My receiver notices when games are playing, and changes the settings on its own, but movies aren't recognized. I tried the linear PCM and bitstream, but when I put it on bitstream, it puts it in 5CH. UGH! It's really been quite annoying, 'cause I want to watch movies with a theater sound-like experience, but it's just not happening. Here's my last post about sound, make sure to read that for a bit more insight I guess. No one helped me on that, so I hope with this new post someone will help.

http://www.giantbomb.com/playstation-3/60-35/how-do-i-set-my-sound-on-the-ps3/35-525699/

Please help. This is the final post I can make, and if it doesn't have anymore comments, it's just going to get piled upon and it won't ever get answered. I can't find an answer to my specific question anywhere else.

Are you using an optical cable?

@Bucketdeth: Yes, you can read the link to my last thread for more information on my ongoing problem. I say how it's set up and everything. How am I supposed to use an HDMI for both sound and video? It's impossible. Just please read my last thread and see if you can help from there, if not, have me explain.

Well I am not sure if this will help or not as I am no expert on audio systems, but... The way I have mine set up is, I have an optical cable going from my receiver to my PS3 and an HDMI cable going from my PS3 to my HDTV. I have my audio settings set to optical and my video settings set to HDMI.

This way should guarantee that you will be getting 5.1 out of your audio set up and that your TV can output up to 1080p.

If you do not find your answer here, try posting on this forum.

@Bucketdeth: I just wanted to be clear about this, I have surround sound for games, and it sounds fantastic; just not for when I want to watch movies. I've tried the way you have it set up, but it doesn't work any different. Thanks though. I'll check the link you have there.

Maybe I am totally missing something... but why would you want your sound system to run in Dolby Pro Logic II when it can be running in 5ch mode?

DPL II is a way for a surround sound system to emulate (ie. lower bitrate and not true surround sound) a 5ch system out of less channels; 4 or 2 depending on your signal.

If I'm not mistaken you want it to run in 5ch mode, becuase then your PS3 is outputting uncompressed 5 channels of sound and the receiver is picking it up and playing all 5 channels. You ideally want Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch as the setting on your PS3. Linear PCM 5.1 Ch has a higher bit rate and I think it is equivalent to Dolby TrueHD, but since your system is made for DVD audio you won't notice a difference.

You don't say specifically how you have your system wired up in your previous post... but here is how you want to do it with that system.

PS3 --> TV via HDMI; TV --> Reciever via Optical Cable; This should get you surround sound. If you still aren't getting surround check the audio out settings on the TV and the audio in settings on your home theater. If it still isn't working chances are your TV and/or Home Theater isn't HDCP compliant.

Edit: I looked up your system and it supports Dolby Digital (True 5 CH, best option), Dolby Prologic II (Emulated 5CH from 2CH), Stereo (2CH)

@Bertlezat: No, 5CH isn't true surround, it just takes the two front channels and enhances it to the rear speakers. It should only be used for music and older games like side scrollers. When it's in Dolby, that gives it a wider dynamic range. For example, when it's in Dolby Pro Logic II, whatever's behind the character in an FPS, let's say a gun shot, it'll come from either the left or right rear speaker instead of all of them. I think you are missing something. On my last thread that I said to read (which is in the link), has the way I have it set up.

@NTM: Ok... but I do know that:

Dolby Pro Logic is not true surround sound

Dolby Pro Logic (2 Ch made to sound like 5 CH) is not the same as Dolby Digital (5 discreet channels).

When I mention 5 CH (5 channels, 1 channel per speaker, 5 speakers... surround sound) I am talking about the output mode from the PS3, regardless of what the surround sound system is set up like. I'm not familiar with the menus on your surround sound receiver but.. you want it set to output Dolby Digital not Dolby Pro Logic. Expecting good surround sound from DPL II is equivalent to hooking up your PS3 with composite video and expecting a resolution on your tv of >480i.

Edit:

Let me clarify what I mean when I say that DPL II is not true surround sound.

Will you have different sounds coming from 5 or more different speakers - yes. However, the original source does not have to be a 5+ channel source.

What does this mean? It means that you take 2 CH source (or the equivalent bandwidth) and Upmix it to extract 5 or more channels. Have you played a SNES, PS1, PS2 (or other non-HD consoles) on an HDTV? Your tv upconverts the video from a lower resolution to a higher resolution with mixed results. This is the same as what you are doing when you are using DPL II. In other words DPL II uses software to fake a 5 ch sound.

