Problem PCM sound :Pioneer VSX-919 and PS3

tjey77

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Hi,
New receiver Pioneer 919 with PS3 conected via OPTICAL wire for sound.Watching Blueray movie and only :STEREO-DOLBY PROLOGIC and similar modes showing (like from 2 chanels source) . Try switching audio track: PS3 info showing "multichanell or Dolby digital true HD" but the receiver play only PCM in stereo mode and dont let to switch to Dolby Digital . Read manual try setting --no results.

The settings of PS 3 in Blueray meniu is: "Linear PCM"

When I switch to "Bitstreem" its Ok its shows DOLBY DIGITAL it plays Dolby Digital 5.1 chanel.

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Why there is no DOLBY DIGITAL sounds when PCM is selected???
(PS3 says: when selecting "bitstreem" you can not hear full portion of audio"
 
I try to conect PS3 to receiver via HDMI but nothing changes:

only with BITSTREEM I got DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 SOUND

with Linear PCM I got only sound like: STEREO DOLBY PROLOGIC and other variation of surround from 2 chanels.

All settings checked: Input mode selection and etc.

Conecting via Optical in "DVD" input and try HDMI via "BR" input
 
Is it true that :

optical can ONLY do 2.0 uncompressed PCM of the lossless variety ? not MULTICHANEL ?
 
Is it true that :

optical can ONLY do 2.0 uncompressed PCM of the lossless variety ? not MULTICHANEL ?

Yes, for the HD audio in (upto) 7.1 PCM audio you need to use the HDMI connection.

Note unless you have the PS3 slim, the PS3 can't bitstream HD audio over HDMI, you need to let the PS3 decode it to LPCM and then send it to your amp. You won't get HD audio lighting up on your amp, but it will be HD audio your listening to. For plain vanilla Dolby Digital DTS, the PS3 can either bitstream it for your amp to decode or decode it to 5.1 LPCM for you over HDMI.
 
As far as DVD is concerned, PCM output is forced stereo by definition; this is regardless of the device as it's mandated by the DVD spec. Eliding HDMI, there are no digital audio connectors specified to support a bandwidth adequate for more than 2 LPCM channels. Feasibility is irrelevant, only the specification counts.

Hence to play a DVD in surround sound you must select Bitstream on the source; this is regardless of the device. The sink is responsible for carrying out the decoding. This is the DVD standard.

With Bluray, using LPCM means that decoding should be carried out on-board and the resulting multi-channel LPCM transmitted over HDMI. Bluray therefore differs from DVD and prior to HDMI 1.3, on-board decoding was the only way to obtain HD audio.

Hence setting LPCM as the HDMI output for Bluray is not the same as setting LPCM for DVD, even though it confusing looks related. This is merely an example of using identical terminology to means two opposing things, and was presumably done to maximize confusion and generate support calls.

The PS3's Bitstream / PCM setting is documented as being applicable to DVD only. There is no comparable setting for Bluray on the PS3 as the PS3 is a full-function player that always performs on-board decoding and doesn't support HD audio bitstreaming. Setting the PS3 to bitstream will enable multichannel output for DVD / optical and LPCM over HDMI for BD, but the "HD" light on your receiver will not shine, despite the sound's being HD.
 
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Setting the PS3 to bitstream will enable multichannel output for DVD / optical and LPCM over HDMI for BD, but the "HD" light on your receiver will not shine, despite the sound's being HD.

Are you sure about this mark, I thought setting the PS3 to bitstream will result in the core 5.1 soundtrack only (or possibly no audio at all) for HD audio on blurays. You seem to be saying set it to bitstream will result in the correct LPCM audio for HD audio. I don't have a PS3 so can't check but from the numerous other posts on here about the PS3, the advice was always to make sure the PS3 wasn't set to bitstream for HD audio, you seem to be disagreeing with this. Or Have I misunderstood what you are saying?
 
