ivanhurd Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Whenever I watch a bluray, I usually pick the audio output on the disc, and then whatever the receiver defaults to, which is normally multichannel, is what I usually stick with. Do you have a preferred setting when it comes to watching movies? I played around with them today and there were a couple that sounded pretty good (PLIIx, etc), but I usually end up going back to multichannel because that's what I'm used to. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmassey Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 I usually prefer to do a bitstream on the source, and set the AVR to Direct. Then I make sure on the disc settings to select the highest quality transfer, usually DolbyHD or DTS-MA for Blu-Ray. That way I am hearing the audio exactly as I am supposed to be hearing it according to the mixing engineers, or whatever their official job title is. I've tried pure direct on the avr, but that bypasses the speaker settings I setup in the AVR, and I don't think it sounds quite as good because of the slightly differing sensitivities and distances of the speakers. It also gives me some peace of mind that I am hearing the correct audio track because the display on my AVR actually says DolbyHD or DTS-MA. If memory serves me correctly, all PLIIx should be doing is simulating a 5.1 channel setup based off the 2 channels of sound it is getting from the source. In a 5.1 setup, it duplicates the two surrounds into the rear surrounds to create a full 7.1 ch environment. Depending on your AVR, multichannel may just be duplicating the fronts and copying them to the surround and rear surrounds if you have them with no extra processing, so essentially, all speakers are playing the exact same thing, depending if they are on the left or right. I would imagine that would be better for listening to music, but for movies that are in stereo, I would think PLIIx would be your best bet. However, as I said before, having DolbyHD or DTS-MA (or Dolby Digital, Dolby+, etc...) would still be better yet for movies, as every speaker would be doing something different. Long story short, I suggest using Dolby PLIIx only for movies that are being played in stereo. I may be wrong completely though, this is from memory and I would love to hear from someone who has a bit more knowledge on the subject, so I can get my facts straight, especially concerning how Dolby PLIIx would work in a 7.1 channel system with a source being played in stereo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 PL IIX will matrix the 5.1 source to the surround back channels. This is in contrast to PL IIZ, which is a matrix for amibience and other special effects sent to the height channels. Both matrix functions are from a 5.1 source. 7.1 sources have the surround back or front height channel as discrete channel with their own encoded material. Many people think Front Height channels are more bang for your system since it enhances the front stage. I prefer to watch movies in the BD format that is picked up by the player, but this is a matter of personal taste. The only one that need be happy is you![] Dolby and DTS transfer rates are not comparable due to the technology used in each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 I was thinking that the multichannel setting was playing whatever was coming from the source. I have an onkyo 706, and any time I turn on the PS3, this is the setting it picks. I usually never change it because I am to understand all those other settings simulate the surround in some way. So I guess I've been doing it correctly, makes senese why it sounds the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Set the ps3 to bit stream and avr to auto, you should get dts or DD or dts HD or dd true HD showing lit up on the display panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utard Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 I've tried pure direct on the avr, but that bypasses the speaker settings I setup in the AVR, and I don't think it sounds quite as good because of the slightly differing sensitivities and distances of the speakers. I guess I was under the assumption that pure direct just did not use the EQ settings that is made up when doing the MCACC setup? But it did use all the speaker distance and sound level setting that it made in the MCACC? So are you saying that the pure direct does not use any of the MCACC settings? I guess what I want is for it to use the speaker distance and level data but not the EQ. Is there any threads that talk about setting up the PS3 for for best sound and video quality? There are so many things in the setup that I just do not understand like upscaler, bitstream, linear pcm, dynamic range control, crossfade playback, bitmapping, dynamic normalizer, output frequency, ps upscaler, ps smoothing. I do not really care to understand any of that just what is the best settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 ^^^I know there are some youtube videos for that. I guess I'll have to double check my settings to see if I have it on bitstream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 Yep, just checked and it was set to linear PCM. Doing some reading on another forum, it seems if you set it to linear PCM, the player does the decoding so it just passes through the AVR, which is why it just goes to multichannel on my AVR. If you set it to bitstream, the AVR does the decoding which is where you see the other formats show up on the AVR screen. Here is the link to the forum, seems there are a few different opinions: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=24132 It looks like if you have a 7.1 set up, linear PCM is the way to go. I'm getting very confused reading that thread tho, it seems every post says one or the other with no real definitive answers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 This seems to be the definitive answer I was looking for and explains why my AVR just defaults to multichannel: With the PS3 specifically, this is how it breaks down... If the PS3 setting is set to "Linear" it will decode the lossless audio (Hi-Def audio which is 6 times more detailed than ANY AUDIO TRACK on ANY DVD) and send it out as a PCM signal (Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD MA, everything!). Now, if you have an HDMI cable running that signal, all is good. You will get the lossless audio no porblems so long as your receiver can handle multichannel PCM. If you are using an optical cable, the cable can only handle the PCM signal as a 2.0 stereo signal. Therefore, since the PS3 is sending the lossless audio as PCM, the cable will downmix the signal to 2.0 stereo. If the PS3 setting is set to "Bitstream" it will not decode anything. It will try to send the signal as is to the receiver so that the receiver can do the work. If an HDMI cable is used, there will be problems. The PS3 cannot bitstream LOSSLESS audio via HDMI cable. It will play the lossless core tracks as their lossy DVD counterparts (Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1). Likewise, an optical cable will do the same thing... UNLESS THE AUDIO TRACK SELECTED ON THE DISC IS A LINEAR PCM TRACK. Again, that PCM signal will be downmixed to a 2.0 stereo signal. So, bottom line is, with the PS3 set the audio output to "Linear" when using an HDMI cable. Set it to "Bitstream" when using an optical cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 another: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=3893567&postcount=167 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 I have had a ps3 many years, hdmi connect, I set to bitstream and let my prepros and avrs decode dts master etc...you do as you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utard Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Yeah I started reading that first link and got confused real quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 It's real simple, set to pcm and your ps3 does the decoding sends signals, who knows what they are unless you look in ps3 menu.Set to bitsteam, avr shows the format so you can see exactly what signal is being sent and decoded.I don't know anyone using pcm unless they have a very old, not capable of decoding hi rez formats avr/prepro. If you use an optical cable you ain't gettin any hi rez format regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 ^^^Most of everything that I read says to use PCM to get the lossless signals if present on the BD. Using bitstream you don't get the menu sounds and all that either. I dunno, it's a bit confusing, but if you set it to PCM you can check in the menu on the PS3 to see what is being output so basically all your AVR is doing is sending it to the the proper speakers. From what I've read, I'm keeping it linear PCM. The only benefit I saw of using bitstream was that you can see the format on the AVR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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