I have my PS3 hooked up via HDMI to my LCD, a Samsung LNS3251D. I have no problem with the picture, but the audio is troublesome. I hear the audio fine, but there are random pops/clicks every once in awhile. These happen both at the XMB, and in Blu-Ray movies (haven't checked in games, I will do that). Sometimes it can go half an hour without one, sometimes there are multiple within the span of a few seconds. I've tried both HDMI ports on my TV, both with the same results. I have no other HDMI devices to really test the ports, but I know the TV doesn't have audio issues in general because things hooked up via RCA audio (red/white jacks) are absolutely fine.

I've tried playing around in the PS3 settings, but I can't seem to find anything to change, nevermind a setting that fixes the problem. I do have the latest firmware, 1.8, and I've experienced no real change in the problem across firmwares. The auto setup for audio selects 44.1 and 48 kHz Linear PCM 2 Ch. I can't unselect either or find any kind of just "digital stereo" because my TV certainly isn't fancy when it comes to audio. Are those the right two settings for my TV?

What can I do to troubleshoot this? I've ordered a 2nd HDMI cable to check that, and I'm going to try my PS3 hooked up via RCA audio, but other than that I'm stumped on how to proceed.

The only time I have heard random pops/clicks is on the movie and game trailers I have downloaded from the ps store..and only some of the trailers do this. I can't remember which ones but it is a very few of them so I was assuming there was something wrong with the sound in those trailers. I have not heard any sounds from b/d or games..except motorstorm which has strange sounds from time to time.

How long have you had these sounds? Since you bought it?

The reason I ask, I had a similar issue with a different device a while back. Drove me nuts and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Random clicks and pops when my receiver was on. I soon came to realize it was occuring everytime a home appliance in the other room was being turned on or off. They were on the same circuit I guess. Bizzare but true.

/just a thought

Random pops are often the sign of electricity flow issues. Maybe your home setup isn't sending enough juice. It's happened to me before, which is why I thought of it.

As for how long I've heard the pops - I've heard them ever since I hooked the PS3 up to this TV. I had an older TV and I was using component and never heard pops, and this was in a totally different building. In May I moved to a new building, and purchased the new TV, and hooked the PS3 up via HDMI, and that's when I began hearing the pops.

Electric flow could be the problem I suppose (I'm in a dorm room, so I unfortunately have no way to fix electric problems). But like I said, I'm only having problems with the PS3. I have an XBox 360 hooked up to the same TV, as well as a Wii, and I never hear pops of any kind. I figure if the pops were due to electric flow, it'd be caused by the speakers of the TV not reacting to the electric flow properly. I can't imagine electric flow is causing the digital data sent by the PS3 to be corrupted. If my reasoning is wrong here, please correct me.

Unless the PS3 being on is the device causing problems with the electric flow to the TV's speakers? That seems kind of out there, but I suppose its possible. How to test that though....

I have no idea, but would a surge protector or power conditioner help if it was an electrical problem?

My popping/clicks were isolated to one device as well. After I put a surge protector into the equation the clicks stopped. Again, your mileage may vary. Good luck.

In your setup that solved the problem, are the TV and the av device in question both plugged into the same surge protector? Because I have the PS3 and the TV both plugged into the same surge protector right now, and I still have the pops.

Well I have a list of things to try:
- PS3 over component
- PS3 over different HDMI cable
- plug PS3 into different surge protector or maybe even totally different wall outlet.

I'll see what cables I can find this weekend and test everything I can.

I have the same tv, and I have the same problems. Kind of annoying. One obvious solution is to get a receiver that takes hdmi, and play sound through speakers. That's what I'm going to do.

I think the hdmi ports on the tv are just bad. Do you see static sometimes right as you start a game or movie from the xmb, just for a second? That's the other problem I am experiencing.

I have the same tv, and I have the same problems. Kind of annoying. One obvious solution is to get a receiver that takes hdmi, and play sound through speakers. That's what I'm going to do.

I think the hdmi ports on the tv are just bad. Do you see static sometimes right as you start a game or movie from the xmb, just for a second? That's the other problem I am experiencing.

I do see the static when starting a game or movie, but that's not as big a deal to me - that's a result of HDCP handshaking, and it doesn't interrupt my gameplaying or moviewatching experience.

This audio thing is driving me nuts. I just spent $1000 on this TV a few months ago, I don't want random pops whenever I play a Blu-Ray movie or a PS3 game.

Neo-

No, they were not plugged into the same outlet. TV wasn't on a protector, receiver was on the protector. Sounds like you may have a different problem though. I know how annoying that can be. Good luck with solving the problem.

terra99pin, have you called Samsung about the issue?

I have no idea, but would a surge protector or power conditioner help if it was an electrical problem?

My popping/clicks were isolated to one device as well. After I put a surge protector into the equation the clicks stopped. Again, your mileage may vary. Good luck.
Yah, everyone rags on those things, but my line conditioner cleaned all the crackles out of my audio.

Yah, everyone rags on those things, but my line conditioner cleaned all the crackles out of my audio.

Well I don't think that would help me, since I only get the crackles/pops via HDMI. I get perfectly acceptable sound quality via analog inputs.

I've called Samsung about the matter and they're going to set me up with a service appointment. If it can't be fixed, they will exchange it for a comparable model.