PS3 Surround Sound Help!?

Question

Can somone tell me how to set up surround sound for my Ps3 so I can listen to my games and videos better? I have only ONE HDMI cable that is connected from the Ps3 to my Sony Bravia HDTV. I don't have a home theater system yet. I need some reccomendations. My budget is under $300.

Answer 1

First off - forget about the red/white/yellow cable.  This won't give you HD nor surround sound.

Connecting your PS3 to your TV with the HDMI will give you HD video, but only stereo sound from the TV's speakers.

Now then, some newer HDTVs can take the digital audio signal from the HDMI cable, and output it as optical audio.  Check your manual to see if your TV does indeed do this.  I also have a Sony which has an optical out on it, but it only works if I'm watching a HD TV channel with an antenna.  Anyways, if your TV does indeed pass the digital audio from your HDMI connection to the optical audio output, then all you need to do is connect your TV to the home theater system with an optical audio cable.  OTHERWISE you'll have to do what I have to do - connect each device separately to my receiver with a separate optical audio cable.  (The PS3 has a optical audio port near the HDMI port on the back, so that isn't a problem.)

As for home theater systems, be sure you get one with a RECEIVER - NOT, I repeat - NOT a DVD player!  The cheap home theater in a box sets only have a  DVD player that does the surround sound processing.  That's fine for the DVD player, but these devices almost NEVER have additional inputs for other things, like your PS3.  A receiver, however, will feature multiple audio inputs, including at least one optical input for surround sound.

It is not necessary to connect the HDMI cable to your receiver.   In fact, I wouldn't bother.  The receiver won't be able to pull the audio signal out of the HDMI signal anyways, so you still need 2 separate cables - HDMI for video and optical for audio.

I have 4 different devices in my living room that can do surround sound and HDMI.  What I ended up doing was getting an inexpensive HDMI switch and then connecting each device to my receiver with an optical audio or digital coax cable.  The receiver doesn't have enough HDMI ports (or optical ports for that matter...)

Answer 2

Around $300 you can buy a home theater in box but you should buy the one only has a receiver and speakers, don't buy the one has DVD ( build - in amp ), with this you can't connect digital optical cable to get surround sound.This is How to set up : - HDMI  from PS3 to TV , optical cable from PS3 to receiver.