PS3 Sound format help.

grimmace19

Ok guys I know this is a topic that has been most likely beat to death but I can only find conflicting results including my own ears giving me different answers.

My most basic question is with my gear (marantz 7002 and ps3) should I have the sound output for music and blu rays set to bitstream or linear pcm?

With that, I have the ps3 hooked directly to the marantz via HDMI and am looking to get the true HD tracks from movies and the best overall sound from music playing through the ps3 (cds, hard drive from usb, and pandora).

I am also looking to eliminate what has become a more than annoying problem in which the ps3 playing only blurays is very quiet for sound output. For instance, listening to music from my hard drive or a cd is really F'in loud at the -20db mark. However, a bluray at that same -20 mark isn't anywhere near that level. With that I find myself boosting the center to hear dialogue.

Any advice or experience is appreciated because it's a difficult task reading through the sony fanboyz posts to see what other solutions have been. I'm getting to the point with movies that I'm considering a standalone bdp if that would help the situation.

cnh

Hi,

I don't really have an answer to this question...but I thought I'd give it a bump and add my 'experience'. I noticed that in the PS3 HDMI Digital AUDIO setup menu that you have the OPTION of Auto or Manual. I found that when I set it to AUTO that my Onkyo would NOT recognize Dolby Digital or DTS but pass them in some PCM format at a lower volume. When I went into that menu and checked the various formats by setting the menu to MANUAL...the Onkyo was able to identify the different formats and use it's own defaults. As a result, at least, the Dolby Digital appeared and the sound was MUCH LOUDER.

I haven't played a blu-ray on the system since I got back from the far East so till I do I can't speak to Blu-ray sound as I don't 'remember' that far back--it's been a bit over a year?

bump..!

cnh

mdaudioguy

What do you have it set to - Linear PCM or Bitstream?

The default is Linear PCM. Try changing it to Bitstream. This seems to work better for most people with AVRs that can decode Dolby Digital and DTS encoded sources. Both my Yamahas, my Onkyo, and now my HK have worked best this way. You may have to manually change your surround settings after doing this, but my AVRs have been able to automatically detect the incoming format.

grimmace19

I had it set to Linear PCM and then switched to bitstream. From my readings (idk if they are right) Linear PCM will decode the sound in the ps3 and bitstream would allow the avr to decode. Doing some listening to the O.A.R. Live at Madison Square Garden blu ray I noticed that the bitstream setting allowed for a lot more detailed music. I could pick out bass lines and details that after switching to linear pcm almost disappeared.

As for the volume, it has increased slightly but I'm still confused by the ps3 in general. When playing call of duty I set the volume to -50 and it's at a decent level, and anything around -40 is way too loud with the explosions but yet blu rays need to be past -25 to get to something manageable. All while I listen to music at what I consider "ripping" at -30db.

All in all it seems strange that from the same system playing all my different formats the sound level fluctuations are annoying at best. Although I've considered getting different gear to run music, blu rays, and everything else the ps3 does it really isn't logical for my applications. Most of my music is 320kbs or less so switching to a squeezebox or a different dac doesn't seem to be like a good investment and getting a different blu ray player that functions as well as the ps3 would cost me more than I'm willing to spend at this point.

Any other feedback or experience is appreciated.

quadzilla

If your PS/3 is the slim model, use bitstream. If it's the older fat version, then the hdmi chip in it can't do uncompressed audio in bitstream format, so use pcm.

grimmace19

^ It's the original version (had it since release date!). Your opinion is the same that I've read most frequently and I find it strange that I hear better results from bitstream but maybe it's only because I don't have back speakers anymore.

mdaudioguy

quadzilla wrote: »

If your PS/3 is the slim model, use bitstream. If it's the older fat version, then the hdmi chip in it can't do uncompressed audio in bitstream format, so use pcm.

I learn something new every day! However, I only own 2 BDs, so I guess I haven't heard true lossless yet... Games and DVD movies sound great, at least to me.

mdaudioguy

grimmace19 wrote: »

As for the volume, it has increased slightly but I'm still confused by the ps3 in general. When playing call of duty I set the volume to -50 and it's at a decent level, and anything around -40 is way too loud with the explosions but yet blu rays need to be past -25 to get to something manageable. All while I listen to music at what I consider "ripping" at -30db.

Although there can be great variance in volume settings from brand to model to different calibrations, -50 (or even -40) seems rather low to me. I'm usually in the -20s for either games or movies. Music often gets louder!

cnh

One more thing to consider is that the PS3 has a VOLUME control in its DISPLAY menu.....which you get when you hit the triangle button on the right side of the controller? Select that and it will give you a volume line which you can increase to boost the signal sent to your AVR. See if that helps?

cnh

Lietuvis91

interesting that i saw this thread. I just finished watching the movie 2012 through my old version (fat)PS3 & HT setup in the sig. What i noticed on mine is that dialog is much quieter then other backroud sounds and I could not figure out why. Explosions are ridiculously loud, yet voices are not. I adjusted the level of my center channel up, which helped some, but dialog in particular still sounds lower than i'd like it. This thread has me wondering if it's the ps3's fault...

grimmace19

^ Without question it is the ps3's fault. To an extent some movies are recorded that way but the ps3 seems to be it's own animal in this situation.

mufsoman

Quadzilla is correct, the older versions of PS3 cannot bitstream HD sound formats, they can only output lossless through PCM, in which the PS3 is decyphering the HD code. I too had frustrations with my old PS3 sound and finally bought a Pioneer BDP-320. Big difference in the Pio bitstreaming to the SC07. Sound was much louder, more detailed and balanced. I know there have been many threads about how PCM and bitstream should be the same and everyone has a different opinion, but mine is that bitstreaming to the SC07 is best. I can't explain if its something in the PS3 or other, but that's my story and i'm sticking to it !

Lietuvis91

grimmace19 wrote: »

^ Without question it is the ps3's fault. To an extent some movies are recorded that way but the ps3 seems to be it's own animal in this situation.

Jeez...
Thats a shame...
I guess now I'll be hunting for a blueray player. Appreciate your input!

polktiger

quadzilla wrote: »

If your PS/3 is the slim model, use bitstream. If it's the older fat version, then the hdmi chip in it can't do uncompressed audio in bitstream format, so use pcm.

To clarify - the bitstream limitation is only with respect to HD audio signals. Normal DD or DTS bitstream with no limitation (at least over optical which is what I use). I only have a couple "freebie" blu-ray disks, and my AVR doesn't connect via hdmi so, I won't comment on ps3 HD audio output over HDMI as I have no hands on experience with it.