Help with surround sound for PS3!!

I have looked on the internet and my PS3 manual on how to get my surround sound system I just got working on my PS3. Because I have a few different video game systems plugged into my HDTV, I got myself an optical cable that plugs from the TV to my receiver. I use an HDMI cable from my PS3 to get picture (obviously) and sound through to the TV. I’ve tinkered around inside the sound settings and movie settings trying to figure things out either through the "bitstream" option and "PCM" option. So far I’m only testing it on a DVD. When I select A/V settings (after hitting [triangle]) during the movie and select audio output format, I run into a problem. When it’s selected as bitstream, I only get sound coming from the left and right (aka, no surround sound). But when I select linear PCM, I can hear background noise (sound effects, music, etc) but no speech or anything coming out of the center speaker.

The receiver I’m using is a DVD player and a few nights ago I watched this DVD that’s in my PS3 (Harry Potter) so I know how it sounds in surround sound, but was waiting for that optical cable to get in the mail before trying to set up the PS3 for surround sound. I’ve even tried messing with the audio settings via my TV’s menu and that honestly does nothing from what I can tell. I’ve even tried having it where I get sound coming out of both my HDTV and the surround sound, hoping to get speech out of the TV at least, but not even that worked. I’ve looked online for help and I haven’t found anything regarding the setup I’m trying to use because I don’t want to switch my optical cable from my PS3 to my TV when I want to play my other systems.

I’m new with this whole surround sound thing and I usually am able to figure these things out through trial and error but I’m running out of ideas here. I appreciate any help I can get and if whoever decides to help me needs more info then let me know. I’m tired and am going to bed now because I’ve been at this for hours…and playing my new 7-string guitar I just got yesterday for a few hours earlier http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/Griever2000/shredder.gif lol.

Can you list all of the inputs and outputs on your receiver and tv? Also list all of the game systems you’re trying to connect to your sound system. As far as your sound issues, it seems like you got your optical cable going from your PS3 to your TV then out to your reciever. Anyway, more details please. 🙂

My TV has 2 HDMI ports, only one is being used; the PS3. 2 Component ports which I have my PSP and PS2 plugged into (using PS3 component cables for PS2). Only using A/V’s video-in for watching a DVD using the surround sound (because the sound actually comes out of the speakers). And then I have my optical cable going from the receiver to my TV.

In short, all video and audio are coming out through my TV, but with the optical cable, they are coming out through the surround sound speakers instead. Only problem is, it’s only coming out of the left and right speakers so I’m not actually getting the whole surround sound…sound from it and I don’t know why. I would at least like to get surround sound for my PS3 because I play that more often than the others plus that’s how I watch my blu-ray movies. And I’m DYING to watch my extended Avatar movie in surround sound lol.

If it helps, the DVD player/receiver I’m using is the RCA RTD3133. Thanks for responding back. I was starting to assume no one here used surround sound for their PS3 lol

The problem is your TV is not meant to decode surround sound coming from an HDMI source (like a PS3) and back out via optical cable. That HDMI source is carrying a pretty high bandwidth of audio. So the audio signal coming from your PS3 to your TV is not going to translate the same way out from your TV to your receiver. That being said, your best option, in my personal opinion, is to run your optical cable from your PS3 to your receiver and just forget surround sound for your PS2 and PSP. I say this mainly because your PS3 has more multimedia options.

Now, you’re probably asking yourself, "Well then why in hell does my TV even have an optical out?" That’s because over-the-air digital broadcast can be presented in Dolby Digital. If your TV also happens to have an optical input, then that optical input will translate the same way out to your receiver, in which case you’ll need another optical cable to handle; one going out of the PS3 to your TV and another from your TV to your receiver.

I managed to find a downloadable manual for the home theater system. It turns out that after switching the source to ‘digital-in’, I need to access the menu and turn on ‘surround’. Due to me not really have much money, I bought this used and it didn’t come with a remote. So I’ll go out and buy a universal remote later and then see what happens.

Well isn’t this some shit. Both the receiver and remote I bought are RCA but for some reason, it won’t sync up with the damn thing. I’ve tried all the methods in the instructions, including punching in the codes myself, and none of them worked.