Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Rip DVD for PS3 playback?

I've spent the last three days trying to get ripped dvd's to playback either streaming or via external USB drive, and all worked well, except I only got 2-channel audio.

I feel like an idiot, but I've just discovered that my PS3 is only outputting 2-channel regardless of the media. DVD's, Blu-Ray...anything I give it...comes out 2-channel.

It was working fine a while back, I don't know exactly when this became an issue.

BD/DVD audio outputs are set to 'bitstream'. (I've tried both bitstream and linear PCM).

The video portion of my PS3 is hooked directly to my TV via HDMI, the audio is connected to my receiver via optical. Like I said, this is a new issue. I don't know what happend.

With it outputting 'bitstream', my Denon locks on to a dolby digital signal, but again, only outputs 2-channel.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Congratulations on the new Grand Son Ray!!! What a wonderful gift to receive for the new year!

Spiff, I seem to remember two settings that need to be set to Bitstream. They might even be in different sections. I'm off to grab a coffee with some folks but when I return, I'll double check the online manual.

Question for you. Is your TV hooked directly to the PS3 via HDMI but the PS3 is optical to receiver? If so, the reverse signal from the TV telling it that the TV is stereo can trick the PS3 to outputting stereo no matter what. However, this can be overcome with the proper settings in the PS3. NEEEEED coffee first though.

Mmmmh Coffee. My powere was out this morning so no shower and no coffee. Lots of hot water to get cleaned up from our propane stove top but instant doesn't do it for me.

Anyways, now that the caffine panic is over.
I really think I am sending you on a wild goose chase as you say that you do get 5.1 from DVDs but your last statement made me think of this. Here is the quote that I read regarding the TV HDMI cable sending back a return signal demanding to only have stereo. Note:I can't confirm this to be correct, just that this one spot on the 'Interweb' says its so.

If you are using an HDMI cable in LPCM mode, your television reports the native format it outputs in to the PS3. Since the television outputs in 2ch surround sound, it will tell the PS3 that and the PS3 will refuse to send anything more than that. That prevents double processing of sound.

Audio selections are found in two places and can be very confusing because you think setting one spot is enough but combinations can do different things. The first possible spot to find audio/port options is where you expect to find it...
PS3 --> Settings --> Sound Settings --> Audio Output settings.

Here is a link that explains the choices better than I can.
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/index_sound.html

The other, less obvious spot, is under
Settings --> Video Settings ->> BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI)

Its covered near the end of this page.
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/bdsettings.html#1470


The TV return signal, if it is true, sounds to fit exactly your symptoms of the PS3 recognizing a dolby signal but not outputting it. I'm total HDMI A+V to the receiver and HDMI to the TV so I couldn't verify my settings for you as I wouldn't experience the same issue in this config.

My audio settings on the PS3 side are set properly (bitstream and optical/digital out). I'll try simply removing the HDMI cable and see if it effects the audio situation.

I can but refer you to my post 3 pages of frustration ago. Therein lies your solution.

In seriousness though, based on the fact that the PS3 is reporting a 5.1 signal, the problem is definitely not in the encoding of the file, so that's major progress. I would look to the Denon as the possible culprit at this point. It could be set on stereo output and overriding the multichannel signal it's getting from the PS3. If you haven't already, make sure you have it set on a mode meant for 5.1 playback.

Jason

Is the Denon input assigned for the optical input and not the HDMI?

The denon is old and doesn't have HDMI ins or outs. As it's old it has the infamously horrible user interface as well. I'm pretty darn sure it's not the Denon though. One of my tests while troubleshooting was to swap the cables being used by the cable tv and the PS3. The 2-channel problem followed the source.

Or is the denon processing set to STEREO?

Maybe try a factory reset of the PS3 to see if something is just out in the settings.