Home Cinema Beginner - Please Help/Advise

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Hi all, I am soon to be moving into a new room which is big enough for surround sound, so am going to be investing in a home cinema setup.

The sources I will be using are as follows:

PS3 (HDMI)
Xbox 360 (HDMI)
DVD-R (OPTICAL)
DVR (OPTICAL)

The receiever I have lined up in my budget is the Sony STR-DG520, and the speakers are the Yamaha NS-P110 (http://tinyurl.com/5k865y)

Now the reciever goes to my TV through HDMI, now my main concern is what sound I will be getting through HDMI from my reciever? What I have read, it looks to be a grey area, so I was just wondering will I get? I know it wont be DolbyHD or wateva, which isnt an issue, but I do want decent sound and 5.1 surround, so any help/advice would be great. Thanks

 

[PJPro]

Scott_HKR:
[snip]....Now the reciever goes to my TV through HDMI, now my main concern is what sound I will be getting through HDMI from my reciever....[snip]

Not sure I understand the question. The receiver will send video signals to the telly via HDMI not audio....the receiver itself deals with the audio side of things. It decodes the digital signals to analog, amplifies it and, in turn, drives the speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

Basically, my main worry is:

If I connect my setup like this:

TV > HDMI > RECIEVER

PS3 > HDMI > RECIEVER

360 > HDMI > RECIEVER

What kind of audio will I be gettin at the end of it? Cos theres been tlak on other forums, that the HDMI on some receivers only carries video signal, and for the audio you have to use the optical cable or L/R.

So, see if that explains it a bit better lol

Thanks

 

[PJPro]

Scott_HKR:
Hi all, I am soon to be moving into a new room which is big enough for surround sound, so am going to be investing in a home cinema setup.

The sources I will be using are as follows:

PS3 (HDMI)
Xbox 360 (HDMI)
DVD-R (OPTICAL)
DVR (OPTICAL)

The receiever I have lined up in my budget is the Sony STR-DG520, and the speakers are the Yamaha NS-P110 (http://tinyurl.com/5k865y)

Now the reciever goes to my TV through HDMI, now my main concern is what sound I will be getting through HDMI from my reciever? What I have read, it looks to be a grey area, so I was just wondering will I get? I know it wont be DolbyHD or wateva, which isnt an issue, but I do want decent sound and 5.1 surround, so any help/advice would be great. Thanks

OK, I think I may see what you're getting at. Given the sources you have, will you get 5.1 surround sound from your amp?

The PS3 does all of its decoding onboard and outputs LPCM via HDMI...so as long as your amp can handle that, you should be OK.

Don't know about the other sources

 

[Anonymous]

How will I find out if it can handle it? On specifications I have seen it says:

• Digital Cinema SoundT Technology : Yes
• Dolby© Digital Decoding : Yes
• Dolby© Digital EX Decoding : N/A
• Dolby© Pro Logic© Decoding : Yes
• Dolby© Pro Logic© II Decoding : Yes
• Dolby© Pro Logic© IIX Decoding : N/A
• dts© Decoding : Yes

Any of this point out what you need to know?

 

[PJPro]

Scott_HKR:
Basically, my main worry is:

If I connect my setup like this:

TV > HDMI > RECIEVER

PS3 > HDMI > RECIEVER

360 > HDMI > RECIEVER

What kind of audio will I be gettin at the end of it? Cos theres been tlak on other forums, that the HDMI on some receivers only carries video signal, and for the audio you have to use the optical cable or L/R.

So, see if that explains it a bit better lol

Thanks

Not sure I understand this

TV > HDMI

What do you want this to achieve? 5.1 sound from programmes being broadcast onto the telly? I'd be surprised if that would work over HDMI. Suggest you'd connect the sound from your telly via an analogue connection to your amp (so stereo). However, some amps can take a stereo signal and emulate surround sound.

 

[PJPro]

The Pro Logic you mention is the emulated surround sound

 

[Anonymous]

Well the amp has an HDMI out on it, and two HDMI inputs, as one of it's key features is seamless HDMI switching.

That is how it will be, so basically, I am asking how will the sound be lol? I am worried that I aren't going to get any sound at all, or only 2 channel sound. If theres a better way to link it up, please advise me

 

[PJPro]

Scott_HKR:
Well the amp has an HDMI out on it, and two HDMI inputs, as one of it's key features is seamless HDMI switching.

That is how it will be, so basically, I am asking how will the sound be lol? I am worried that I aren't going to get any sound at all, or only 2 channel sound. If theres a better way to link it up, please advise me

Right. The way you have it set up is correct.

So, the PS3 will send LPCM to the amp. Does your amp handle LPCM? If it does then you will get full surround sound via the PS3.

Seeing as your amp appears to support surround sound emulation, it will provide surround sound (of sorts) from any audio signal.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think it can handle Linear PCM, no.

I haven't got it yet, so wouldn't know anythin like that from personal experience, but I can't see it anywhere in the specs.

Is this a bad thing? Or for me to simply get 5.1 surround sound (eg. so that for instance a plane in a film would go from left to right in the speakers as it did on the screen) is it not required.

Help is much appreciated

 

[PJPro]

It would appear the Sony does not support LPCM through HDMI. See this page.

 

[Anonymous]

I read that 2 mins ago lol

So what does this restrict me from hearing?

 

[PJPro]

Errr, proper surround sound from the PS3....which at the moment is your primary HD source.

 

[Anonymous]

Define proper surround sound?

And would I be best connecting it up through optical cable instead then?

 

[PJPro]

For a formal definition of surround sound see wikpedia here.

If you use bitstreaming (optical) rather than LPCM via HDMI, then the ampfilier will be responsible for decoding the audio stream. However, I don't think that the PS3 can send HD audio via bitstreaming.

 

[Anonymous]

Right, thanks for the definition.

And I aren't after HD-Audio, so what is going to be my best bet then? PS3 Direct to TV and Optical cable to Receiver, or my original plan using the two HDMI leads?

 

[PJPro]

The best bet would be to get a slightly more expensive amp which handled LPCM and use the HDMI method of connection you describe.

 

[Anonymous]

This isn't ideal for me though, cos its out of my budget really.

If I did it how I've said with the HDMIs with this amp, will I not get any form of surround sound then?

 

[PJPro]

Well, you can get non-HD surround sound via bitstreaming.....but, as I stated earlier, your amp would then be responsible for decoding the audio signal. So, if the amp supports the audio encoding on the DVD, then yes, you'll get surround sound.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah right, well thanks for your help mate anyway

 

[PJPro]

No problem.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, so with that amp and PS3 you'll be able to get regular Dolby Digital 5.1 (either decoded on-board or on the amp) just not the new HD audio codecs. It's still 'proper' surround-sound.