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PS3 audio output options with HDMI utilized

1043 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by ndskyz, May 21, 2007

ven0m

Discussion Starter · May 17, 2007

Currently we have a PS3, which feeds my receiver via optical audio. We are looking to update our display and the Panny TH-50PH9UK Plasma monitor is one of the ones in the mix. TV's don't need to have speakers I keep telling my wife, that is Yamaha's job.

Regardless I could add a HDMI input port to that Panny display, but my questions is if I set the PS3 up for HDMI output will the optical output of the PS3 still feed audio to my receiver or will the PS3 only talk HDMI at that point? I was originally thinking of feeding my new Plasma with HDMI and let it do the audio switching to the receiver using the optical output most TV's have. Since I am now considering the commerical series monitor without advanced audio functions I need to consider any drawbacks to this approach.

Thanks for your time,

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JE3146

· #2 · May 18, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by ven0m /forum/post/0

Currently we have a PS3, which feeds my receiver via optical audio. We are looking to update our display and the Panny TH-50PH9UK Plasma monitor is one of the ones in the mix. TV's don't need to have speakers I keep telling my wife, that is Yamaha's job.

Regardless I could add a HDMI input port to that Panny display, but my questions is if I set the PS3 up for HDMI output will the optical output of the PS3 still feed audio to my receiver or will the PS3 only talk HDMI at that point? I was originally thinking of feeding my new Plasma with HDMI and let it do the audio switching to the receiver using the optical output most TV's have. Since I am now considering the commerical series monitor without advanced audio functions I need to consider any drawbacks to this approach.

Thanks for your time,

You can have Video output via HDMI and Audio output via Optical.

They are both separate.

I know this because I run that setup

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ven0m

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 18, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by JE3146 /forum/post/0

You can have Video output via HDMI and Audio output via Optical.

They are both separate.

I know this because I run that setup

Grand! Thanks for the quick response. Only thing about the PS3 that is not functional in this configuration is that SACD audio only goes out via HDMI correct?

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ji0005

· #4 · May 18, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by ven0m /forum/post/0

I was originally thinking of feeding my new Plasma with HDMI and let it do the audio switching to the receiver using the optical output most TV's have.

FYI, You probably do not want to run audio from the TV to the receiver. HDMI will likely detect that your TV only supports 2 audio channels and will only send 2 channels regardless of the link from the TV to the receiver.

Best case would be to run HDMI from playstation to receiver then HDMI from receiver to TV.. in a perfect world your receiver will support this and everything will play nicely. In the real world you will likely end up as you stated. HDMI to TV and optical to receiver from the PS3.

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ndskyz

· #5 · May 18, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by ven0m /forum/post/0

Only thing about the PS3 that is not functional in this configuration is that SACD audio only goes out via HDMI correct?

Not entirely correct. SACD works via HDMI AND Stereo RCA (red and white connectors) It works fine that way, but it's another cable to run, AND you'll have to change the sound output options everytime you want to listen to an SACD. You also lose out on the abilty to play MultiCH SACD's as that is only supported via HDMI.

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ven0m

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 20, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by ndskyz /forum/post/0

Not entirely correct. SACD works via HDMI AND Stereo RCA (red and white connectors) It works fine that way, but it's another cable to run, AND you'll have to change the sound output options everytime you want to listen to an SACD. You also lose out on the abilty to play MultiCH SACD's as that is only supported via HDMI.

Okay so to clarify:

To get audio out of an SACD that is better than using a traditional CD you would need to have a receiver that supports HDMI or a TV that will pass all audio channels out the optical back to the receiver. Otherwise why use an SACD to begin with when a regular CD will do the same stereo stuff. This PS3 functionality bafffles me, but is it part of the copyright concerns that HDMI addresses?

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Mattardo

· #7 · May 20, 2007

I think it has to do with the surround format of SACDs. Traditionally, you can pass a digital signal through optical to your receiver, and the receiver will decode the Dolby Digital signal or the DTS signal and then split it out to 6 channels. Unfortunately, SACD is some weird format and receivers can't decode it because of the way it's designed (and yes, part of that probably is copyright crap but also not having to add a new decoder to every single receiver released JUST for Sacd - a format that might not have made it). So the way you would normally get around the SACD sound format is your would have 6 individual cables coming out from your player to your receiver, each one carrying a different speaker channel. That way, your receiver doesn't have to decode anything - it just gets the six channels and spits them out AS IS. The PS3 doesn't have that kind of connection, and optical will not spit out the correct channels to the receiver, so I think you're stuck with using HDMI to get surround sound. Somehow, your receiver is able to do it that way. I don't know the details, but I've used sacds and dvd-audios for years and have always had to use the 6 wire method, which is a pain.

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ndskyz

· #8 · May 21, 2007

Gents SACD needs NO...NONE...ZERO decoding by the reciever..that is done by the SACD player. All the AVR needs to do is amplify the signal. Either with analog or HDMI the decoding is done by the player. (Thats the standard) The problem with the PS3 is..it doesnt have the traditional 6 analog outputs that most other SACD players have. Also note that SACD isnt supposed to be able to be transported via optical on ANY SACD player (Sony doesnt want you to make copies of near perfect recording of SACD's)

Venom

Have you heard SACD vs CD (Redbook) in 2ch Stereo. There really isnt much of a comparision. Multich SACD adds more, too some...I personally am not a big fan of multich music.... but SACD was created for A copy protection, and B. better quality 2 CH recording vs redbook. 2Ch SACD is 176.4K/24 vs 44.1K/16 of redbook CD Pretty big difference there

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