[anas9]

Hello all.

I have the following hardware. I am trying to get DTS working on them.


PS3: optical sound, HDMI, component

Plasma TV (1080I, HD ready): 3 HDMI, component

Home theater (Panasonic SA-PT465): 1 HDMI, optical sound, component

Receiver: HDMI, component


i recently read on the internet that the home theater i have does not decode DTS out of optical, only gives DTS on DVDs played from within. let's assume that is not the case because if it is, i will have to buy a new home theater.


how can i get both the PS3 and receiver to give me DTS through a DTS home theater.


i understand this would have been an easy discussion if i had optical on the TV, but i don't.


currently, i use a red/white cable to output sound from my TV to my home theater. this will not give me DTS. if i connect HDMI (which i understand does support DTS, i won't have video on my TV (dough).


what should i do, is there any hardware to resolve this dilemma.


thanks.

 

[Otto Pylot]

A little confusing, but if you have High Speed HDMI outputs/inputs, and use a certified High Speed HDMI cable, then you should be able to pass DTS and video to your tv. If your Panasonic is that old (I'm not familiar with the model) that it can't pass DTS thru the optical output, then yeah, you may have to upgrade. Optical out on the tv would be nice. My tv reception is OTA only so I pass Dolby DTS 5.1 from my tv to my receiver via optical, turn off the speakers on the tv, and listen via my AVR. The opposite for BD and ATV2. I run High Speed HDMI to the AVR and then pass the video thru to the tv via HDMI. Audio is played thru the AVR, tv speakers off. I'm assuming that the Panasonic has a built-in DVD but the separate receiver throws me.

 

[anas9]

yeah i should clarify, receiver is a satellite receiver. i'm trying to pass DD 5.1 to the AVR. i'm subscribed to a satellite service that offers movies with DD5.1 sound and HD video.


so to summarize, how do i get DD5.1 from the satellite receiver and DTS from my playstation3 to my AVR (home theater), assuming i upgrade the AVR.


i need to do all that without having optical sound output on the TV.


other question is, does component support 1080i? or what is the best resolution i can get out of the component?


what you do requires that you have multiple HDMI on the AVR and an optical sound on the TV.


i do not know what an ATV2 is. but, it sound you have something with 2 HDMI. using one for audio to AVR and another for video to TV.

 

[BIslander]

Many Panasonic HTIBs only decode DTS from their own built-in DVD players. If that's the case with yours, you are out of luck with many Blu-rays, since they only have DTS tracks. The best you can do is stereo.


If you upgrade your AVR, the best,approach is to connect all devices to the AVR using HDMI and then connect the AVR to the TV with HDMI.


No TVs have optical inputs, just outputs. You only need the optical output for signals acquired by the TV such as an off air antenna or streaming services.


Component supports 1080i video, although new players this year may not output HD video over component due to digital rights management issues.

 

[anas9]

thanks BIslander.

question about your first statement, does this apply to dolby digital 5.1? or only DTS. also, is this for optical audio only?


what if i connect my video component output out of my PS3 and connect to TV, then connect my PS3 to my Home theater with an HDMI. would i end up with 5.1 surround sound? if i find a home theater that does decode DDplus out of HDMI, that would work, right?


i am currently working in Saudi Arabia, AVRs are very expensive here, at least $1000 if i find one. if we compare them to prices back in canada. so what "feature" should i be looking for to know if the Home theater would decode DTS or DD Plus.


I am not an expert here, so please help me out, do you mean by AVR one of the following:

AV Receivers: http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...00000000005702


or would this be considered an AVR sometimes? http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...00000000005702

note the "ARC" feature on this link.


or this link: http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...0000000005702#

would the above link be a solution?



i find it hard to believe that a person can only get the actual surround experience out of a PS3 if he/she had a big AVR unit.


thanks.

 

[Otto Pylot]



Quote:
Originally Posted by anas9 /forum/post/20850845



i do not know what an ATV2 is. but, it sound you have something with 2 HDMI. using one for audio to AVR and another for video to TV.

