Surround Sound Help

[RVR]

Hi guys

So my understanding of surround sound is that the rear speakers remain silent till something in the movie provides sound for them

Anyways, i got Netflix playing on my Ps3 but all speakers give off sound

I tried most settings on ps3 but either I get no sound or all speakers giving off sound.

 

[saor]

How are your speakers connected?

 

[RVR]

How are your speakers connected?

I'm using optical cable - toslink

I've also read that optical cable can support 5.1 surround sound.

Im getting sound but from all speakers which im sure is obviously not right.

 

[saor]

I'm using optical cable - toslink

I've also read that optical cable can support 5.1 surround sound.

Im getting sound but from all speakers which im sure is obviously not right.

Ja ok but I think just tell us the entire setup. Like the optical is going from PS3 into....? And from there to speakers...?

You've tried this:

 

[RVR]

So optical is going from soundbar to ps3.

I've followed that exact video.

Either there's no sound at all OR I'm getting sound but with all speakers..

Im not sure why all are giving off sound.

 

[saor]

So optical is going from soundbar to ps3.

I've followed that exact video.

Either there's no sound at all OR I'm getting sound but with all speakers..

Im not sure why all are giving off sound.

Dude.
Post a pic of the soundbar ins/outs + tell us which soundbar. You're making this very difficult to help if there's so many unknown variables.

 

[RVR]

Dude.
Post a pic of the soundbar ins/outs + tell us which soundbar. You're making this very difficult to help if there's so many unknown variables.

I didn't take a pic because everything is connected properly, it's a sinotec. All inputs are occupied and is on that part of it.

I believe there's a problem with the ps3, some settings.

I was happy that there is sound but it's obviously not surround sound so that's what im trying to figure out internally.

 

[Crumbl0x]

Yeah the model of the soundbar would greatly help, a lot of them (even some high end stuff) duplicate channels when presented with a PCM signal, and some still do with bitstream codecs but it's rare.

You need to first make sure the bitstream codecs are selected on the PS3. Streaming sites will mostly not work these days as they're Dolby Digital Plus which cannot run via Optical and will be downsampled to stereo PCM hence the duplication. If you're watching local content, DD and DTS should work nicely, and the best way to test this is going to demolandia.net and grabbing a surround sound check video from either codec.

You can set up a DLNA server if you don't want to plug a thumb drive all the time for the meanwhile.

 

[RVR]

Yeah the model of the soundbar would greatly help, a lot of them (even some high end stuff) duplicate channels when presented with a PCM signal, and some still do with bitstream codecs but it's rare.

You need to first make sure the bitstream codecs are selected on the PS3. Streaming sites will mostly not work these days as they're Dolby Digital Plus which cannot run via Optical and will be downsampled to stereo PCM hence the duplication. If you're watching local content, DD and DTS should work nicely, and the best way to test this is going to demolandia.net and grabbing a surround sound check video from either codec.

You can set up a DLNA server if you don't want to plug a thumb drive all the time for the meanwhile.View attachment 1200472

It's the SBS model. 5.1.

Okay so here's something else, when i play this movie in regular mode (not 5.1)on Netflix i get sound but from all speakers

When i switch too "English 5.1" - i get no sound at all.

That's whats confusing me now.

 

[Crumbl0x]

Sweet, I'll look up tech specs quickly --

Yep, via Optical, Netflix 5.1 won't / shouldn't play sound, only early 2012-2015 stuff that hasn't been remastered into DD+. Regular / Stereo audio should play but it gets upmixed to all speakers.

It's a pity though, even if it did support HDMI eARC or In/Out ports, it probably wouldn't support those codecs still, but muxing them to a 48KHz LPCM stream might have been their preferred way.

 

[RVR]

Sweet, I'll look up tech specs quickly --

Yep, via Optical, Netflix 5.1 won't / shouldn't play sound, only early 2012-2015 stuff that hasn't been remastered into DD+. Regular / Stereo audio should play but it gets upmixed to all speakers.

It's a pity though, even if it did support HDMI eARC or In/Out ports, it probably wouldn't support those codecs still, but muxing them to a 48KHz LPCM stream might have been their preferred way.

So what does that mean?

I have a movie with 5.1, I'll put it on the USB and play through ps3 and see if it plays surround sound or all speakers work.