If you want the best experience possible with your system you want to have the PS3 output in true digital 5 channel sound (Dolby digital), and you want your receiver to decode the signal as a dolby digital 5 CH signal. This will give discreet signals to each speaker.

DPL II sounds decent. Dolby Digital sounds awesome. If you don't understand the difference... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Pro_Logic

@Bertlezat: Shut up, you know nothing. Just kidding. Alright, thanks.

@Bertlezat: No, I understand, but can I get the best with only using an optical cable? I don't have a way (if even possible) to use an HDMI cord for both sound and video. Anyways, the problem isn't with my sound as a whole in the first place though, it's just that I can't get blu-rays to run in true surround sound like I have my games.

AVSforum.com is the place to go for all your needs. I got some really good Polk speakers for my home theater from asking for help there.

@NTM: Optical Cable is capable of carrying the same audio bandwidth as HDMI. It is technically equivalent to carrying an audio signal over HDMI (or digital coax for that matter). What makes HDMI so awesome is that it can carry High Bitrate audio and video over the same cable; we used to have to use an optical cable plus component, vga or dvi to accomplish the same thing.

When you hook up your system like I suggested... PS3 --> TV via HDMI; TV --> Reciever via Optical Cable. It will consolidate your connections so that anything that is hooked up to your TV will come out as a dolby digital 5.1 signal (called passthrough because signals just pass through your tv); even signals that aren't digital to begin with. This will force your home theater receiver to play the signal it receives over the optical cable as true dolby digital 5.1 surround sound.

If you don't hear sound coming out of all 5 of your speakers this is because your TV's audio-out or your receiver's audio-in aren't set to transmit or receive a dolby digital signal, respectively. Or... and this is why DRM is bad... your devices aren't HDCP (high definition copy protection) compliant.

HDCP is a protocol that requires devices to "shake hands" before a HD signal can be transmitted. PS3 is HDCP compliant, newer TV's and Home Theaters are also; but if any piece of your equipment isn't... then you won't be able to use a dolby digital signal over hdmi (actually this might only be the case with Dolby TrueHD, not sure).

@Jams: avsforum is awesome, those people know whats up over there. Most of what I know I learned either from first hand experience when I used to install home theaters or from that website.

@Bertlezat: Hey, sorry for being imprecise, 'cause I said my games run in Dolby Pro Logic II, but I was dumb, they run in Dolby Digital. I don't know how I didn't catch this before. I still haven't figured out how to make the blu-rays run in Dolby Digital though. I think I have some new searching to do. You don't need to reply to this since this is already somewhat old of a thread, unless you have some new advice.

@NTM:

So here's a few things you can try (I'm not going to read through the other thread by the way so just disregard what I say if you've already done these things).

-What audio codec are you using? I know you said you're using Dolby Digital for your PS3 games. What about your movies? Every Blu-Ray should have an 'audio' option in their menus. Try manually switching the codec to something else. If you don't have a new enough receiver, you can still play Blu-Ray movies in Dolby Digital or DTS. If you have a new receiver and are running audio and video through HDMI, then you can use codecs like Dobly TrueHD or DTS-HD.

-You want PCM, not bitstream.

-Do your DVDs run in surround? If they do, then there is something specifically wrong with your Blu-Ray movie audio settings.

-On that note, are you running HDMI through you're receiver?

-Have you gone through the audio set-up through your PS3? It should automatically recognize what the PS3 should be set to in order to get surround on movies and games.

EDIT:

I lied. I looked through your receiver and have something to add. If you are running HDMI through your receiver make sure you have the audio codec on the Blu-Ray movies (through their menus) set to "Dolby Digital". It looks like that is the best audio codec you're receiver can output. If the movie is setting itself to something like Dolby TrueHD or any of the DTS codecs then you need to make the change to Dolby Digital because you're receiver doesn't support TrueHD or DTS.

@JasonR86 said:

@NTM:

So here's a few things you can try (I'm not going to read through the other thread by the way so just disregard what I say if you've already done these things).

-What audio codec are you using? I know you said you're using Dolby Digital for your PS3 games. What about your movies? Every Blu-Ray should have an 'audio' option in their menus. Try manually switching the codec to something else. If you don't have a new enough receiver, you can still play Blu-Ray movies in Dolby Digital or DTS. If you have a new receiver and are running audio and video through HDMI, then you can use codecs like Dobly TrueHD or DTS-HD.

