Plz help with a Yamaha RX-V659 reciever?

Question

i have 2 questions

fist is, what is the difference between a coaxial digital plug and an optical connection, which one is better.

my second question is I have a ps3 (full 7.1) and it uses a optical, or coaxial connection. I already have my ps3 hooked up to the receiver, but the input it is connected to is the CD input, i noticed some things when i am using the ps3 such as the little lights on the front of the reciever that say thing like, Dolby Digital, or Cinema DSP are not turned on. These light are on for the DVD player, which also uses optical

I was wondering if the sound quality is reduced or changed in any way if it is connected to the CD input vs. a DVD or cable box input.

the reason i am asking this instead of just doing it is because it is a huge pain to turn around the receiver and change plugs and i will only do it if i really need to... and the manual is very unhelpful

Answer 1

The input your ps3 is plugged into is irrelevant.  The Dolby Digital light comes on the front of you receiver when you watch a DVD is because it sees 5.1 channels from the DVD, decodes it, and sends it to all your speakers.  This will happen with either optical or coaxial cables.  Unless your game is encoded with a surround sound track (5.1 channels), there is nothing for your receiver to decode and your receiver tells you this by not lighting up the Dolby Digital light.  

Now, you can use different DSP settings to make your receiver "simulate" surround sound.  You'll have to refer to your owner's manual on how to do that, but it can be done.

Finally, whether it stays stereo or you make it "surround" there is no loss in quality with any input or with either a digital or coaxial cable.  The light just comes on to let you know that it has sensed a Dolby Digital track.

Answer 2

There's not much difference between coaxial digital and optical digital - they send the same signals to the receiver.  However, when you have an optical connection, it will not be affected by electrical interference (like 60-cycle hum), and it electrically isolates the receiver from the PS3, which can be handy if the house's wiring isn't very good.  But the thing is, digital signals are very tolerant of interference too, so unless it's very extreme interference, it won't effect much, so either co-ax or optical will work well.

As far as the Cinema DSP, you are going to need one of two things for surround sound - either a digital connection, or a set of wires for each channel.  The CD input is onle one channel set, so you can't get surround sound through just that (the DSP stands for Digital Signal Processing anyway, so if you don't have digital, that light isn't going to come on no matter what).

Answer 3

You may be correct - the CD input cannot handle DD5.1 signals.

Try this: pop in a standard DVD into the PS3, Plug the optical cord into the DVD player input, select DVD on the Yamaha and see if the "Dolby Digital" indicator lights up.

If not - the PS3 is not set to output Dolby Digital. Play with the setup menus on the PS3.

Once you have the PS3 sending Dolby, plug it into the CD input. Now go to the Yamaha setup menu. Sometimes you have the option to say "PCM" (like from a CD player) "Dolby" or "Auto". Choose the Auto option if it exists. and see if the indicator lights up.

You may want to buy one of those mechanical Optical switches for $6 from MonoPrice and feed your PS3 & DVD player into this, then to the "DVD" input on the yamaha.