Blog entry by Elsa Coupp

Anyone in the world

When you read Engadget HD, it is secure to say that you are ahead of the curve in terms of dwelling audio/video. You do your homework earlier than picking out gear, and you know that the PS3 can deliver Blu-ray audio bliss courtesy lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA tracks. One have a look at all of the configuration choices within the PS3's XMB (Xross Media Bar) interface, nevertheless, and you may end up wondering how you can unlock the these audio codecs. On this installment of HD 101, we'll briefly cowl the reason for the confusion after which undergo setting up your PS3 for lossless audio step-by-step.

We lately acquired an email from Mike, who has a brand new receiver that decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, however was stumped about learn how to get it to play properly with his PS3:

"I hooked up my PS3 to it with the HDMI and altered the settings to output audio as Linear PCM instead of Bitstream through the HDMI and it does not appear the receiver is getting the Dolby True HD or DTS HD alerts. When I was outputting sound through an optical cable as bitstream, my receiver would show "Dolby Digital" or "DTS" on the entrance LED, but now all it displays is "PCM" and not Dolby True HD or DTS HD, which is what I anticipated after upgrading the receiver and running audio by means of the HDMI. What gives? Am I doing one thing mistaken? I do have this factor hooked up for optimum sound by setting it to linear PCM over bitstream? I'd hate to suppose I wasted a bunch of cash on gear i don't have connected appropriately."

First off, there's nothing fallacious together with your setup, and your tools is perfectly able to delivering sonic nirvana of the brand new lossless codecs. Before we get into the step-by-step process, though, we'll recap some essential information from a submit we did some time again, however with a very PS3-particular viewpoint.

Cabling

First off, S/PDIF transmission -- over both optical TOSLINK or coax -- doesn't have the bandwidth to hold Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA indicators. For those who join your Blu-ray participant to your receiver with optical or coax, the audio will "fall back" to Dolby Digital, DTS or two-channel PCM (lossless, however solely two channels). What you will need is an HDMI connection. Note that with the PS3, you don't specifically need a HDMI 1.Three receiver or cable -- even HDMI 1.0 will suffice. Many fashionable receivers can decode Dolby TrueHD. DTS-HD MA right within the receiver. This characteristic is making its manner down to even modestly-priced fashions for many manufacturers, and we're blissful to see it. If you cherished this short article and you would like to obtain far more information concerning neon led flex store kindly stop by our own internet site. When using a PS3, nonetheless, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA codec help within the receiver will go unused. When you paid extra just for the additional two logos, sorry. Whatever you do, don't panic -- you possibly can nonetheless enjoy all the standard of these lossless codecs along with your PS3.

Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA and the PS3

It is useful to consider Dolby True HD and DTS-HD MA as "zipped" variations of the audio tracks that permits the Blu-ray disc to store more knowledge (useful when space has to be reserved for other stuff -- like video, for led neon flex example). Similar to zip files, once you decode the Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA tracks, you get an similar copy of the unique audio -- this is the reason it's known as "lossless." On Blu-ray discs, the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA codecs can bundle as much as eight channels of lossless audio information, each channel with up to 24-bits decision at a 96kHz sampling rate, commonly known as "24/96." However, the PS3 can not ship these formats over HDMI for decoding in your receiver.

First, the good news. What the PS3 can do is decode (unzip) the Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA lossless audio and send it to your receiver as a multichannel linear PCM (LPCM) stream, which nearly any fashionable receiver can decode. The LPCM audio is identical to the Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA unique format, so no quality is lost.

Now, neon led flex the dangerous information. An annoying side impact of sending the "unzipped" LPCM relatively than the "zipped" Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA is that the receiver's Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA indicator will not light up because it isn't decoding Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA -- the PS3 already did the decoding. Instead, the receiver will (correctly) point out that it is receiving a LPCM signal.

Set up

Enough background -- let's get the great audio flowing. It feels like our pal Mike currently has issues arrange so the PS3 is sending bitstream audio to his receiver, which sadly means he isn't benefiting from the the lossless codecs. In this case, information about the audio format despatched from the PS3 (accessed by pressing the "Select" button) and being decoded by the receiver will show up like this:

Despite the fact that you is likely to be comforted by the good pink "DTS" indicator on your receiver and the "DTS Multi-Channel" within the PS3's info area, you are not getting DTS-HD MA lossless audio, and it is a similar story for Dolby TrueHD.

Return out to the PS3's XMB interface and go to Settings -> Video Settings. Once there, scroll down to the BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI) and set the PS3 to stream Linear PCM. This can pressure the PS3 to decode the Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA tracks. Send them out as lossless LPCM on the HDMI connection.

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Now, just to make sure all the pieces is hooked up accurately, go to the Settings -> Sound Settings in the XMB. From there, make sure the PS3 audio is set to exit over the HDMI connection and that the necessary LPCM codecs (24-bits at 96kHz) are enabled.

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You're all achieved! In the event you hearth up a Blu-ray disc with one of many lossless codecs now, your receiver will now not show the Dolby or DTS logos. Remember -- the PS3 is decoding the lossless audio. Sending to the receiver as LPCM. So though you're not seeing the fancy lights that you might have paid for, you're getting greater high quality audio. What you actually need to check out is the PS3's data, which should now show that you're certainly getting the lossless audio.

Got a primary HD matter that you'd love for us to explain? Uninterested in Google's difficult solutions if you requested for a easy explaination? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com. Control this house -- your topic may very well be next.