Are you sure about this mark, I thought setting the PS3 to bitstream will result in the core 5.1 soundtrack only (or possibly no audio at all) for HD audio on blurays. You seem to be saying set it to bitstream will result in the correct LPCM audio for HD audio. I don't have a PS3 so can't check but from the numerous other posts on here about the PS3, the advice was always to make sure the PS3 wasn't set to bitstream for HD audio, you seem to be disagreeing with this. Or Have I misunderstood what you are saying?

you can leave it set to bitsream if you want and if i remember correctly films with dtsma and uncompressed pcm would still play the hd audio ie the ps3 will decode and send as pcm toyour amp. However if you had it on this setting and the film had a dolby true hd track the ps3 would only send the standard 5.1 dolby digital and would not decode the true hd. So if the movie had true hd the ps3 needed to be set to pcm. However the safest way to do it is to keep the ps3 set to pcm for bluray and bitstream only for games and dvds if you want.
 
I try to conect PS3 to receiver via HDMI but nothing changes:

only with BITSTREEM I got DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 SOUND

with Linear PCM I got only sound like: STEREO DOLBY PROLOGIC and other variation of surround from 2 chanels.

All settings checked: Input mode selection and etc.

Conecting via Optical in "DVD" input and try HDMI via "BR" input

with your receiver you only need to connect the hdmi cable for both audio and video, set the ps3 tou output pcm over hdmi and also go into the sound settings menu on the ps3 and make sure all the 5.1 pcm boxes are ticked. Now if done correctly when watching a bluray and you choose the hd audio track the ps3 will decode and the display should say multichannel pcm or something similar and it should be in 5.1. DVD should be the same if you want the dvds to say dolby digital switch to bitstream.
 
Thank you all for reply.
But I noticed that when I conect the PS3 vis HDMI directly to plasma Pioneer 5090 TV the picture is Super !!!!

and when I conect through Pioneer 919 receiver:

PS3 hdmi---919 hdmi---Pioneer plasma TV the picture is not really super
like the AV receiver make worst picture.

so i conect PS 3 directly to Plasma TV and audio optical to the receiver.

I dont want to watch video through Av receiver and there is only one HDMI output in PS3

something not good if optical cant share Multichanell audio in PCM
 
Or Have I misunderstood what you are saying?
You have indeed misunderstood, and I spent so much effort trying to be clear about the misuse of one term to mean two different things:
Hence setting LPCM as the HDMI output for Bluray is not the same as setting LPCM for DVD, even though it confusingly looks related. This is merely an example of using identical terminology to means two opposing things, and was presumably done to maximize confusion and generate support calls.
 
But I noticed that when I conect the PS3 vis HDMI directly to plasma Pioneer 5090 TV the picture is Super !!!!

and when I conect through Pioneer 919 receiver:

PS3 hdmi---919 hdmi---Pioneer plasma TV the picture is not really super
like the AV receiver make worst picture.
Go into your receiver's setup menus and compeltey disable all of its video processing (scaling, transcoding, image enhancement, whatever). Your Pioneer TV is much better at doing what it was designed to do than your audio device is at trying to be a part TV.
 
doesnt the pioneer just pass through the 1080p signal from the ps3 to the TV and only upsclae the analouge signals to 1080p via hdmi?
 
I have all weekend to explore these things : audio isues and video quality pass through receiver vs directly to plasma.

Pioneer plasma 5090 and AV 919 receiver its Pioneer both ! it has Kuro link I also
think that there is no minuse leaved.

I`ll checkit all from friday night to monday morning :))))

(have a lot of HDMI cables I had buy:)
 
I try to watch movies from PS3 via HDMI. the setings: output is PCM 8 chanels on ps 3. I think the sound is Dolby Digital or
Dolby true HD but receiver shows PCM and you cant` switch to other modes exept like :

Action Drama Rock and other 2CH enchansed sound modes.


I think its bad :(
 
I try to watch movies from PS3 via HDMI. the setings: output is PCM 8 chanels on ps 3. I think the sound is Dolby Digital or Dolby true HD but receiver shows PCM
The PS3 is a full function player and has onboard decoding to PCM. The PS3 does not support bitstreaming od compressed audio to a receiver for decoding to PCM. Since your receiver isn't doing the decoding itself, but is receiving the decoded PCM, it shows "PCM". What's important is that you are hearing the unadulterated HD audio track. There's no reason for you to be concerned - in fact it's considerably better this way as you get to use profile 1.1 and 2.0 functionality, which compressed HD audio streaming necessarily inhibits.
 
