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Best PS4 Audio Settings?

Thanks for this thread, I have some serious questions...

Back story: My receiver is a bit older but still has HDMI (a Sony something). I know that it only does HDMI passthrough, and does not actually output anything recieved through HDMI... it only passes the sound/picture through to the HDMI-Out to the TV. (My mind would be blown if I am wrong about this, but that's how I understood it some 7 years ago when I purchased it.)

1. For my PS4, I have OpticalOut to my receiver, and set my receiver to Dolby Digital. This is the best option for me then? If I set my receiver to PCM, I still hear sound though. But I assume the DD sound is superior in this case, since it is over Optical?

2. When watching movies on my PS4, I have TERRIBLE latency in the sound... it is way behind the picture at times. Always noticable. Why would this be!?! I switched back to watching movies on my PS3 instead, which has no issues... which is HDMI to my TV, and optical from TV to receiver. So I assume this is 2.0 only, since I doubt my TV passes through 5.1.
 
Thanks for this thread, I have some serious questions...

Back story: My receiver is a bit older but still has HDMI (a Sony something). I know that it only does HDMI passthrough, and does not actually output anything recieved through HDMI... it only passes the sound/picture through to the HDMI-Out to the TV. (My mind would be blown if I am wrong about this, but that's how I understood it some 7 years ago when I purchased it.)

1. For my PS4, I have OpticalOut to my receiver, and set my receiver to Dolby Digital. This is the best option for me then? If I set my receiver to PCM, I still hear sound though. But I assume the DD sound is superior in this case, since it is over Optical?

2. When watching movies on my PS4, I have TERRIBLE latency in the sound... it is way behind the picture at times. Always noticable. Why would this be!?! I switched back to watching movies on my PS3 instead, which has no issues... which is HDMI to my TV, and optical from TV to receiver. So I assume this is 2.0 only, since I doubt my TV passes through 5.1.

You need to set the PS4 to Bitstream out either Dolby or DTS. If you're still getting the audio lag, then you may want to uncheck the 1080p/24 setting in the PS4 options.
 
2. When watching movies on my PS4, I have TERRIBLE latency in the sound... it is way behind the picture at times. Always noticable. Why would this be!?! I switched back to watching movies on my PS3 instead, which has no issues... which is HDMI to my TV, and optical from TV to receiver. So I assume this is 2.0 only, since I doubt my TV passes through 5.1.

The receiver processes audio faster than your tv processes video, when run through the tv, it adds a delay to the audio to sync with the video processing time. Your receiver should have a lip sync setting you can adjust to get it in sync. I usually see in the 50-60ms range.
 
You need to set the PS4 to Bitstream out either Dolby or DTS. If you're still getting the audio lag, then you may want to uncheck the 1080p/24 setting in the PS4 options.

Thanks, I'll check this out!

The receiver processes audio faster than your tv processes video, when run through the tv, it adds a delay to the audio to sync with the video processing time. Your receiver should have a lip sync setting you can adjust to get it in sync. I usually see in the 50-60ms range.

I believe the delay was the other way around... picture was before sound. I doubt my receiver has a lip sync setting, but perhaps it's buried somewhere. Thanks!
 
so has anyone else had an issue where the center channel speaker is missing? blurays and netflix work fine, but games are missing it.
 
I'm glad this thread got posted. I just bought a Vizio 2.1 system (soundbar + sub woofer). Currently I have my consoles connected via HDMI to my TV and an optical out cable to my soundbar.

Should I have the PS4 set to HDMI or optical out? Tough the optical cable isn't connected directly to the PS4, it still works at the setting (my TV speakers are off too :p ).

I figure I should stick to 2.0 channels, and none of the 5.1 stuff (even though the sound bar has virtual surround sound...I know it's not the same).

Cheers.
 
I think there is no optimal setting. Depends on the Game/Blu-Ray, your preference and your setup. I have a 7.1 setup with a yamaha receiver and its all driven me a bit mad at the moment...

