System connections: PS3 and Sky HD to Yamaha AX863

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Thought I had this nailed but after reviewing some of the old threads I am now confused.

I am comfortable with the Sky connections i.e. HDMI and optical into Yam because Sky doesn't send audio through HDMI.

However, i believed connecting the PS3 via HDMI was all i needed for all video and audio requirements (TrueHD, etc) but just read some posts saying it needs to be connected using optical? Could someone please confirm this is correct if i want to get the best sound from Bluray films/gaming through my 5.1 speaker system please.

I dont have a PS3 yet but had my mate round last week with his and couldnt get all the fancy lights to light up on the amp whilst watching 'I am Legend' - any advice on set up for amp would be appreciated.

Regards.

 

[professorhat]

No need for the optical cable but you won't get the fancy lights lighting up on the amp when using the PS3 as it is unable to bitstream the HD formats i.e. send them in their native compressed format. Instead it decodes them from their original format to Linear PCM which is then accepted by the amp over the HDMI cable. By this time, any trace that the sound used to be stored in Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio or whichever format has been removed, so the amp doesn't light up anything. However, you are still getting the HD audio format. You can confirm this by pressing Select as the PS3 plays - in the top right hand corner it will display what it is currently decoding and outputting.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Prof that sounds reasonable.

Do you have the 863? I could do with knowing what is the best set up for watching various inputs as all the sound configurations are difficult to understand (without just going on my ears and the habit to think lounder is better)! If not i'll do a separate post.

Thanks.

 

[professorhat]

Sorry, afraid not, I've got an Onkyo.