Yeah I've figured that out now haha
Still though, a 5.1 system with an Amp for the TV and PS4 won't cost much more than £150??
Well it depends just how far you're willing to compromise.
£250-£300 is your
minimum spend for something with a proper AV receiver (multiple inputs, analogue - digital and HD audio decoding, good sound quality for the money). Although entry-level, this sort of system will wipe the floor with the typical all-in-one kit based around a "DVD/Blu-ray player" with integrated amp.
As I've been saying all along, £150 is enough for a DVD-based all-in-one kit but with minimal inputs and (new bit of info) fairly mediocre sound.
From what I understand, I'll just need an optical cable from the PS4 to amp and one from the TV to the amp then the HDMI goes from PS4 to the TV for video...
Once again, it depends how happy you are with the compromises involved.
A PS4 is capable of sending HD audio out via HDMI. But you'll only get the benefit if that HDMI connects directly to an AVR capable of handling the signal either as a raw Bitstream that the AVR decodes, or as multichannel PCM. Neither of those formats is available via the Optical.
The best that the Optical will carry for surround is Dolby Digital or DTS audio which is what we have from DVDs. That's still pretty good but it's not the quality of HD sound.
Let's just say that you are happy with DD/DTS quality sound. Your budget is still £100-£150 so an AVR + speaker package is off the table; it's too much money. You want something new for a warranty, so your choices are stuff like this...
But you're going to find your product choices very limited for a couple of reasons. 1) the economy is shafted so people aren't buying cheap surround systems much now, so the manufacturers have scaled back to focus on other products 2) the "other products" are sound bars. The average Joe is more likely to spend £50-£200 on a thin bar speaker and maybe the sub and call it a day, so that's where the volume of production is going.
Undeterred though, you forge ahead with your quest through the discontinued and unloved to find that jewel. Richers.... nope. Superfi.... nope. John Lewis.... Nada. Surely Comet?.... Nope! err... Argos? ... urgh, but yes. TescoAfter about an hour/a day/a week searching (depending how stubborn you are) you should come to the natural conclusions that 1) the economy is shafted and people aren't buying cheap surround systems that much any long so the choice is pretty pathetic.... and 2) what is available at £100-£150 is mostly soundbars. So you're going to settle for the best you can find. Here's where the fun and games really start.
Here's your basic wish list.... 2x Optical (TV & PS4), Dolby ProLogic II decoding for TV, Dolby Digital and DTS decoding of an external source for the games and Blu-rays/DVDs.
Once you start to scratch the surface you'll be amazed how these one-box solutions miss out on one or more feature: It's common to find there's no Dolby ProLogic, so you're stuck with that manufacturer's crappy psuedo-surround modes. Or you find that the external input doesn't support DTS decoding. Worse still, there's no external digital input at all. This is what's known as
scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Lastly, you'll realise that one digital input is as good as it's going to get, so your choices then will be: a) cable swapping each time b) an optical switch c) HDMI in to the TV, use that as the switch and then take one Optical out to the surround kit
Of those three options, 'a' is the better choice!
For 'b' you'll do the same dance that so many have done in the past. Ebay lists optical switches that all look the same, and probably are the same, with prices ranging from a few pounds to nearly £20. You buy a cheap one. It doesn't work. Return postage costs more than it's worth. You bin it. You buy a more expensive one. It doesn't work either. This time it's worth returning but it's such a hassle. You send it off and hope for a refund if the Chinese supplier doesn't mess you about. You go buy one from a shop. It breaks your heart to spend £15 on this, but despite the bad reviews and your own misgivings you go ahead. It still doesn't work. You take it back. At least the refund is instant.... well, almost. Credit card refunds take 3 days. As you're walking out of the store it suddenly hits you. You've spent best part of £30 on crap product and return postage. Torn your hair out for a couple of weeks, and a good couple of hours between online research and the Post Office and to and fro from local stores, and after all this you've still got nothing to show for it.
Now you're frustrated. You go for option c because someone you've never met but spoken to from an internet forum said "Yeah mate, that's all you need to do. It's how I do it and it sounds great to me!"
Here you are then, DD and DTS via HDMI to the TV (because the TV doesn't know what to do with HD audio), optical to the surround kit. You load up your favourite game or movies and get ready for mind blowing surround sound.......... Silence. "What the *@#!..???" More searching online... Ah, your TV doesn't do DTS. "Oh brother" So you reconfigure the console for DD and try again. Now you've got sound just from the front speakers "Argghhh!!!!" You mess about a bit more.... still the same.... and a bit more.... still the same...and a bit more.... still the same. At this stage you're losing the will to live because it becomes apparent that your TV only does DD from its own internal tuner. Everything from an external connection gets down converted to stereo. Now you fumble through the built-in pseudo surround modes. They all sound crap: A big old jangly incoherent mess. You're left feeling very deflated.
You contemplate the journey so far..."£150 for the system plus £10-£15 on some connection leads, £30 + a week or so wasted on Optical switches plus all the time your spent hiding the cables around the room and the damned system still doesn't flippin work!" Somewhere in the back of your mind there's the echo of some advice you heard weeks before.... "Don't waste your money. Spend £250-£300 on a proper surround system" Damn. If only you'd listened.
