Help setting up ps3 to 5.1

Soldato
Joined
17 Feb 2009
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Just reading some forums and got a little confused as would like so help please!

I current have my ps3 connected by hdmi to my TV, then from my TV an optical cable going to my Sony amp but I don't feel like i'm getting true surround.

I've been reading that hdmi would be better to optical.

So do I need to connect the ps3 by hdmi to my amp or TV then another hdmi from amp to TV?!

Confused!
 
Does your amp do the new hd codecs? Dts hd, true hd etc

If the answer is no, the optical is fine. No difference

If the answer is yes, the optical doesn't have the bandwidth for the new codecs and a switch or hdmi for sound will be worthwhile.

Yes it does.

So just to be clear, connect the PS3 via HDMI to my amp, then from AMP to TV via HDMI?!
 
So I plugged the ps3 not my amp, then amp to TV. But the ps3 isn't showing available to see?!

I'm using an old hdmi cable from my xbox to connect from amp to tv could that be the reason?!
 
Have you checked whether the amp needs to be on to pass through video?
Have you set the amp to be on the correct HDMI input?
Have you got anything else you can connect via HDMI to see if the amp is working?
Try swapping the HDMI cables to see if anything from the amp is output to the TV (some have screensaver type things when there is no input) using the PS3 HDMI cable.

OK so i've fixed the video but when I take out my optical cable I get no sound?! I've changed it to hdmi

I don't know how to change settings to my amp it's an Str dg 510
 
Last edited:
STR-DG510 was out in about 2007~2008. At that point a lot of budget AV amps did HDMI as pass-thru only. The HDMI sockets were little more than a HDMI switch. The amp didn't process sound- or even accept LPCM via HDMI. You'll get sound on the TV speakers from HDMI going in and out of the amp, but the surround speakers won't do a thing unless you connect a coax/optical/analog input. That's the situation with the STR-DG510.

The best sound you'll get from a PS3 with that particular Sony amp is by connecting an optical cable. It will be proper surround. The PS3 can send out Dolby Digital and DTS. It does this for games and for DVDs and for Blu-rays. With Blu-rays they have better quality sound (Dolby True-HD and DTS Master Audio) but the PS3 can be set to convert them down to DD and DTS respectfully.

If you have the PS3 set up correctly then the Sony's front panel display will confirm when it is receiving Dolby Digital or DTS. You might want to chech the Sony's audio menus though just to be sure that the Decode Priority is set to DEC.AUTO

If you see the front panel light up with PL (Pro-Logic) or PLII (Pro-Logic II) then the amp is receiving a stereo signal from the PS3. That might be okay if your playing some music, but if you get it when playing a movie or a game that you know has better audio then check the disc menu. Make sure you selected the better audio off the disc if it defaults to basic stereo.

There's a guide to setting the PS3 audio menus here

The rest of your sources will need to connect with coax or optical for audio if they have them.


As a footnote for those interested, when the 1st gen PS3 consoles camae out they couldn't do HD audio over HDMI. The best you could get was Dolby True-HD and DTS-MA decoded to LPCM multichannel over HDMI. The AV amp had to be compatible with that.

Perfect, thank you for clearing that up! I think i'll wait for the PS4 then update my AMP arrangement, thank you.
 
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