I'm a complete beginner in this field - but had similar issue to you; some of this might help?
Replaced 'out of box' panasonic DVD + surround sound that went bung with PS3 (to get bluray and keep kids quiet). Knew I had to get receiver and optical connection; eBay success, collected last w/e.
But hadn't realised that PS3 will only output audio to one source at a time; I have HD projector and old TV. Dull.
The then discovered crappy panasonic stuff incl passive subwoofer; need active subwoof with amp. eBay again. Collected last night.
Now struggling to get full 5.1 incl sub woof to work. Blimey; nothing is simple is it! Have used this site to discover audio settings need to be bitmap as using optical rather than HDMI. But still can't figure why not working properly.
More hours tonight. Driving missus nuts
