Quote on an amp + speakers

noodler

Looking at the Onkyo 507 amp (250 pounds and a 5.1 speaker pack for 170 pounds).

I want it for the PS3, I know the PS3 does the decoding for me but I understand the 507 can accept lcpm signals and get me HD sound this way.

Can any of your staff confirm this? Is the amp with HD decoding necessary if the PS3 does the decoding? Can it do 1080p Video signals? Is there a better price for the two combined available?

Thank you

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hi noodler.

Without getting drawen into the debate if the PS3 out puts HD audio or not. Here is my point of view. I own an Onkyo 605 and a PS3 and when the PS3 is connected up via HDMI it does not output the HD audio to my amp (It will not light up the True HD audio on my amp or any other for that matter). A lot of my friends have PS3's also with the same issue.
Some people will say it does some will say it does not. I have tried everything and can't get it to. At some point Sony have to come up with a patch for this.

With that said dolby digital is still supported.

The best value for money amp at the moment that will do all the jobs you need would be the Pioneer VSX819 priced at £229.95 / 255.99 Euro (Excluiding HD Audio from PS3)
https://www.richersounds.ie/asp/product.asp?objectid=930&mode=0&productid=966&results=true&keys=pioneer&c=1

I hope this is of help.

Any further questions please ask.

Regards

Kenny.

The Ritz

Kenny,


The Ps3 decodes the HD sound and sends it to your AV receiver as a PCM stream - the AV reciever just does the amplification of the sound, so you are getting the HD sound, its just that your AV receiver isn't doing the decoding.

A quick look at this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58708300 and this post in particular http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58733819&postcount=17 might help.


Ritz.

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hey The Ritz.

I'll have to have a look into this when I get home as I had given up on it after reading so many post telling me it would not do it.

Thanks a million for the info as I had been pulling my hair out for some time over this and toying with the idea of a stand alone Blu Ray player for my movies.

The Ritz

Hi again Kenny !

The PS3 definitely does the decoding internally - the "blue light" on the Onkyo will never light up, but the decoded HD sound is amplified by the Onkyo operating in Multichannel mode and that's what you hear.

The PS3 will not send the HD audio signal as a Bitstream and allow the Onkyo to do the decoding - this is the main difference of using something like the S350 or S360 as far as bluray playback is concerned.



Cheers,


Sean.

noodler

It is what I have read too Kenny.

That the PS3 has to be set to output in Linear PCM (rather than bitstream) then the amp will be able to play the audio uncompressed if it accepts LCPM (which your Onkyo, as far as I know, defo does).

Thanks to the Ritz and yourself for the input.

BArra

to put it simply

the older "fat" ps3's cannot and never will be able to bitstream audio

this means your HD amp will never light up with TrueHD or DTS MA-HD, it will only LPCM to your HD amp, you still get the HD audio, but the ps3 is doing the decoding of the HD audio track

the newer "slim" ps3's CAN bitstream audio, meaning it will send the sound for your HD amp to decode, thus lighting up the TrueHD or DTS-MA-HD lights on your amp