PS3 Blu Ray Audio Playback Problem

MandyHan · 12-09-2006, 07:58 PM

So I managed to find a 20GB PS3 yesterday after work. Whether or not it was a good purchase is still debatable, especially because of Blu Ray Audio problems.

Problem: It appears the Dolby Digital will not function on Blu Ray movies. DVDs, PS3 games...no problems at all, but as soon as I pop a Blu Ray disc in, audio skips on and off (I can see DD status on my receiver flickering on and off). Any menus that are not recorded in 5.1 work do work. It's almost as if it's a problem with the disc, because the audio will skip at the same points, BUT I've now tried both Talledega Nights and Superman and has similar problems. The only way I've been able to get audio is by changing the BD-Rom optical setting to PCM...but then I don't get 5.1

Settings: I have component cables and a toslink cable for audio. In the audio setting, I have Dolby Digital checked (and I've tried checking and unchecking the DTS box).

Under BD-Rom Settings, for the optical output settings, I have I can select Bitstream or PCM. I only get pro-logic sound if its set to PCM, so I assume that Bitstream is what I want.

I've tested different cables and every other 5.1 component I have still works fine (360, DVD, DVR).

Any thoughts. I called Sony and they said with the holidays, I probably wouldnt be able to get a replacement until after xmas (and I'm leaving town soon).

MandyHan · 12-09-2006, 09:47 PM

Still having problems, but when took my Sony receiver out of its Sound field setting it was in (Digital Cinema B) and into auto...it's worked better, but it still skips sometimes.

Is it possible that Blu Ray DD is just a little too much for my current receiver (got it about 3 years ago). As I mentioned before, the audio on DVDs, games, etc works fine always.

David Ely · 12-09-2006, 11:23 PM

No problem with my PS3. Have you installed the 1.3 system update?

TonyD · 12-09-2006, 11:26 PM

i get audio without any trouble

MandyHan · 12-10-2006, 01:51 AM

Earlier today, it told me I had the newest update.

**HTF Ads**

shock_terminal · 12-15-2006, 10:09 AM

I have a STR-DE985 and am having the same issue.

The drop outs happen consistantly at certain spots (high audio level regardless of volume level). I have tried both the PS3 and the Samsung Blu-Ray player. From the Samsung both Optical and Coaxial.

Works fine w/ every thing ells, just not Blu-Ray.

I was told it could be it's because the receiver can't handle a Dolby Digital signal provided at 640k through optical. There is no option to make the PS3 only provide a 400k signal.

mclva · 12-30-2006, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shock_terminal

I have a STR-DE985 and am having the same issue.

The drop outs happen consistantly at certain spots (high audio level regardless of volume level). I have tried both the PS3 and the Samsung Blu-Ray player. From the Samsung both Optical and Coaxial.

Works fine w/ every thing ells, just not Blu-Ray.

I was told it could be it's because the receiver can't handle a Dolby Digital signal provided at 640k through optical. There is no option to make the PS3 only provide a 400k signal.

Piling on here - I have the 60GB PS3 connected to the same receiver and am seeing the same symptoms. I get 5.1 just fine on games, etc., just not on BD playback.

Here's my HT setup:
* Comcast HD digital cable (I have one of the lame Sci Atl STBs that only has component connections and digital coax for audio out, no HDMI - they're on backorder)
* Costco Pio PDP-4304 plasma
* Sony STR-DE985
* PS3
* Polk RM10 sat/sub

Last night I spent about 6 hours reading on this forum and while very informative, l now realize just how much I DONT know about digital sound

So many advances have been made the last 3-4 years while I've been off doing something besides paying attention. If I caught the salient points of most of what I read, I think the right thing to do is wait for the HDMI 1.3 receivers to hit the market before upgrading to a better HT receiver; then I can fix my PS3 BD audio problem. Until then, what is the best way to configure my setup for BD playback? Is there any way to get 5.1 to my existing reciever during BD playback?

Thanks for all the great info on here BTW - I learned a helluva lot so far.

RAF · 12-31-2006, 01:36 AM

I use an HDMI cable linked to my Denon 3806 receiver (HDMI 1.1) and I get all audio codecs from my PS3 with all channels. I don't use any other audio wires (no more room for them since my 3806 jacks are max'ed out with all the stuff I have connected to it so this was not an option.) Most of the PS3 games provide 7.1 sound and the Blu-ray discs pass through what's on the discs as full channel PCM sound. When using HDMI for audio as well as for video you want to select "PCM" as your audio choice. There's even a warning in the PS3 setup menu that if you choose "bitstream" you may not get all of the sound. I'm not sure if this also applies to Toslink connections since I'm not using one from the PS3.

Incidently, let's all remember that if the player does the decoding of the audio codecs (into PCM for transmission over HDMI) then all you need in the way of HDMI at the receiver (pre/pro) end of things is HDMI 1.1. And HDMI has also always supported 1080p video in even the first version (1.0). HDMI 1.3 only comes into play if your player is not capable of decoding the audio and the receiver needs to accept the raw data (like from TrueHD) for decoding. Any video "advantages" of HDMI 1.3 go way beyond anything that's out there in the way of source material and displays. I'm willing to bet that your HDMI 1.1 receiver will be long gone by the time that advanced video formats (higher bandwidth and color depth) even make it to the prototype stage.)

ScottCarr · 01-01-2007, 08:29 PM

Hi
My receiver was not identifying the 5.1 coming from the PS3. It was driving me NUTS.

In the set up select BD/DVD
set BD/DVD audio format optical to BITSTREAM.

Some corny warning saying some portions of the BD will not play will appear.

My Pioneer is now showing 5.1 info and I am hearing the channels where before I wasn't

Scott

RAF · 01-02-2007, 12:53 AM

I'm not using the optical Toslink cable with my PS3 for audio. I'm running HDMI cable only for all the video and audio information. Therefore I can't verify whether or not there is a problem when using the LPCM (linear PCM) setting with an Optical cable on my receiver (Denon 3806) but I'm not questioning your statement since it is based on your personal experience. I can say, however, that the correct audio setting on the PS3 if you are running audio through an HDMI cable is Linear PCM (LPCM) to take advantage of all the sound that the HDMI output is capable of delivering to your HDMI receiver (even 1.1 works fine with the new audio codecs when the player does the decoding - no need for 1.3). I suspect that the "corny warning" that Sony has about possibly losing something when selecting "bitstream" audio has to do with the Toslink connection, not the HDMI connection.

Also, as an FYI, the sounds and music that you hear when the PS3 boots up is in 7.1 if you are using HDMI and your receiver is capable of handling 7.1 input. My Denon 3806's "incoming" display confirms this (and it sounds excellent, as it does on several games). Too bad there is a paucity of 7.1 BR discs at the moment although the capability is there, of course.

One thing that I have found that is not quite as good as it could be on the PS3 is its documentation and this is a disappointment to me. I have found myself trying things hit and miss to discover which button on the control performs certain functions. Quite frankly, while the game control can be made to function as a DVD remote (once you solve the mystery with very little help from SONY until you stumble across the on-screen menu from one of the buttons - the exact one escapes me at the moment) I'm not a big fan of controlling a Blu-ray player with such a device. And the fact that the game controllers are Bluetooth devices and not IR devices doesn't make it very "universal remote controller friendly."