i have a marantz sr7001 hooked up to my tv through hdmi, and ps3 hooked up to the marantz. Should i set my audio settings to auto or custom.

second question, I was playing Metal gear solid 4 which is 5.1, now for this game or any game that is 5.1 for that matter should i just listen to it on bitstream dolby digital, or should i still listen to LPCM. Is it possible to listen to it on PCM and would it be better than dolby digital or dts.

also there is like a million different pcm settings on the audio menu for the ps3, which one's do i select

and if the game says 7.1 on the back of the box like uncharted or resistance, what do i do to get it to work.

by the way i tried just selecting pcm on mgs4 today and deslected everything else, and while i was able to hear sound, my marantz did not have anything on the display comming up where it usually shows which speakers are activated, it did say pcm though on the reciever though.

also if im watching a movie thats in dts or dolby digital, do i have to deselect all the pcm settings to watch it bitstream or will the ps3 automatically select it.

I'm pretty sure you can choose between bitstream and lpcm while watching regular dvds on the fly. you just have to bring up the av options when you're watching a movie, should be at the bottom of the list under Audio Format.

with the HDMI set to bitstream, your receiver will do the decoding.

WIth the PS3 set to LPCM, the PS3 decodes it and sends it as multichannel PCM to the receiver.

There's no real difference in either method, BUT many receivers won't process LPCM sound. If I send a Dolby Digital bitstream, my receiver will do EX processing for my 6.1 setup; same with DTS. Fortunately, the option is easy to change while playing a movie...press the triangle button I think.

what pcm settings you want to choose wouldn't really matter as I'm pretty sure your receiver knows how many speakers you have already. I have an onkyo 705 and it even though i only have 2 speakers i choose 5.1 on dvds and i don't have a problem hearing anything. Correct if I'm wrong but wouldn't using LPCM give you a bit better sound since you'd have a higher bandwidth than if you used dts or dolby digital? I'm not too certain on the bandwidth limitations of each format :confused:

also when i select pcm on some games nothing on my reciever display box pops up " im talking about the box that shows what speakers are active"

nothing on the display lights up, bu you still gt sound right? are we talking about ps3 games?

yeah

You can't directly choose the sound format (LPCM/bitstream) for games. Just for DVDs/Blu-rays.

There is a workaround, though. You have to change the sound output options by de-selecting the higher output formats. For example, if you want the PS3 to bitstream DD to your AVR for playing MGS4, you have to de-select every option other than 2-channel pcm and DD/DTS.

As for which sounds better, you'll get different answers. Mess with it and see if you prefer one or the other. I can't tell the difference other than in a slight volume difference, but others swear by the difference. Obviously it depends on your own ears, your equipment, and the particular game.