-You want PCM, not bitstream.

-Do your DVDs run in surround? If they do, then there is something specifically wrong with your Blu-Ray movie audio settings.

-On that note, are you running HDMI through you're receiver?

-Have you gone through the audio set-up through your PS3? It should automatically recognize what the PS3 should be set to in order to get surround on movies and games.

EDIT:

I lied. I looked through your receiver and have something to add. If you are running HDMI through your receiver make sure you have the audio codec on the Blu-Ray movies (through their menus) set to "Dolby Digital". It looks like that is the best audio codec you're receiver can output. If the movie is setting itself to something like Dolby TrueHD or any of the DTS codecs then you need to make the change to Dolby Digital because you're receiver doesn't support TrueHD or DTS.

Yeah, the other night when I put in Avatar I switched through the menus, and when I went through them some of them did say Dolby Digital (I think), but under it, it was saying that it was for 2 channel sound systems, which I don't have. I'm feeling kind of bad about my home theater system now, only because of the movies portion, games are just fine.

I got the home theater system back in 2009, but it wasn't until this year that I got it to work properly once I finally got an optical cable. I hesitated to get one for some reason, I think it was because I was being somewhat ignorant thinking that I was getting the surround sound I wanted, but that wasn't the case. Anyways, thanks for the reply.

@NTM said:

@JasonR86 said:

@NTM:

So here's a few things you can try (I'm not going to read through the other thread by the way so just disregard what I say if you've already done these things).

-What audio codec are you using? I know you said you're using Dolby Digital for your PS3 games. What about your movies? Every Blu-Ray should have an 'audio' option in their menus. Try manually switching the codec to something else. If you don't have a new enough receiver, you can still play Blu-Ray movies in Dolby Digital or DTS. If you have a new receiver and are running audio and video through HDMI, then you can use codecs like Dobly TrueHD or DTS-HD.

-You want PCM, not bitstream.

-Do your DVDs run in surround? If they do, then there is something specifically wrong with your Blu-Ray movie audio settings.

-On that note, are you running HDMI through you're receiver?

-Have you gone through the audio set-up through your PS3? It should automatically recognize what the PS3 should be set to in order to get surround on movies and games.

EDIT:

I lied. I looked through your receiver and have something to add. If you are running HDMI through your receiver make sure you have the audio codec on the Blu-Ray movies (through their menus) set to "Dolby Digital". It looks like that is the best audio codec you're receiver can output. If the movie is setting itself to something like Dolby TrueHD or any of the DTS codecs then you need to make the change to Dolby Digital because you're receiver doesn't support TrueHD or DTS.

Yeah, the other night when I put in Avatar I switched through the menus, and when I went through them some of them did say Dolby Digital (I think), but under it, it was saying that it was for 2 channel sound systems, which I don't have. I'm feeling kind of bad about my home theater system now, only because of the movies portion, games are just fine.

I got the home theater system back in 2009, but it wasn't until this year that I got it to work properly once I finally got an optical cable. I hesitated to get one for some reason, I think it was because I was being somewhat ignorant thinking that I was getting the surround sound I wanted, but that wasn't the case. Anyways, thanks for the reply.

Actually, using a google search I found a Tested article that talks about using optical cables for audio. Here's a quote "Like HDMI, optical audio connections transmit digitally encoded audio data between devices. However, optical cables have much less bandwidth than HDMI cables; they can only carry 2-channel PCM streams, and can't use high-end formats like TrueHD and HD Master Audio. That said, they can still carry lossy surround sound signals, like Dolby Digital 5.1, and can be very useful when using equipment that predates the widespread adoption of HDMI." Here's the link, http://www.tested.com/news/hdmi-vs-optical-vs-analog-audio-whats-the-best-connection/632/

Here's another quote from an AVS forum thread, "HDMI has the bandwidth for 8 channels of uncompressed pcm audio while optical only has capability for 2 channels of uncompressed audio." Link: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=842477

I think you're getting 2-channel sound because the audio is uncompressed and optical cables only have the bandwidth for 2-channels of uncompressed sound. Can you run HDMI through your receiver? If you could, all of this would be fixed. If you can't, then you might want to look for another receiver that can.

EDIT: I just read some of your comments and say a little bit of confusion. HDMI carries both the audio and video signal. You won't require any other cables if you're using HDMI for video as that signal also carries audio. If you are getting your video signal from an HDMI cable, then you already have the solution to your problem. Just go in to the PS3 audio settings and switch the source from 'optical' to 'hdmi' and you should get the surround you want.

