HDMI output from PS3 to TV+Amp - splitter?

[eshy76]

My issue is this.

I have a PS3, a HDMI switching receiver (JVC RX-D701) and a 1080p LCD TV.

I previously had a 32" non-full HD TV and how I connected this up was PS3>Receiver>TV using HDMI cables. This allowed me to enjoy uncompressed sound via HDMI and also the receiver outputted to my TV in 720p or 1080i, no problem.

With the new TV, it now transpires that my receiver cannot "pass-through" a 1080p video signal, so to enjoy a full HD picture, I connect my PS3 to my TV directly using HDMI. Picture quality is great.

However, this leaves me with an issue on the Audio side - I can connect to my receiver using an optical cable from the PS3, but I still want to have the higher bandwidth soundtracks from blu-rays via HDMI. I paid a lot for the receiver a while ago and really do not want to change it at this stage.

So what I would like to do if possible is connect my PS3 from one HDMI socket to both my TV (for video) and my amp/receiver (for sound only) using HDMI on both.

Is this a splitter cable I need and which would be the most cost-effective way of doing this? I only need 1080p output on one of the 2 outputs - the other is to be used only for sound.

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, I ran a search and could not quite find the answer I was looking for! Thanks!

[IAN P]

Yeah,you're gonna need an hdmi splitter,Amazon,or some of the traders on here sell them

I believe that's correct,a couple of the guys may confirm it for you.

[vex]

It sort of depends on the size of your screen.

720p/1080i is fine upto about 40/42" screens, it is only really past 50" that you will see any disernable image improvement.

We were installing a 63" Plasma yesterday and even at 720p the Sky HD was stunning.

V.

[eshy76]

Originally Posted by vex

It sort of depends on the size of your screen.

720p/1080i is fine upto about 40/42" screens, it is only really past 50" that you will see any disernable image improvement.

We were installing a 63" Plasma yesterday and even at 720p the Sky HD was stunning.

V.

Hi Vex,

Don't say that...the missus would not be too happy with me replacing a perfectly good 720p/1080i 32" LCD for nothing!!! The new TV is 40" and we sit fairly close to it, so I think the difference is noticeable!!

A "Y" HDMI cable would be ideal for me if such a thing exists...

[hornydragon]

THe othe rquestion is does you amp actually decode the higher spec audio formats? can you hear a difference? i dont think a splitter will work as i think you will get an EDID clash and possibly end up with 1080i and standard sound! So can you either see a difference? or hear a difference? The AMP and the TV will have different EDID data sets and unless you can shut down the Video data from the AMPEDID (like you can onkyo higher spec models) the TV will say one thing the amp another and you get the lowest common point which could be 1080i and stereo sound!

[vex]

Originally Posted by eshy76

we sit fairly close to it, so I think the difference is noticeable!!

Of Course it will Eshy, Hope you and your wife enjoy it

We are missing actual problem here.

Your amp wont handle HDMI 1080p but will certainly have an optical input.

Optical between you PS3 and the Amp, Single HDMI between your PS3 and the Screen.

You could then use your second HDMI input on the screen to connect to the amp if you have other sources running through it.

HTH

V.

[MarkTaylor]

Originally Posted by vex

Optical between you PS3 and the Amp, Single HDMI between your PS3 and the Screen.

That doesn't help the OP as you can't send HD sound formats over optical, only HDMI.

To be perfectly honest I'd be surprised if you could tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p in most cases as the TV displays 1080p whatever you send it so you are only comparing the ability of the TV deinterlacer to do a good job on a 1080i signal with just displaying 1080p as it is received.

[eshy76]

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor

That doesn't help the OP as you can't send HD sound formats over optical, only HDMI.

To be perfectly honest I'd be surprised if you could tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p in most cases as the TV displays 1080p whatever you send it so you are only comparing the ability of the TV deinterlacer to do a good job on a 1080i signal with just displaying 1080p as it is received.

Actually I should have mentioned that my new telly (Sony V3000) can handle 24p playback on blu-rays, which my receiver *cannot* pass-through from ps3 to TV, so that IS a big and noticeable difference (to me anyway) - blu-ray viewing with 3:2 pulldown judder vs. silky smooth viewing.

hornydragon brings up an interesting point about potential HDMI clashes...looks like I may just have to settle for optical sound until I decide to change the amp to one with a proper pass-through/switcher.

Thanks all!

[eshy76]

Originally Posted by hornydragon

THe othe rquestion is does you amp actually decode the higher spec audio formats? can you hear a difference? i dont think a splitter will work as i think you will get an EDID clash and possibly end up with 1080i and standard sound! So can you either see a difference? or hear a difference? The AMP and the TV will have different EDID data sets and unless you can shut down the Video data from the AMPEDID (like you can onkyo higher spec models) the TV will say one thing the amp another and you get the lowest common point which could be 1080i and stereo sound!

The amp cannot do full HD sound due to only HDMI 1.1 support, but running an uncompressed PCM soundtrack through it still gives you a far higher bitrate than a standard DD or DTS soundtrack.

[amb5l]

My first post, please forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but I see a couple of concerns:

1) The receiver's problem with 1080p may be an upper limit on the HDMI signal bandwidth because of older silicon. If so, it may not be able to recover and process the audio (reliably) from a 1080p HDMI signal. I guess this depends on whether the audio is buried in with the video or uses a sideband signal at a slower (fixed) rate. Worth testing - do you hear anything when you try feeding the receiver from a 1080p source?

2) If you split the sound and vision, you may run into lip sync issues. There will be no mechanism to lock the delay through the sound processing path to the delay through the video processing path; AVRs are free to introduce a delay as they process sound provided they apply the same delay to vision. As an aside, there is some provision for lip sync in HDMI 1.3 which I confess to knowing nothing about.

Personally, I would not mess with splitter because of point 2; I would do a head to head comparison of 1080i video and HD sound with 1080p and DD 5.1. I guess results will depend on your TV's deinterlacing, LCD speed, speakers, room accoustics etc etc.

Good luck... and isn't it wonderful to have problems like this?!