PS3: Do most games support 5.1 now?

TheVoice · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:10

I'm considering getting a home theatre system soon - got my eye on the Samsung HT-TZ225 for £200 - but before I even contemplate spending that much money on one, do PS3 games support proper 5.1 surround sound? Is the effect any good? I had 5.1 for my PC some years back and it was quite cool in FPS games. Just wondered if it was something that had finally become mainstream on console games too.

Thanks.

Mr Latte · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:15

Many support upto 7.1 and some with uncompressed PCM audio.

Even the first game on PS3 "Resistance" was 7.1 with PCM
The soundfiles/audio alone took up approx 20GB of data being uncompressed.
Think ign done a feature on it, long time ago.

Of course 5.1 will work with this unit your looking at (optical cable input) and yeah surround sound is really good in games these days.

orderoftheflame · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:23

Yes, and well worth it. Even more so if you use your PS3 for DVD and bluray.

Dup · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:23

I've never had surround sound, not even on my PC. I could never afford the ideal route of separate amp and speakers, at least new anyway.

Anyone reccomend an out of the box system with optical in?

biron_w · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:24

As far as i'm aware all PS3 games can output in dolby digital.

TheVoice · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:33

Dup said:
I've never had surround sound, not even on my PC. I could never afford the ideal route of separate amp and speakers, at least new anyway.

Anyone reccomend an out of the box system with optical in?

Quite a few of them have optical in now, even the £150 ones from Samsung, LG etc. I was hoping to find a good one I liked for about £150 myself, but I really like the fact that the one I linked to above has tall speakers so I'm thinking it's perhaps worth spending the extra.

It's hard to find reviews of the cheaper home cinema systems really because there's so many different models around, and I'm sure the audiophiles don't rate them very highly, but for the average person who's used to their standard TV speakers I imagine they make an impressive difference.

Thanks for the info everyone, has certainly made it a bit more tempting!

Wyrdo · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:39

Dup said:
I've never had surround sound, not even on my PC. I could never afford the ideal route of separate amp and speakers, at least new anyway.

Anyone reccomend an out of the box system with optical in?

Logitech Z5500 is very good, I use mine for my PC, PS3 and 360

orderoftheflame · 22 Sep 2009 at 11:51

TheVoice said:
It's hard to find reviews of the cheaper home cinema systems really because there's so many different models around, and I'm sure the audiophiles don't rate them very highly, but for the average person who's used to their standard TV speakers I imagine they make an impressive difference.

This is pretty true, I've got a Pioneer HTP-GS1 system, and it's more than good enough for me at the moment.

2x optical in and sounds brilliant with both DD and DTS as far as I'm concerened. I've a feeling they're pretty hard to get hold of now though.

Dup said:
I've never had surround sound, not even on my PC. I could never afford the ideal route of separate amp and speakers, at least new anyway.

Anyone reccomend an out of the box system with optical in?

I think your best bet would be to try and find a shop that will give you a demo of different setups and see which one you like the sound from the most. Then see if you can get it cheaper elsewhere.

Dutch Guy · 22 Sep 2009 at 12:08

I have something similar, but from JVC.

And I must say playing games on a 5.1 surround system is soo much nicer than 2x10W LCD speakers, playing Killzone 2 or Wiepout HD with the sound crancked up is epic, the GF doesn't like it so much though

Yes there are better sets around with separate amps and better speakers but the difference between normal LCD speakers and a cheapish 5.1 set is already huge

TheVoice · 22 Sep 2009 at 12:12

Dutch Guy said:
I have something similar, but from JVC.

And I must say playing games on a 5.1 surround system is soo much nicer than 2x10W LCD speakers, playing Killzone 2 or Wiepout HD with the sound crancked up is epic, the GF doesn't like it so much though

Yes there are better sets around with separate amps and better speakers but the difference between normal LCD speakers and a cheapish 5.1 set is already huge

That's pretty-much what I was thinking. In my previous flat my housemate had a Sony hi-fi system we'd connected up to my TV, it was only 2.0 but even that made a fantastic difference to games, especially atmospheric stuff like Dead Space. Playing it with 5.1 would be awesome.

Shopping time.

iv-tecman · 22 Sep 2009 at 12:14

I've got a Panasonic SC-PT850 DVD HOME CINEMA Surround System, and whilst its excellent linked up to my Pansonic TV with viera Link, and it handles dobly digital and 5.1 via optical in really well... There is a problem....

