PS3 with new H/K Receiver

sdcfan19

Did a quick search but couldn't find much on this site. I just bought an H/K 254 to power the Rti10's (sounds awesome) and have now been playing with the PS3 w/ BluRays. The receiver does both TrueHD and DTS-HD, but I cannot get any of the BluRays to play these formats. The PS3 is hooked using HDMI direct to the H/K. The one thing that gets me is that in the audio setup for the PS3, neither of these formats is listed as possibilities (I cannot see them to check the boxes). Do I need to run a separate optical cable? Just wondering everyones input.

Thanks in advance.

Jeff Beaird

Maybe a stupid question but I have toask...Do you have HDMI cable from the HK to the TV?

cheddar

PS3 internally decodes dts-hd ma and trueHD and outputs a standard PCM signal to the receiver/pre via HDMI. This often reads as 'multichannel' on the receiver/pre. It is the same PCM you would get if you decoded it in the receiver/pre and had the dts-hd ma or trueHD light up there.

sdcfan19

Jeff Beaird wrote: »

Maybe a stupid question but I have toask...Do you have HDMI cable from the HK to the TV?

Yeah, got that covered.

sdcfan19

cheddar wrote: »

PS3 internally decodes dts-hd ma and trueHD and outputs a standard PCM signal to the receiver/pre via HDMI. This often reads as 'multichannel' on the receiver/pre. It is the same PCM you would get if you decoded it in the receiver/pre and had the dts-hd ma or trueHD light up there.

This is what I'm getting. Good to know everyone is having this, though I would have liked my AVR to say TrueHD or DTS-HD. Thanks for the info.

cheddar

If you're ever in doubt about what the ps3 is outputting, just press the select button when a blu-ray is playing and you will bring up a data screen that includes, among other things, a full readout of the audio output and bitrate.

polktiger

If set to bitstream doesn't the PS3 send the undecoded signal to the H/K for decoding?

mutelight

polktiger wrote: »

If set to bitstream doesn't the PS3 send the undecoded signal to the H/K for decoding?

Currently it cannot.

cheddar

I believe the ps3 lacks the proper hdmi 1.3 chip to bitstream lossless audio. Part of rushing the ps3 into production before falling more than a year behind the xbox360 was that the necessary 1.3 chip was still in development and wouldn't reach volume production for another half a year.

So it will bitstream older DD and DTS. And it's chip can handle 1.3 level video as well as output decoded PCM via HDMI after decoding. But you have to use the player's internal decoding for TrueHD and DTS-HD MA and configure your receiver/pre to accept the PCM. Unless they upgrade the chip at some point, the ps3 will not be able to bitstream the lossless formats.

sdcfan19

cheddar wrote: »

I believe the ps3 lacks the proper hdmi 1.3 chip to bitstream lossless audio. Part of rushing the ps3 into production before falling more than a year behind the xbox360 was that the necessary 1.3 chip was still in development and wouldn't reach volume production for another half a year.

So it will bitstream older DD and DTS. And it's chip can handle 1.3 level video as well as output decoded PCM via HDMI after decoding. But you have to use the player's internal decoding for TrueHD and DTS-HD MA and configure your receiver/pre to accept the PCM. Unless they upgrade the chip at some point, the ps3 will not be able to bitstream the lossless formats.

Damn, this sucks. Does lossless audio really make that big a difference?

mutelight

sdcfan19 wrote: »

Damn, this sucks. Does lossless audio really make that big a difference?

Try it for yourself and you can be the judge. With your current setup you can listen to the latest codecs, you just don't get your little lights on the receiver.

sdcfan19

mutelight wrote: »

Try it for yourself and you can be the judge. With your current setup you can listen to the latest codecs, you just don't get your little lights on the receiver.

Than I'm confused. How is this done. Usually I'm very good with this stuff, I'm just lost because this is all new to me.

Also, just an update...the receiver has been upgraded to the H/K 354 (B@D@$$!!!)


Thanks in advance.

mutelight

The decoding happens internally on the PS3 and then is sent via LPCM to your receiver for playback. If you choose a Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA track it will be decoded by the PS3 and then sent to your receiver, which means the lamps will not light up on your AVR but you are getting the next gen audio. To make sure you are listening to the proper format you can press "select" on the controller to get the on screen display which will tell you what audio stream you are hearing.

DannyD

sdcfan19 wrote: »

Than I'm confused. How is this done. Usually I'm very good with this stuff, I'm just lost because this is all new to me.

Also, just an update...the receiver has been upgraded to the H/K 354 (B@D@$$!!!)


Thanks in advance.

It will most likely say Multi CH PCM on the front panel of your receiver. I have the previous generation HK 247 and that is what it says on the front of mine when I am outputing TrueHD. Set the audio output of your PS3 to Linear PCM. When you press select on the controller during blu-ray playback, it should say Dolby TrueHD in the top right corner of your screen as previously mentioned. Then you'll know your outputing the latest codec;)

cheddar

I posted this in Danny's thread, but it applies here too.

cheddar wrote: »

Good to know you got access to HD audio without buying a new receiver. There are probably a lot of people in your boat who don't know they've got everything they need without a big upgrade.

PCM (big file) ---> compresses to TrueHD/DTS-HD MA (small file) ---> uncompresses to PCM and sent out to the digitial processing in the receiver/pre

This is the same process whether it's decoded (uncompressed) in the ps3 or the receiver/pre. It's supposed to be a straightforward decoding scheme so you're supposed to get the same PCM either way (that's why they call it lossless). Differences in sound between receivers/pre's come mainly from what happens after the receiver/pre gets the PCM and applies its own internal digital processing (surround modes, etc.) and DACs (digital analog converters) for output to the analog speakers.

So you can decode in either the receiver or the player. And you shouldn't be losing anything because the quality of the sound is still mainly dependent on what happens in the receiver after the decode.

sdcfan19

Thanks for the help folks, it's really appreciated.