Help setting up sound for consoles/surround sound

bulldogc

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Apr 18, 2009
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I've got a Samsung HT C550 5.1 setup and I'm trying to get dolby output on my PS3 to work. Currently the playstation is connected to the TV via HDMI and I have an optical out from the TV to the HTC550 so that i can get the speakers to work with the WII and XBOX as well.

This layout does use the speakers in what kinda sounds like 5.1 surround but I cant help but think that based on the sound settings that are being auto detected on the PS3 its not actually real surround sound but some kinda mockup of it.

Unfortunatly the speaker reciever only has 1 optical in port so i cant just run another optical cable from the ps3 to the speakers. Does anyone know if there is a way i can enable dolby or DTS output for the playstation with my current setup or will i need a better reciever with more inputs to make it work? The tv is a panasonic tc-p50g10.
 
in general....home theater in a box sets suck.

the control unit which often doubles as a dvd player has very limited inputs giving you virtually no expansion room for other devices. you could howver go out and buy another receiver (cheap: onkyo) and plug-and-play though as long as all the speakers use the standard two wire hookup.

as far as ps3->hdmi->tv->optical->receiver->speakers...

how are your other perepherals hooked up? via hdmi on the tv? do they use surround sound or only the fronts? if surround then you should be able to get the same from your ps3.

not sure of any settings as i use a standard receiver and i have none of these problems.
 

bulldogc

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Apr 18, 2009
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Yea part of the plan was to just update the receiver at a later date as this whole setup was only like 90 bucks and a vast improvement over the stock tv speakers so that might be what I end up having to do.there is also a wii and 360 hooked up through the tv as well. the Xbox does output on all 5 speakers like the ps3 does however im not entirly sure either is true 5.1 surround or just moch surround.
 
easy way to test...

go into any sort of game where you can walk around. suggest: fps games.

find some sort of static noise (ie a noise source which is continual and doesnt shift around in 3d space). such as a sparking wire, clock, timer, buzzing, whatever. the louder the noise the better. you could do this test with a moving target as well (such as in a live match) but its harder to pinpoint.

face your character in different directions and the sound should follow the correct speakers. ie, if you are facing directly away the sound should come from your rear speakers.

if it does then its not mock-surround.

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for a $90 htib its not worth putting much into a receiver. you might be able to get onkyo receivers as i mentioned before at $50 or so. not sure on the prices as i bought a much higher end set ($1500 sound system).

agreed that any surround sound system is better than stock tv speakers.