Not exactly. ATV2 is Apple TV2. HDMI can carry both audio and video in a one way direction. If your AVR has the formats you can play lossless audio from BD movies via High Speed HDMI. My receiver has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output. The Apple TV2 and the BD player each connect to the AVR via HDMI and then there is a single HDMI output to the tv for the video. The tv speakers are off so you don't hear the audio that is passed to the tv. The audio is played thru the AVR. The AVR allows me to pick which input I want to use, watch a BD-DVD, stream a movie via Netflix from the Apple TV2 or watch OTA tv via the tv input. The audio from the tv when watching OTA is passed thru to the AVR via the optical cable so I can listen in Dolby DTS 5.1 (which is how audio is presented for Over The Air (OTA) television).

 

[BIslander]



Quote:
Originally Posted by anas9 /forum/post/20851273


question about your first statement, does this apply to dolby digital 5.1? or only DTS. also, is this for optical audio only?

It applies to DTS arriving over a digital connection, not to DD 5.1.

Quote:
what if i connect my video component output out of my PS3 and connect to TV, then connect my PS3 to my Home theater with an HDMI. would i end up with 5.1 surround sound?

Not if your receiver can't decode DTS from an external source.

Quote:
if i find a home theater that does decode DDplus out of HDMI, that would work, right?

DD+ is not the same as DTS. So, no. Besides, there aren't any Blu-rays with DD+ encoding.

Quote:
i am currently working in Saudi Arabia, AVRs are very expensive here, at least $1000 if i find one. if we compare them to prices back in canada. so what "feature" should i be looking for to know if the Home theater would decode DTS or DD Plus.

The specs will say what decoders the unit has.


An AVR is audio-video receiver, meaning a unit that can process and/or switch both picture and sound. Your Panasonic system has a receiver that includes a DVD player.

Quote:
i find it hard to believe that a person can only get the actual surround experience out of a PS3 if he/she had a big AVR unit.

Panasonic is the only company I've seen that sells HTIBs that cannot decode DTS. So, it's not that you need a big AVR to get DTS decoding. You just need to avoid the Panasonics that have that unfortunate limitation.

 

[anas9]

thanks a lot BIslander


i finally understand the situation. one thing i realize now. is that i should have mentioned i want surround or DD5.1 working, not DTS. anything with surround sound is good enough for me.


but i still can't get the surround sound to work out of the HT i have with an optical wire out of the PS3. so i am guessing it's doesn't decode DTS nor DD 5.1, i tried both settings on my PS3.



one final question. knowing the hardware i have, if i buy an HT with one HDMI only, i won't be able to get DD5.1 working for both the receiver and PS3, right? if i want the surround on both PS3 and satellite audio i willl need a multiple HDMI AVR am i right?

 

[BIslander]



Quote:
Originally Posted by anas9 /forum/post/20851943


i should have mentioned i want surround or DD5.1 working, not DTS. anything with surround sound is good enough for me.

Most Blu-rays have DTS tracks. That means if you have a receiver that can't decode DTS, you will be limited to stereo with most Blu-rays. If you are only watching DVDs, then the lack of DTS decoding is not a problem, since nearly all DVDs have DD 5.1 tracks.

Quote:
but i still can't get the surround sound to work out of the HT i have with an optical wire out of the PS3. so i am guessing it's doesn't decode DTS nor DD 5.1, i tried both settings on my PS3.

You need to set the PS3 to bitstream for Dolby. Then, it will send the encoded DD 5.1 track to your sound system for decoding. If, as you say, the Panasonic cannot decode DTS, then you need to set the PS3 to PCM for DTS sources. It will decode DTS tracks itself and downmix them to stereo for output over optical.

Quote:
one final question. knowing the hardware i have, if i buy an HT with one HDMI only, i won't be able to get DD5.1 working for both the receiver and PS3, right? if i want the surround on both PS3 and satellite audio i willl need a multiple HDMI AVR am i right?

You don't need HDMI to get surround. Optical will work just fine. But, you need a receiver that decodes both DD 5.1 and DTS. If the receiver only has one HDMI, that would be an output, not an input. I've never seen an AVR with a single HDMI input. Two is the minimum. That's two inputs, one output.