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Question of the Day: What's the most interesting small town you've visited in South Africa?
HDMI or OPTICAL ?
- Thread starter Fayera
- Start date
howardb
Expert Member
I would go HDMI for ease of connection/setup - both carry digital signals and will also have the same quality... 
Quantum Theory
Executive Member
Depending on the model, your Sony receiver might have HDMi switching only (like mine). This means that you have to connect the sound through optical or digital coax anyway. If the receiver does have HDMi processing, then HDMi is all you need.
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
Yes, his model only has a HDMI switcher and not a decoder.
upup
Executive Member
hope I am right here, but analog must be converted to binary [optical] and back to analog. Not sure how wide spectrum they use on a hifi, so that all the sound goes to your ear.
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
The whole idea of optical is to reduce the loss of sound clarity in the interlink - my Dad is one of those Anal audiophiles that will spend R1K on a an interlink to reduce loss that I cannot hear.
On the OP system, the optical is proven to improve sound quality and since the HDMI is only a switcher and not a decoder, not all sound will be played back by the AMP. Read a nice CNET review on it and consumers agree on the optical as the best way to carry sound.
Interesting as I was watching TRON on BluRay at a buds house last night and he was complaining about the voice quality (low volume): PS3 & Sony Sound System (suspect its the same as OP). Whereas my HiSense 32" has zero problems with voice on BluRay movies
Quantum Theory
Executive Member
Not sure how this answers his question... but normally the last time the sound is analogue (these days), is during recording. Obviously it needs to be turned back into analogue for the speakers. A digital audio standard can carry multiple channels in one feed.
Fantastic1
Senior Member
HDMI is all you need - speaking about the voice - the copy of Tron may not be a proper copy.
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
Disagree - please read reviews on the OP system. His unit only has switching and not decoding, massive difference.
Sourced direct from the suppliers - he manages a Vees Video and personally does all the buying. He has to buy direct from Nu Metro, so its a proper copy. The voice issue is a common problem with the surround sound feed. He even complained about Exception and I had no problems with the same copy.
Quantum Theory
Executive Member
I also have the problem with the soft voices/loud effects. I use optical from the DVD. Normally boost the centre channel a little, but as soon as I can afford it, I'm buying a better receiver and BluRay player.
arf9999
MyBroadband Member
Um... you're not having a problem with the centre (voice) channel on your 32" because you don't have one. On the receiver, if the voice channel is too low, then the setup is wrong... just up the gain on the centre channel.
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
I have the voice problem when playing on my 72cm, but as soon as I play on my 32" HiSense, it goes away - use the same DVD player. But on the HiSense I'm running HDMI from my DVD player and suspect this is where all the magic happens. Can say that BluRay is an awesome experience, will rather rent BluRay than DVD now. I tend to find on the latest DVD movies like Shrek Final Chapter, they don't record the DVD at a poor resolution so when you upscale the movie to get rid of the black bars, the quality goes - funny that on my older DVDs, this is not a problem.
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To give the best advice what we need the models of the both the Video screen and Muteki (HTDDW xxxx) as well as PS3 model (slim)?
I use HDMI for video and optical to the sound system for the same reasons as reported by cbrunsdonsa. The sound system do not have hdmi so thus this way I get proper decoding from the PS3. Thus the best of both worlds.
If you have a sound or video system with HDMI pass through or proper switching to a retransmit HDMI port then a second HDMI cable could connect from the retransmit HDMI port to the second sound or video device with HDMI input then you could also maybe then use the proper CEC control to switch on and control all devices with one single action and remote.
I use HDMI for video and optical to the sound system for the same reasons as reported by cbrunsdonsa. The sound system do not have hdmi so thus this way I get proper decoding from the PS3. Thus the best of both worlds.
If you have a sound or video system with HDMI pass through or proper switching to a retransmit HDMI port then a second HDMI cable could connect from the retransmit HDMI port to the second sound or video device with HDMI input then you could also maybe then use the proper CEC control to switch on and control all devices with one single action and remote.
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Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
Interesting statement considering that HDMI extenders are based on optical fibre to extend it to 300m.
Also HDMI is 10.2 Gbit/s (340 MHz) where Optical interconnects are 10-100 Gbits/s - interesting speeds considering that HDMI also needs to carry the video stream.
