Not Running Dolby with PS3 Games. Help..

[kingofgrills]

WriteSimply's initial response was right on.

Uncompressed PCM offers much higher quality than lossy Dolby Digital. Digital optical cables do not have the bandwidth necessary to transmit multi-channel linear PCM. If your receiver handles audio via HDMI, you should be able to configure it to multichannel PCM. Otherwise you get the 2.0 channel soundtrack, which your system will decode with a matrixed (not discrete) back surround channel.

If you don't have HDMI inputs, just use a digital optical cable and make sure your PS3's audio outputs are set accordingly. This will give you access to the lossy formats Dolby Digital 5.1 (or 6.1 EX) and DTS 5.1 (or 6.1 ES).

The same principles for Blu-ray playback hold true for PS3 games.

[foots]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

That is what I was leaning towards and makes sense. I will have to check the sound quality again to be sure that i correct, but im pretty sure that I did notice a difference. Thanks for you advise. This seems to be the closest to a solution so far...

If that is the case then sadly there isn't a nice clean solution until Sony lets you choose how to send the audio (PCM or bitstream) while playing a game off a disc. Similar to how they do it for BD/DVD playback.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by foots

If that is the case then sadly there isn't a nice clean solution until Sony lets you choose how to send the audio (PCM or bitstream) while playing a game off a disc. Similar to how they do it for BD/DVD playback.

Unfortunately i have a feeling that is exactly the problem and Sony should address this. Seems more and more people are beginning to notice this.

[foots]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

WriteSimply's initial response was right on.

Uncompressed PCM offers much higher quality than lossy Dolby Digital. Digital optical cables do not have the bandwidth necessary to transmit multi-channel linear PCM. If your receiver handles audio via HDMI, you should be able to configure it to multichannel PCM. Otherwise you get the 2.0 channel soundtrack, which your system will decode with a matrixed (not discrete) back surround channel.

If you don't have HDMI inputs, just use a digital optical cable and make sure your PS3's audio outputs are set accordingly. This will give you access to the lossy formats Dolby Digital 5.1 (or 6.1 EX) and DTS 5.1 (or 6.1 ES).

The same principles for Blu-ray playback hold true for PS3 games.

I did not realize that games were being encoded with PCM sound. If that is the case then it seems odd that the OP thinks the lossy DD sounds better than the uncompressed PCM (assuming his hardware is setup properly).

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by foots

I did not realize that games were being encoded with PCM sound. If that is the case then it seems odd that the OP thinks the lossy DD sounds better than the uncompressed PCM (assuming his hardware is setup properly).

That is not correct. Games do not offer Uncompressed sound...

[Shin-Ra]

Many on PS3 do, even Resistance: Fall of Man, a launch title outputs LPCM 7.1 uncompressed surround sound.

Off the top of my head:

LPCM 7.1

Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Colin McRae: DiRT, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, LAIR

LPCM 5.1

Devil May Cry 4, Ryu Ga Gotoku: Kenzan! (Yakuza 3)

Many PSN downloadable games too.

[foots]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Many on PS3 do, even Resistance: Fall of Man, a launch title outputs LPCM 7.1 uncompressed surround sound.

Off the top of my head:

LPCM 7.1

Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Colin McRae: DiRT

LPCM 5.1

Devil May Cry 4, Ryu Ga Gotoku: Kenzan! (Yakuza 3)

Many PSN downloadable games too.

Based off the info the OP has provided (I've never really paid attention myself) it seems like the PS3 passes audio via bitstream when playing games off the hard drive while passing audio via PCM when playing playing games off of a BD despite the two supporting the same codecs.

What reasons would Sony have for treating the two differently?

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Many on PS3 do, even Resistance: Fall of Man, a launch title outputs LPCM 7.1 uncompressed surround sound.

Off the top of my head:

LPCM 7.1

Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Colin McRae: DiRT

LPCM 5.1

Devil May Cry 4, Ryu Ga Gotoku: Kenzan! (Yakuza 3)

Many PSN downloadable games too.

Does it say LPCM on the back of the display case? I have never noticed it before. What about a game like Tiger Woods '07? It shows Dolby Digital on the back of the case, but when I play it my Onkyo shows Multichannel on the display.

[foots]

Originally Posted by schultz

Does it say LPCM on the back of the display case? I have never noticed it before. What about a game like Tiger Woods '07? It shows Dolby Digital on the back of the case, but when I play it my Onkyo shows Multichannel on the display.

If a game isn't LPCM but still displays multichannel PCM on your reciever it more than likely means that the PS3 is internally decoding the DD/DTS and is outputing it via PCM to your receiver.

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Hey, that is exactly what mine is doing. Exactly. Well, i assumed the same thing, thinking it was an uncompressed. But, after thinking, i dont think they make games in uncompressed otherwise that would be noted on the back of the case, like they do with Dolby Digital. So this is when i started switching back and forth to see what sounded better. Ive done this a few time and i really think the dolby digital sounds clearer, and i notice it alot in the subwoofer sound. Maybe its my ears, but try it out when you get a chance and let me know....

Umm...yeah they do
Warhawk
Resistance
Folklore
Heavenly Sword
Uncharted
Lair

basically all PS3 exclusive games have 7.1 PCM. And I think the orange box does too.

None say anything about PCM on the back of the box however.

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by foots

If a game isn't LPCM but still displays multichannel PCM on your reciever it more than likely means that the PS3 is internally decoding the DD/DTS and is outputing it via PCM to your receiver.

If thats the case, which makes sense, is there a difference in quality? Would it be better in that case to make the PS3 pass it ad DD by checking off all audio options except DD?

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

That is not correct. Games do not offer Uncompressed sound...

There are several games that offer uncompressed sound.

[foots]

Originally Posted by schultz

If thats the case, which makes sense, is there a difference in quality? Would it be better in that case to make the PS3 pass it ad DD by checking off all audio options except DD?

It should sound the same. However if the DACs being used in one device are far superior to that of the other then you could notice a difference.