OK, I've asked this before in the past about twice, but I just want to make sure I have the best sound I could. I've had the same (great) home theater system for about two years now, just a few months back though I got an optical cable to use instead of the set up I had before which wasn't preferable. My question is, should I set it up differently from how I do it on 360, or is it just fine as it is? If I were to do it differently, I would have to make the optical cable go from the receiver to the PS3 rather than the usual receiver to TV like I do the 360.

I use an HDMI cable for both the 360 and PS3, and when I want to use either system, all I have to do is change the HDMI from one to the other since the TV I use only has one HDMI input. So what should I do, make it a little harder and put slightly more time into switching it, or just keep it as is? If you don't understand what I'm asking, please tell me so I can explain. I'm pretty great with electronics, but I'm no professional know it all, so if anyone that knows the very best way to use the surround sound, please help. Thanks in advance.

By the way, a few complaints I guess you can say. When I would set it up so the optical cable goes from receiver to PS3, I won't get any sound out of the TV (which I consider wrong, though I may be wrong.), And when I have it set up that way (as well as the way I have it now) when I go to the sound settings on the PS3, it doesn't seem to acknowledge my home theater specs, though I may be wrong on that. I just kind of feel like the PS3 makes me remember what my home theaters specs are, though again, I may be wrong. Alright, done.

Huh, as of right now, I may have to say never mind. I think the way I have it set up is just fine. The thing is that some games can have audio faults, and I don't know whether to blame the games audio performance, or my surround sound. If anyone still wants to give their opinion, please do.

For some reason the PS3 defaults to muting the audio to the TV when using the HDMI. It is kind of weird. You have to go in and change the settings to get audio through the TV, but I don't remember exactly what you need to do.

I have the HDMI going to the TV and the optical going to the surround sound and it sounds great. But I'm no audio expert.

I think the best surroudsound solution will always be an HDMI loop. 1 from each console into the reciever and 1 from the reciever to the TV.

But if you have optical audio going to the reciever why would you also want sound coming out of your TV? That would just create a wierd echo effect wouldnt it?

I guess I don't really get what you're asking, it seems your solution works as intended?

Sound setup on the PS3 can be a little wierd but manually checking the boxes you know your reciever support once should do the trick.

Still not sure what you're asking. Are you manually unplugging and replugging HDMI cables? I use a passive TOSlink (optical) switch and an optical to elecromagnetic converter since my receiver doesn't take TOSlink or HDMI and it works on everything except my Astro Wireless Mixamp which has a super finicky optical-in requirements. If your receiver supports HDMI, you should probably use that instead of optical. Perhaps look into getting a decent HDMI switcher? I bought a cheap one and it won't do HDCP, so buyer beware.

@MrKlorox: @Jimbo_N: Alright, since it's hard for people to know exactly how it's set up without pictures, and also because they (you) don't use the same set up so you wouldn't recognize it, I'll try my best to explain it. It sounds great as is, but I'm still wondering if it's the best. I have one optical cable; my optical cable never needs to be unplugged again if I have it set the way I do, which one end of the cable goes into the receiver (my home theater system), and the other end goes into the TV.

I use one HDMI cable (I do have more, though those aren't relevant), the HDMI is plugged into the back of my TV, and whenever I want to use one of the systems, I have to take the HDMI out of the back of one system, and plug it into the back of the other. My receiver takes all things, optical, RCA, and HDMI. I think the way I have it set up is perfectly fine, or so I've read elsewhere. Sorry if what you just read complicated it further.

Just get an HDMI switchbox.  Simple.

So it sounds like because you have just a single HDMI cable, you're running that straight to the TV, and then you're using an optical cable in the TV's Audio Out to go back to the receiver to get your surround sound? If your receiver has HDMI as you say, it would be a wise investment to get a couple of HDMI cables so you can run both consoles through the receiver, and then have one HDMI out to the TV. This would obviously be easier than having to mess with the cables every time you want switch, and if you get that optical cable out of the mix you'll get higher sound quality (at least on Blurays).

@SeriouslyNow said:

Just get an HDMI switchbox. Simple.

Pretty much. Assuming that your receiver doesn't have a HDMI out, because then could just run the cables through you reciever to the tv and get lossless brah.