using TV audio out to receiver bad?

[Halvie]

Hey, I have a simple question. I am running a hdmi cable from my PS3 to my TV. My receiver doesn't have an hdmi input so I am using my tv's audio out and just have rca cables that run to my receiver.

Is the audio being affected(downgraded) by being sent to the TV first and then my receiver(opposed to say if I had component cables that ran straight from the PS3 to the receiver) or is the audio just being passed through.

thanks for the help sorry for the dumb question,
Troy

 

[Davemcc]

If you are using stereo analog RCA connections, yes it is a downmixed stereo signal. My son tells me that he is using HDMI to his TV and using the optical digital audio from the PS3 to the receiver. I didn't think it was possible, but that's the way he set his up and it works. That would be the best way to get proper surround sound without an HDMI receiver.

 

[MDS]

The TV is converting the digital audio to analog so if you were playing something in DD 5.1 it would get downmixed to 2 channels and then converted to analog. You'd have to then use a matrix decoder like PLII to turn it back into surround.

 

[markw]

That depends on several things.

Not all TV's pass a MC HDMI audio input to an output, particularly if there's no HDMI output.

Not all TV's pass a MC output, except from whatever OTA digital channels it receives from it's own built-in ATSC tuner.

In such case, you will have no choice but to accept the two channel stereo output from the TV.

Your best bet for MC from the PS3 is to use a digital connection (Toslink/coax, whatever it takes) directly from the game to the receiver like Davemcc suggested.

 

[taxman1948]

Ps3

Thats exactly how I hooked up my sons PS3.. HDMI to the tv and Optical to my receiver. I was surprised to see the Optical connection instead of coaxial on the back of the PS3.. sound and picture are great

 

[Thunder18]

Thats exactly how I hooked up my sons PS3.. HDMI to the tv and Optical to my receiver. I was surprised to see the Optical connection instead of coaxial on the back of the PS3.. sound and picture are great

Same way I have mine set up. In the audio options you can specify if you're wanting to use optical or HDMI for audio so you can use HDMI for video exclusively.