PS3 hardware assistance needed.

DarkSymphony · June 2008

ok I have a ps3 and just bought a JVC RX 6030V stereo reciever for 50 bucks off a local electronics and games pawn shop type of place. I don't really know much about setting up a digital surround sound system, but I noticed it said it has support for DTS so I picked it up. In any case, I'm trying to get it setup for surround sound and saw I need an optical cable of some kind. Is there only 1 kind of cable to get? and are they expensive? I'm hoping to spend about 20 bucks and be good.

Donovan Puppyfucker · June 2008

You can get cheap digital optical cables and there will be no loss of signal quality over an expensive cable, the cable will just be lower quality, i.e. more fragile.

DarkSymphony · June 2008

sweet alrighty. thanks!

embrik · June 2008

Here's the cable I've got which I use for my 360. It's on sale today from Monoprice for $3.52. Normally it's a dollar or so more, IIRC. Regardless, even w/ shipping, it'll be less than $20, and it's an excellent quality cable.

RUNN1NGMAN · June 2008

get your cables at monoprice.com. They have heavy-duty optical cables and regular ones, much cheaper than in a store.

DarkSymphony · June 2008

ok I got the cable (found one at the same place I got the receiver and the owner just gave it to me, new in the package since I just bought the receiver). I plugged it into the PS3 and then switched the PS3 over to digital (optical) out and well, I get no sound. What gives?

Djeet · June 2008

Have you chosen the correct input on the receiver (e.g. Video1, VCR1, Tape, DVD, or whatever)?
Is the receiver in the correct audio mode (multichannel as opposed to stereo)?

Also, sometimes ports go bad (I have a dead optical audio port on my receiver), you might try another SPDIF port.

Scrublet · June 2008

A quick, abbreviated description of settings based on the hardware you've specified:

Make sure the Digital Audio (Optical) setting is on bitstream, not LPCM or linear. LPCM is totally uncompressed sound...optical can only handle two channels of this at a time, which is not useful for surround sound setups. Instead, you want bitstream, which is digitally compressed sound of multiple channels. This is what the DTS signal is made of that your receiver is looking for...digitally compressed sound. DTS is 5.1. DTS-ES would be 6.1. DTS-HD is 7.1. I'm assuming your receiver is probably DTS (5.1).

Now make sure you're setup to output in DTS. Go to your audio setup and eventually it will put up a long list of checkboxes. By default it will have a couple basic options greyed out and checked. You want to make sure to check the DTS 5.1 box.

Finally, do what other people have said and idiot-check your receiver. Make sure it's on the correct input and that it's trying to uncompress DTS from the audio source. All these settings must be in place for your surround to work.

Edit: If you get sound but it's not in surround, check the DVD. The most common form of DVD surround sound encoding is still Dolby Digital (5.1). Not all discs will have DTS. If your receiver only supports DTS and not Dolby Digital 5.1, you're probably SOL for movies not supporting DTS. Also, be careful what you read on the receiver. My parents bought some bullshit multi-DVD thing with built in 5.1 speakers included, and on the front it gives the impression that it supports everything by putting DTS and Dolby Pro Logic II together. Dolby Pro Logic II is for upmixing 2 channel stereo to a surround-sound-like emulation. It takes a NORMAL 2-channel signal and guesses at surround ideas, and shouldn't be inferred to have anything to do with Dolby Digital 5.1!

DarkSymphony · June 2008

well, ok here's the exact setup and how it's all plugged in:

JVC RX 6030V receiver.
1 center speaker
2 surround speakers
2 front speakers
1 PS3
1 Dig. Optical cable.

I have the PS3 plugged into the TV and I have the digital optical cable plugged in from that going to the receiver. There is only 1 port for this to go in and it's labeled "CD (Digital)". on the front tabs for which thing to have it set on, there are "DVD Multi", "DVD", "TV/Stereo", "CD" and a couple more. Now, I selected "CD" since it's plugged into the "CD (Digital)" spot.

I then selected the digital output for sound on the PS3 front end interface. This shut the sound off immediately. When I select the "CD" Tab it still says "Analog" and "Dolby Pro Logic 2". Clearly I'm not using analog at all, but it won't detect the digital. I tried hitting the "input digital" button, but it doesn't work on the "CD" Tab, it only works on 1 tab and that's the "TV/Stereo" one. Now, I'm guessing that maybe this receiver just can't interperet the signal from the PS3? if so I'ma be kinda mad, but I can return the receiver and get a different me thinks.

Scrublet · June 2008

Possible dumb question, but did you see if sound was coming from the TV/Stereo tab when you hit "Input Digital"? Whatever tab supports that digital button, I would think you would get sound coming out of it.

If possible, put up pictures of the front and back of your receiver.

DarkSymphony · June 2008

alright, I figured a couple things out, but I still don't have DTS. I got Digital Auto Linear PCM to work from the PS3 using the otpical cable, but shouldn't I be able to get DTS? I go to select the DTS option and there's no sound.

DarkSymphony · June 2008

yeah I'll get some pics up in just a minute, that's a good idea.

ElJeffe · June 2008

Isn't there some sort of "auto" setting? DTS and Dolby Digital are completely different formats, so if you're trying to force a non-DTS disk to play as DD, it's probably confusing it. Ideally, you want your system to auto-detect what the disk is outputting and tailor it accordingly. Then when you go to play a disk, you can select either the DTS or the DD audio from the disk's setup menu. (Generally, disks default to DD since everything can play DD - I've never heard of a receiver that can play DTS but not DD.)

edit: Okay, I checked the PS3's menu options, and you may want to make sure that both DTS and DD are selected as output options. The way it's set up is that you check every format that you're able to handle. If DTS isn't checked, for example, your PS3 won't bother passing DTS signals to your receiver. If only DTS is checked, then it won't pass any non-DTS signal to the receiver. Basically, check everything in the list your receiver can do.

Scrublet · June 2008

ElJeffe wrote: »

Isn't there some sort of "auto" setting? DTS and Dolby Digital are completely different formats, so if you're trying to force a non-DTS disk to play as DD, it's probably confusing it. Ideally, you want your system to auto-detect what the disk is outputting and tailor it accordingly. Then when you go to play a disk, you can select either the DTS or the DD audio from the disk's setup menu. (Generally, disks default to DD since everything can play DD - I've never heard of a receiver that can play DTS but not DD.)

edit: Okay, I checked the PS3's menu options, and you may want to make sure that both DTS and DD are selected as output options. The way it's set up is that you check every format that you're able to handle. If DTS isn't checked, for example, your PS3 won't bother passing DTS signals to your receiver. If only DTS is checked, then it won't pass any non-DTS signal to the receiver. Basically, check everything in the list your receiver can do.

He's right. I just ran a search on the JVC RX 6030V and it definitely supports DD, DTS, and ProLogicII. Check the options for those settings.

DarkSymphony · June 2008

ok I figured it out, it was a bunch of menu switching without a remote (didn't come with one). Thanks!

ElJeffe · June 2008

DarkSymphony wrote: »

ok I figured it out, it was a bunch of menu switching without a remote (didn't come with one). Thanks!

FYI, the PS3 remote is only $25 and totally worth it if you plan on watching even the occasional movie on the thing.

Bartholamue · July 2008

Yeah, my friend loves that remote. He says it's the best one ever.

Penny Arcade

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