 

[Crumbl0x]

Strangely, I can't seem to find its manual, but Takealot reviews came to the rescue.

As I suspected, due to the limitations of the input ports, you will have to let the console remux all your content to Dolby Digital or DTS, de-selecting all the PCM options in audio settings should suffice, and make sure any other setting related to it is set to Bitstream only (apologies for the hazy details it's been 10 years since I last used the PS3 and not sure if it changed around since then). I really hope that works for streaming services, as I can remember, games worked with LPCM in mind but could be converted for compatibility reasons, audio from video might be different.

I'm also very weary of any reviews of people mentioning lossless TrueHD and DTS-HD playback, this is simply not possible and their media player is most likely playing the core bitstream or re-converting via eac3to.

 

[Crumbl0x]

So what does that mean?

I have a movie with 5.1, I'll put it on the USB and play through ps3 and see if it plays surround sound or all speakers work.

Yeah, if it's Dolby Digital or DTS and the PS3 supports the video codec then it's a good way to test. 5.1 speaker tests even better to be 100% sure.

I've seen reviews mentioning that Dolby Pro-Logic II gets used when stereo plays, but it seems to be a bad implementation or the reviewer(s) have no proof as to what the upmixing method Sinotec actually uses.

 

[RVR]

Strangely, I can't seem to find its manual, but Takealot reviews came to the rescue.

As I suspected, due to the limitations of the input ports, you will have to let the console remux all your content to Dolby Digital or DTS, de-selecting all the PCM options in audio settings should suffice, and make sure any other setting related to it is set to Bitstream only (apologies for the hazy details it's been 10 years since I last used the PS3 and not sure if it changed around since then). I really hope that works for streaming services, as I can remember, games worked with LPCM in mind but could be converted for compatibility reasons, audio from video might be different.

I'm also very weary of any reviews of people mentioning lossless TrueHD and DTS-HD playback, this is simply not possible and their media player is most likely playing the core bitstream or re-converting via eac3to.

Thanks for trying to help, sucks that the movie plays but no actual surround sound.

All my settings on ps3 is correct just 5.1 won't play

I'll probably need to get a TV that supports hdmi arc as well. But only next year..

Honestly thought it would work fine with optical etc

 

[RVR]

Yeah, if it's Dolby Digital or DTS and the PS3 supports the video codec then it's a good way to test. 5.1 speaker tests even better to be 100% sure.

I've seen reviews mentioning that Dolby Pro-Logic II gets used when stereo plays, but it seems to be a bad implementation or the reviewer(s) have no proof as to what the upmixing method Sinotec actually uses.

Will test the movie on usb in abit and see if all speakers give sound etc or it's actually surround sound.

 

[Crumbl0x]

Thanks for trying to help, sucks that the movie plays but no actual surround sound.

All my settings on ps3 is correct just 5.1 won't play

I'll probably need to get a TV that supports hdmi arc as well. But only next year..

Honestly thought it would work fine with optical etc

Oh nah, you don't need to do that, ARC (not eARC) is exactly the same as optical, so DD+ etc. will still not play.

If you have the manual lying around, please check the technical information page on what formats and signals it supports (maybe a picture if you want to), because if it can actually support more lossless stuff, an HDMI splitter might do the trick to get picture to your TV and audio only to your bar without the limitations of ARC / Optical, bit without this info I wouldn't recommend any of that.

 

[RVR]

So the manual doesn't state anything about what it plays.

Im sure the soundbar can't be at fault in terms of what it plays... and i just bought it yesterday :/

 

[RVR]

Okay so tried the movie now and no sound at all. Im starting to think it's my PS3

See attached file. Im sure this movie should have played fine.

Disappointing since i cant get another TV now.

 

[Lupus]

Oh nah, you don't need to do that, ARC (not eARC) is exactly the same as optical, so DD+ etc. will still not play.

If you have the manual lying around, please check the technical information page on what formats and signals it supports (maybe a picture if you want to), because if it can actually support more lossless stuff, an HDMI splitter might do the trick to get picture to your TV and audio only to your bar without the limitations of ARC / Optical, bit without this info I wouldn't recommend any of that.

ARC is not the same as optical, arc does support DD+. eARC has higher bandwidth and can do Atmos

 

[RVR]

Im sure my soundbar can play Dolby Digital etc... It's probably just an issue with where I'm playing the movies from..