@JasonR86: No, I can run an HDMI cord into my receiver, but then where would my video go? I don't want to use some crappy AV cables instead. I don't have any way of making it so I can use my HDMI for the picture (and sound I guess that comes with it), while using the same, or another HDMI cord (since I have more than a few) for sound. Know what I mean?

Actually though, there's a bit of a mix up with the optical cable usage from what I read around the internet. From what I gather, optical cables are perfectly fine and do give true HD sound for 5.1 home theater systems, it's just that optical cables can't get 6.1 surround sound and up (like 7.1), so therefore you'd have to use an HDMI.

I never said I was getting 2 channel sound, I'm getting five. I was telling you about the menu on the Avatar blu ray.

@NTM said:

@JasonR86: No, I can run an HDMI cord into my receiver, but then where would my video go? I don't want to use some crappy AV cables instead. I don't have any way of making it so I can use my HDMI for the picture (and sound I guess that comes with it), while using the same, or another HDMI cord (since I have more than a few) for sound. Know what I mean?

Actually though, there's a bit of a mix up with the optical cable usage from what I read around the internet. From what I gather, optical cables are perfectly fine and do give true HD sound for 5.1 home theater systems, it's just that optical cables can't get 6.1 surround sound and up (like 7.1), so therefore you'd have to use an HDMI.

I never said I was getting 2 channel sound, I'm getting five. I was telling you about the menu on the Avatar blu ray.

HDMI sends two signals over the same cable. So, for example, if your running an HDMI cable from your PS3 to your receiver then that cable is providing your receiver with two distinct signals; video and audio. You don't need two HDMI cables, one for video and one for audio, which is what I think you think you need. That one cable will handle both signals.

I guess I'm confused about your set-up. Do you have more then 5 channels?

@JasonR86: Uh... then how would I get video exactly? If you're telling me to insert an HDMI into my receiver from one end, and the other end into my PS3, where would the video come from? I have to put HDMI into the TV. For the TV I use in my room, it has only one HDMI port and I use that for the video (while it also has sound for the TV as well). Is it a problem that I only have one port on the TV? I've never come across a TV that can do what you say. Or is it because my receiver only has one port that that would be the problem? I don't want to have to use AV cables for video, which is what I think has to happen if I'm not going to use HDMI. Who's not understanding something here?

The HDMI cable from your TV should go into the receiver through an HDMI output on the receiver. Then, the HDMI from your PS3 should go into an HDMI input on the receiver. I don't know if your receiver is capable of doing this or not. But, if you do have an HDMI output (where you plug the TV in), then it should have an input (where you plug the PS3 in).

OK, I'll explain my setup one more time (unless that's not good enough).

Optical Cable from receiver to TV

HDMI from TV to either console (PS3 and Xbox 360)

Do I need to elaborate more? I'll be fine to do so, again.

@JasonR86: No, there's only one input into the receiver. I have a feeling it's only for hooking one end of an HDMI cord into the receiver to TV so I can watch movies, 'cause it's also a DVD player. I guess that's a problem...

@NTM said:

OK, I'll explain my setup one more time (unless that's not good enough).

Optical Cable from receiver to TV

HDMI from TV to either console (PS3 and Xbox 360)

Do I need to elaborate more? I'll be fine to do so, again.

Ahh, ok. I see where're you're coming from. Here, let me explain my set up and see if you can do something similar. Note: Pay attention when I say 'input' and 'output' because these two are easy to confuse (I had to look at my receiver before I left my last post).

HDMI cable from my TV (via HDMI input on the TV) to receiver (via HDMI output on the receiver)

HDMI cable from my PS3 (via HDMI output on PS3) to receiver (via HDMI input on receiver).

This requires a receiver that has one HDMI output and one HDMI input, a TV with one HDMI input, and two HDMI cables. Is this a set-up your equipment could do? If it can, these are all the cables you need for movies and games on the PS3.

@JasonR86: No, I understand, that would mean you have a relatively new/nice setup, and you can get Dolby TrueHD. Very cool. I need to get some new equipment already, though for right now, I'm satisfied. To answer your question, no, I don't have it that way. It's OK though for now, since games right now don't support the highest quality sound settings, and I have other ways to get better sound quality other than the way I have it in my room when it comes to seeing movies. Well, thanks for the info you gave me, now I understand what's what. I'm tired, nighty night.