL have sound regardless of settings
but then transferring via optical to the reciever will yeild NOTHING.

Ihave a similar problem because my tv has hdmi but my DTS,DD surround headphones work via toslink so if i want surround i must select optical
but if all i need is the tv speakers i must return it to hdmi....so if sony updated
the ps-3 to allow BOTH toslink and hdmi SIMONTANIOUSLLY it would solve these problems. As to the audio setting try bitstream because something similar happened to me when i switched between bitstream and the other setting i expect it's pcm...leave it on bitstream if i remember right.

[The Guardian]

Why not run the optical cable directly from the PS3 to the receiver?

[jkcheng122]

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Why not run the optical cable directly from the PS3 to the receiver?

yup, follow what guardian said and run the optical cable from your ps3 to the receiver instead of from tv, and set the ps3's optical to Linear PCM. although, i think you can't get 5.1 from your games that use pcm if you dont connect the ps3 to a receiver via hdmi.

[G-Dogg55]

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Why not run the optical cable directly from the PS3 to the receiver?

I have a Samsung DLP and when I hook the optical direct, the voice is out of sync with the picture. When I set the PS3 to bitstream I get nothing. I'll just have to keep switching back and forth until Sony comes up with an update. Thanks!

[justinbaily]

My main area the ps-3 is going out to a 51' sony unfortunatlly i needed to
adapt an hdmi cable to dvi so my audio is sent via toslink and both my bd /dvd/
ps-3 games are in 5.1 no problem.

My setup is a tad more complicated though because i'm using 3 selectors.
A 5 way HDMI selector,an 8 way analog-does conposite,svhs and conponent with analog l /r audio-the 1st 3 inputs even have eithernet and toslink,then there's my 4 way toslink selector that i can send out to 2 diffrent sources.

Being a gamer requires way more inputs than any single HDTV has besides i'd hate going from video 1-7 or whatnot.

As of now i'm considering a standalone $499 analog-digital adaptor box
You send in composite,svhs,component with either l/r audio or toslink
and can output a single HDMI cable and even a toslink signal if needed.

I'm not near my ps-3 so i can't test anything til i get back on mon or if it's late enough tues. Check to make sure everythings enabled from past firmware updates. It's something sony should fix because first we update then we have to install and if new features are preasent we then must enable
them...i'd prefer a single step firmware update where as it was downloading
it'd be installing and enabling new features so it'd be as fast as a 360
update where it downloads,installs and enables all at 1nce and much faster

[red_5ive]

Since you're only making an HDMI connection from the PS3 to the TV, you're allowing the TV to to process the audio. I'm guessing the TV doesn't support a PCM 5.1 bitstream so it's probably converting it to 2 CH PCM, and if so this is probably what it's passing when it outputs to the receiver via the toslink cable. Maybe you can try the standard DD 5.1 setting on the PS3 over HDMI? Again, though, the TV would have to support standard 5.1 over HDMI to pass it through the toslink cable, which I'm guessing is true since you said it worked for your dvd player.

Edit: PCM 5.1 also won't pass through an optical cable as it doesn't have enough bandwidth. Now that I think of it I'm sure this is where the issue is. The TV is receiving a 5.1 PCM signal over HDMI from the PS3, but from the TV to the receiver you're outputting over optical which doesn't have the bandwidth to support a 5.1 PCM transmission so it's only sending out 2 CH PCM.

[Deciazulado]

ok let me rephrase that

you're trying to send PS3 5.1 LPCM to the TV in HDMI and then from the TV to the Receiver through optical.

With a DVD player you're NOT trying to send 5.1 PCM to the TV through HDMI and then from the TV to the receiver through optical

you're sending bitstream and that works

[G-Dogg55]

I am using the exact same connection for both. But when I switch to bitstream on the PS3, I get nothing. My regular DVD player is connected through HDMI, too, and worked well. Will bitstream go through HDMI or not?