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Hi Mark,

I've really appreciated your help in here - answered a lot of questions. I, too, was concerned about the PCM issue but was glad to learn that it's a GOOD thing that my PS3 outputs my BluRay films in PCM rather than DD, DTS etc.

At least that's what I've gathered from this thread.

My question is: Does the VSX919 do any video signal processing on the HDMI signal from the PS3 if I wire it thru the Receiver? Or does it just switch it through unaltered? I'm hoping for the latter.

Again, thanks for your help in here (and to the other contributors) :)

Peace,

SJB
 
Hello again guys :)

I have a few more questions. Hopefully you can help me out.

On the PS3 under Sound Settings I need to manually tick off the output formats I wish the PS3 to make available to the receiver (in my case a Pioneer VSX 919).

I'm currently running a 5 channel setup with:

* Front Left (not bi-amped) - Dali Floor Speakers (I don't know the specs of them, but they're not little puny ones)
* Front Right (not bi-amped)
* Center
* Surround Left (Dali Passive Subwoofer system w. fairly large satellite speakers - again, I don't have the specs)
* Surround Right

NO Surround back
NO Active Subwoofer

I have correctly confígured the VSX-919 for the 5 channel set-up and as default I've set the 919 to apply the Virtual Surround Back feature if the BD signal (disc) offers more channels of sound (7.1 etc.) than I have speakers for. Seems to work fine.

Here is the question:

On the PS3 sound menu, which of these options should I NOT tick off? Or am I safe just ticking all of them off? Does the VSX-919 automatically sort through all the offered signals and chose the one that's right for my system according to my settings?

The choices to tick off are:

Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch.
Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby TrueHD
DTS 5.1Ch.
DTS-HD High Resolution Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio
AAC

Linear PCM 2 Ch. 44.1 kHz
Linear PCM 2 Ch. 88.2 kHz
Linear PCM 2 Ch. 176.4 kHz
Linear PCM 2 Ch. 48 kHz
Linear PCM 2 Ch. 96 kHz

Linear PCM 5.1 Ch. 44.1 kHz
Linear PCM 5.1 Ch. 88.2 kHz
Linear PCM 5.1 Ch. 176.4 kHz
Linear PCM 5.1 Ch. 48 kHz
Linear PCM 5.1 Ch. 96 kHz
Linear PCM 5.1 Ch. 192 kHz

Linear PCM 7.1 Ch. 44.1 kHz
Linear PCM 7.1 Ch. 88.2 kHz
Linear PCM 7.1 Ch. 176.4 kHz
Linear PCM 7.1 Ch. 48 kHz
Linear PCM 7.1 Ch. 96 kHz
Linear PCM 7.1 Ch. 192 kHz

Presently I have the all ticked off - is that fine? Or what should I chose?

Best,

Jesper
 
just leave them all ticked, it wont do any harm
 
And here's another one, hehe.

Is it possible to set the VSX 919 so that instead of the sound format "PCM", "Digital", "Stereo" etc. it will show the source? (BD, DVD etc.).

As it is now, the receiver will show the name of the source (BD for example) when you switch to us. However, it does it only for a few seconds before reverting to showing the sound format again.

I'd actually prefer it if it was the other way around and that the receiver would only show any changes in sound format for a few seconds and then revert to showing the source.

Is there a setting that does this on the VSX-919? I haven't been able to find it yet.

Peace,

SJB
 
And here's another one, hehe.

Is it possible to set the VSX 919 so that instead of the sound format "PCM", "Digital", "Stereo" etc. it will show the source? (BD, DVD etc.).

As it is now, the receiver will show the name of the source (BD for example) when you switch to us. However, it does it only for a few seconds before reverting to showing the sound format again.

I'd actually prefer it if it was the other way around and that the receiver would only show any changes in sound format for a few seconds and then revert to showing the source.

Is there a setting that does this on the VSX-919? I haven't been able to find it yet.

Peace,

SJB

not familiar with your amp, my onkyo does the same, doesnt bother me that much.
 

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