The unit will not process DTS over optical in, meaning I've had to take that option out of my PS3 and the PS3 downscales the audio to 5.1 if DTS is being used for blu ray....

£399 I paid for the kit, and it lacks full HD support via Opitcal.... Of cause, optical is the only way for a PS3 to output digital if you do not have HDMI in via your surround system, so some home cinema systems can be very limited...

When I have funds I'll update to a proper home cinema amp with proper optical in as well as true HD HDMI in and out, this way I'll get the full HD sound from blu ray instead of it down mixing to 5.1..

Don't get me wrong, optical audio out of PS3 into optical in is way better then it going across your HDMI into your TV and then maybe pumping it back out via RCA to a stereo amp or built in TV speakers, as this is just stereo and will never be as good as digital out...

So, anything that handles optical in is better, but if you can see if you can get something in budget that handles DTS via optical as well...

Fireblade2K4 · 22 Sep 2009 at 12:25

Wyrdo said:
Logitech Z5500 is very good, I use mine for my PC, PS3 and 360

2nd that, they are excellent speakers and excellent performance for what little they cost really IMHO.

They do process both DD and DTS with no problems via optical unlike the system in the above post.

Stu

iv-tecman · 22 Sep 2009 at 12:37

One think I do remember hearing, not too sure on this without googling so bare with me..

A PS3 does the audio decoding internally. It will display dolby digital on your amp etc the samefor dvd's, blu ray's, and games. I think the Slim is the only PS that actually bitstreams out the audio via HDMI to allow for the receiver to do the decoding which will then display, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-MA.

So even though my opitcal in can't handle DTS the PS3 I've got decodes it for me, and just throws it out anyhow, so it really isn't a big issue anyhow..

My understanding of it anyhow..

So if you wanted more control over audio processing, the slim is the better model if you wanted your audio amp to decode for you.. Am I right on this?

Ok I've done a quick google search... Optical will not process DTS or true HD, you'll only get that with HDMI in. so unless your amp has HDMI in and out you'll not get full HD audio... Hope I'm right.

Fireblade2K4 · 22 Sep 2009 at 12:59

Well I have a 40Gb model and I can choose whether to use PCM or Bitstream over an optical cable allowing my speakers to process the signal into either DD or DTS, if it only outputs a stereo source my speakers will then either just play it as stereo or process it using Dolby Pro-Logic II.

So what you are saying is that the Slim model works differently to this then, just trying to clear this up for my own understanding.

Stu

iv-tecman · 22 Sep 2009 at 13:04

Fireblade2K4 said:
Well I have a 40Gb model and I can choose whether to use PCM or Bitstream over an optical cable allowing my speakers to process the signal into either DD or DTS, if it only outputs a stereo source my speakers will then either just play it as stereo or process it using Dolby Pro-Logic II.

So what you are saying is that the Slim model works differently to this then, just trying to clear this up for my own understanding.

Stu

not sure, I've got a 40GB model and I can't remember if I've got PCM and bitstream options over optical or not....

I was thinking that the PS3 slim is handling audio processing either by the hardware or passing it out for your amp to process whereas the older models would not allow for this option.... I could be wrong.

Fireblade2K4 · 22 Sep 2009 at 13:12

iv-tecman said:
whereas the older models would not allow for this option.... I could be wrong.

I think they do, I've got a few tunes on at the moment on Vidzone, lol, I'll have a look after but I'm 99% sure they can.

Stu

Margaret · 22 Sep 2009 at 13:29

Z-5500 are great just annoying they don't have more connection slots.

Fireblade2K4 · 22 Sep 2009 at 13:30

Margaret said:
Z-5500 are great just annoying they don't have more connection slots.

For optical is that?

Stu

Richeh · 22 Sep 2009 at 17:53

I have the Sony DDWG800 costs about £300. Brilliant system as it comes with a seperate amp (meaning if you want better looking/sounding/higher power speakers you can buy them seperately rather than a lot of the 'all in one' systems that only let you use the provided speakers). Also does HD Audio formats over PCM which luckily

D) the PS3 decodes so get nice crisp HD audio from my Blu-Rays.

Surround Sound is fantastic and well worth it.

ash_91 · 22 Sep 2009 at 19:26

Id also suggest the Z5500 in that price range, my dad had that samsung set downstaiors and as soon as he heard my logitechs he sent it straight back, the Z5500s are far superior imo.