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Originally Posted by Bleddyn Williams
I know this was written a while ago, but a follow-up question...
My PS3 is currently set to output bitsteam to my non-HDMI amp. When I get an HDMI amp, am I still going to want it set to output bitstream, EXCEPT for PCM, and converted-to-PCM TrueHD (and hopefully, DTS MA)? Or when I go to HDMI, does PCM become the default for output?
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Okay, fine...I'll bite.
While using HDMI for your audio connection, the only time the "PCM" setting is currently necessary (at least that I can think of off hand) is for Dolby TrueHD tracks. If you selected "bitstream" in this instance you would only get a DD 5.1 lossy track, so therefore you would want to choose "PCM". Later, when presumably there is a firmware update to decode DTS-HD MA onboard the PS3 you would also want to select "PCM" output, otherwise you would only get the lossy DTS core at 1.5mbps (i.e. hardware limitations are pretty much confirmed to deny output of the new hi-rez codecs via "bitstream".)
Really, it doesn't matter whether you use the "bitstream" or "PCM" setting for LPCM tracks because LPCM is the same either way - there is no decoding on the player side nor on the receiver side.
For lossy tracks like DD EX and DTS ES (including DTS-HD & DTS-HD MA for the time being - see above) I would stick with "bitstream" because you won't get the rear channel decoded unless your receiver can process PlxII on a 5.1 LPCM feed, which is what the PS3 converts these tracks into while "PCM" is selected (e.g. although my Onkyo TX-SR605 has advanced features such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoding via HDMI v. 1.3 it still will not do this).
Hope this helps.