EDIT: Did some reading and its actually a format standard to use HDMI instead of optical and not a bandwidth constraint. Makes more sense.
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The statement is correct but the limitation is rather in the spec than the actual physical cable . (See below)
As indicated above the OP stated his system. Thus optical is adequate for the OP's requirements as his amp's is able to decode and reproduce DTS ES up to 6.1 channels at 1.5 Mbit's.
For more Information
http://solidlystated.com/hardware/hd-audio-over-optical-cables-for-ps3-or-blu-ray/
I am still curious, what is the model of your Muteki system and TV display and do you have the slim or old version PS3?
upup
Executive Member
Limits of optical cables
Optical cables, also known as TOSLINK, are capable of 125 Megabits of data per second. Bandwidth is not a limiting factor for optical cables. This is a common piece of misinformation. The same applies for digital coax cable. Both cables can carry more than enough bandwidth for high definition sound formats.
People still think of fiber optic cords as the king of the hill. After all, what is faster than the speed of light? Why go with a regular cord that can experience electrical interference? However, neither optical nor coaxial will transfer high definition audio. If you were hoping to use an optical cable with your PS3 to get HD audio, you won’t be able to do it.
Both optical and coax cables adhere to the Sony Philips digital interconnect format, or S/PDIF, specification. The S/PDIF spec was made to standardize consumer electronics, but now acts as a bottleneck for new formats.
The spec is limited to around 1.5 Mbit and can transfer 5.1 channel Dolby Digital, 6.1 channel Dolby Digital EX, 5.1 channel DTS, 6.1 channel DTS-ES (matrixed or discrete), and 2 channel uncompressed PCM.What cable do I need for HD Audio?
Only an HDMI cable will carry these newer formats. Additionally, you need a surround sound receiver that can handle HDMI audio and decode these signals. You can usually tell at a glance by the TrueHD or DTS HD logos on the front of receivers.
Note that HDMI 1.1, the original consumer release, did not include HD audio formats. The highly-touted HDMI 1.3 release added these.
This scenario applies to both Playstation 3 and Blu-Ray player owners who are looking to get high definition audio. Many will be happy with their existing home theatre setups and 5.1 DTS sound. For those who have heard the siren’s sound of lossless audio, its time to go shopping for a receiver.
If you are an audiophile, you may already have a brand preference and I won’t suggest any to you. If you don’t know what to look for, though, a great newer option is the Onkyo TX-SR608. It’s a great price point with all the features you need from a respected name in sound.
This was my point
Optical cables, also known as TOSLINK, are capable of 125 Megabits of data per second. Bandwidth is not a limiting factor for optical cables. This is a common piece of misinformation. The same applies for digital coax cable. Both cables can carry more than enough bandwidth for high definition sound formats.
People still think of fiber optic cords as the king of the hill. After all, what is faster than the speed of light? Why go with a regular cord that can experience electrical interference? However, neither optical nor coaxial will transfer high definition audio. If you were hoping to use an optical cable with your PS3 to get HD audio, you won’t be able to do it.
Both optical and coax cables adhere to the Sony Philips digital interconnect format, or S/PDIF, specification. The S/PDIF spec was made to standardize consumer electronics, but now acts as a bottleneck for new formats.
The spec is limited to around 1.5 Mbit and can transfer 5.1 channel Dolby Digital, 6.1 channel Dolby Digital EX, 5.1 channel DTS, 6.1 channel DTS-ES (matrixed or discrete), and 2 channel uncompressed PCM.What cable do I need for HD Audio?
Only an HDMI cable will carry these newer formats. Additionally, you need a surround sound receiver that can handle HDMI audio and decode these signals. You can usually tell at a glance by the TrueHD or DTS HD logos on the front of receivers.
Note that HDMI 1.1, the original consumer release, did not include HD audio formats. The highly-touted HDMI 1.3 release added these.
This scenario applies to both Playstation 3 and Blu-Ray player owners who are looking to get high definition audio. Many will be happy with their existing home theatre setups and 5.1 DTS sound. For those who have heard the siren’s sound of lossless audio, its time to go shopping for a receiver.
If you are an audiophile, you may already have a brand preference and I won’t suggest any to you. If you don’t know what to look for, though, a great newer option is the Onkyo TX-SR608. It’s a great price point with all the features you need from a respected name in sound.
This was my point