HDMI / Optical and a PS3

[snooopy]

Hi,
I am about to buy my first HD plasma screen and am a little confused.
The main issues are...

My playstation 3 carries HDMI v 1.3 however the Samsung TV only seems to have HDMI version 1.2...

I don't have an Amp with HDMI but it does have optical in

So I was hoping to connect the ps3 directly to my screen using hdmi then use optical to the amp for sound...

I am already hearing things about the PS3 and its optical connections not working with HDMI

is this something that will work or do I need a new amp with HDMI?

Thanks

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by snooopy

Hi,
I am about to buy my first HD plasma screen and am a little confused.
The main issues are...

My playstation 3 carries HDMI v 1.3 however the Samsung TV only seems to have HDMI version 1.2...

I don't have an Amp with HDMI but it does have optical in

So I was hoping to connect the ps3 directly to my screen using hdmi then use optical to the amp for sound...

I am already hearing things about the PS3 and its optical connections not working with HDMI

is this something that will work or do I need a new amp with HDMI?

Thanks

You can use HDMI to connect your PS3 to your display for vision, and optical for audio. I've done this at home.

HOWEVER - it is either/or in audio terms - when you chose optical out, the HDMI audio is switched off (so in some installations where people use the TV speakers via HDMI for gaming, but home cinema amp for BluRay, you have to change the settings each time)

ALSO - the optical audio output will only carry 2.0 PCM, and DVD-quality Dolby Digital or DTS audio. You don't benefit from the higher quality audio that HDMI audio offers - where the PS3 can decode the newer audio codecs to 5.1 PCM or replay uncompressed 5.1 PCM tracks.

(5.1 PCM won't fit down a standard Toslink optical connection)