# Blu-ray sound using a PS3 via a Pioneer VSX-324



## kurtbarker (Dec 17, 2015)

Hey Guys,

Firstly, sorry for the length of the post, wanted to try cover everything. Sorry if these questions have been asked before, I've been trying different things and googling for over a week, so I wanted to put everything in 1 post.

*Main Question*
The reason for re-jigging the system and research is because I'm losing sound during Blu-ray playback. It happens every 5- 20 minutes (depending on the disc) and it happens for 1-2 seconds (if that). If was while researching that I found people were suggesting you change the PS3 audio output settings to PCM (which I did). Now although it's happened 2 or 3 times during The Simpsons Movie after the change, it's less frequent than when I was using bitstream. I also have DRC as off, as I've heard there's quite the difference with a negative impact with it on / automatic. Is there anything I can do to try stop the audio cut-outs. I found several threads from 2008 / 2009, nothing with solutions, but the I can't find anything very recent, so i'm assuming this is more an older issue?



*TV / Receiver / PS3 Setup*
I know my receiver is very basic, and is missing some desired functionality, but at the moment I just need to work with what I have.

So, I originally had the PS3 set up:
PS3 > Receiver > TV

I also had the PS3 set to Bitstream instead of PCM, this was showing Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio on the display (where as PCM does not). Voices can be a little soft, but from reading up on the forums and googling I came to the conclusion that this is just my receiver. I'm still under the belief that bitstream is the better output, can someone please explain why?

While I was doing more googling today, I saw that someone was recommending the following:
PS3 > TV > Receiver

So I did PS3 to HDMI 2 (TV); HDMI 1 (TV (ARC) to Receiver).

This gave me sound, but no voices. On googling that I discovered that most TV's only output 2 channel audio, so even if they receive a 5.1 channel signal they will only pass-through 2 channels (left and right) and leave out the centre speaker (voice) and the rear speakers.

So, is there a way to fix this, or is this the incorrect setup. Must the setup be:
PS3 > Receiver > TV?



*Equipment*
TV: LG 55EC930T
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-324
Blu-ray Player: Sony PS3 Super Slim
Cables: All cabled using HDMI 2.0a



*PS3 Audio*
_Please note that this is using the PS3 > Receiver> TV setup, and is not related to the above._
PS3 has the ability to output via PCM or Bitstream, and from everything I've read you want Bitstream. However in my googling ventures today people were saying the message from the PS3, (about some audio not being played if bitstream is selected) is quite the concern, and you need to select PCM.

Due to this I tried PCM (which i'm assuming is 2 channel because the receiver doesn't say it's Dolby Ditigal or DTS when I change this, so I also change the receiver setting to EXT. Stereo instead of auto surround.

_Please see general settings below._



*General Settings (from what I know)*
So from everything I know, I use the following settings on the receiver.
5.1 audio > Auto Surround
2 channel > Ext. Stereo (plays the 2 channel audio through all 5 speakers).



*Additional Information*
I'm also not using optical because I read that optical can't pass lossless audio. IE, downscales DTS Master Audio to just DTS, and Dolby True HD to just Dolby Digital. My receiver confirms this, is this correct or am I again doing something wrong.



*Seeking clarification*
What is the correct / best way to set up a TV / Receiver / PS3
If PS3 > TV > Receiver, how would you get sound from the centre speaker (voices)
Even though the PS3 issues a warning about lost audio using bitstream, is bitstream the more reliable / better format?
Am I correct about optical, or is it just as good / better than HDMI for audio.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

My PS3 has been set to pcm since I initially set it up umpteen years ago. I've also seen the bitstream reports, but one reason I used pcm was in those days bitstream didn't allow for menu sounds or secondary audio(director commentary etc). Pcm is not 2ch.(and neither is a format) Simply put it just means the soundtrack is decoded in the player, not the avr.(as bitstream is) Ext stereo is not going to be a representation of the multichannel soundtrack, us normally used for music. My hunch is when you set to pcm, you didn't select the DTS-HDMA track(in the disk menu), but the 2ch pcm version available on some disks. Some disks default to this so people without sound systems don't have to mess with setting up soundtracks. I would leave it to pcm, and make sure you select the correct track in the disk menu. In pcm, the pioneer should display "multichannel". My pioneer 1019, and onkyo both say that when playing back the native 5.1/7.1 soundtracks respectively. 5.1 tracks default to PLIIx upconversion.(PLIIx is in the avr display)(the surround presentation isn't as good though). You're correct about optical too. It doesn't pass lossless. Hope you can use something in my lengthy response. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## kurtbarker (Dec 17, 2015)

Hey, thanks for your help, that cleared up a few things. I'll have a closer look at this tomorrow. My receiver doesn't display that. When I select 'bitstream' it flashes up 'DTS Master Audio', then goes back to 'BD' (the HDMI port that's receiving). If I select 'PCM' it flashes up 'PCM' then does to 'BD', but nothing about multichannel. There might be a light on the display, but i'll have a better look tomorrow. Thanks again.


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## kurtbarker (Dec 17, 2015)

So this has been resolved.

The issue was using ARC. My TV requires Simplink to be active to use ARC. This allows cross-platform devices to talk to each other. So after turning off Simplink (and losing HDMI Surround Sound), I ran an optical cable from the TV to the receiver. I still get lossless via HDMI from the PS3 to the receiver (for Blu-rays), it's just TV which is using optical. I'm happy with the setup.

I've also gone with bitstream. My receiver doesn't show that it's using multichannel with PCM. Bitstream works, and I no longer have that cutting out issue.


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