- GTA V seems to "only" have a 5.1 mix even when set to lpcm. So i set the PS4 to Bitstream (DTS) and let my receiver upmix the sound to 7.1 which works quite well.

- Driveclub has a proper 7.1 mix but it doesnt send much engine noise to the rear speakers only tire squel, gravel and collision sounds. I prefer to have some engine noise coming from the rears so i set the PS4 to to Bitstream (DTS) and let the receiver upmix...

- Last of Us has a proper 7.1 mix and very good in-game audio options. Best option to me in this case is to set the PS4 to lpcm.

As you can change the sound settings on the fly and dont have to completly quit the game like it was on the PS3 i would recommend to just try around a bit and stick with what you like the most. There is also a sound setting in the Blu-Ray Player App where you can
choose between bitstream and lpcm (via the Options Button on the Pad). Also i dont really hear a diffrence (quality wise) between lpcm and bitstream, on my system at least.
 
My PS4 is hooked up to my TV via HDMI and then my speakers are hooked up to the TV via optical. I also use the Sony Golds and sometimes a 3.5mm cable plugged into the DS4. What should I use?
 
Bringing up an old post, but what is considered the best audio options now for PS4? Anything change with software updates? I have my PS4 connected to my onkyo nr646.
 
PCM means that your player is decoding the sound, whether it is Dolby digital, Dolby hd, Dts 5.1, DTsEx6.1, dts master audio etc. It then sends the audio signal to the receiver. The receiver did not do any decoding in this case and it will only show pcm on its screen with the amount of speakers in use.

Bitstream option is the reverse and what people usually use if there receiver is new. The blu ray player or device playing the game or movie will send a compressed file and the receiver will decode the info, the benefit is that you see the audio system being used on your receiver. There is no difference between Pcm 7.1 and Dts master audio and Dolby hd 7.1 all are the lossless versions of audio.

Most movies now have either dtsMA or Dolby hd so most people use there receivers to do the decoding and put the player in bitstream.

However not sure why but I think Sony ps4 has only a Dolby digital 5.1 bitstream option and Dts 5.1 bitstream option. Not sure why they couldn't do a universal bitstream option in late 2013. Could be wrong on ps4 stuff since I don't have my ps4 in media room, I just use a Regular 3D Sony bluray player " which I keep in bitstream to get my lossless uncompressed 7.1 audio"
 
Bringing up an old post, but what is considered the best audio options now for PS4? Anything change with software updates? I have my PS4 connected to my onkyo nr646.

If you have an HDMI surround audio system, use PCM. If you're using optical, use DTS (or, if it's really old optical, you might have to use Dolby)

However not sure why but I think Sony ps4 has only a Dolby digital 5.1 bitstream option and Dts 5.1 bitstream option. Not sure why they couldn't do a universal bitstream option in late 2013. Could be wrong on ps4 stuff since I don't have my ps4 in media room, I just use a Regular 3D Sony bluray player " which I keep in bitstream to get my lossless uncompressed 7.1 audio"

When watching a bluray, there's an option in the settings menu to have it do bitstream, while the rest of the system uses PCM. Although, just like with the older PS3s that didn't support DTS-MA or TrueHD in bitstream, the console converts them to PCM without any quality loss. The only exception to this now is if you're using Dolby Atmos.
 
PCM means that your player is decoding the sound, whether it is Dolby digital, Dolby hd, Dts 5.1, DTsEx6.1, dts master audio etc. It then sends the audio signal to the receiver. The receiver did not do any decoding in this case and it will only show pcm on its screen with the amount of speakers in use.

Bitstream option is the reverse and what people usually use if there receiver is new. The blu ray player or device playing the game or movie will send a compressed file and the receiver will decode the info, the benefit is that you see the audio system being used on your receiver. There is no difference between Pcm 7.1 and Dts master audio and Dolby hd 7.1 all are the lossless versions of audio.

Most movies now have either dtsMA or Dolby hd so most people use there receivers to do the decoding and put the player in bitstream.

However not sure why but I think Sony ps4 has only a Dolby digital 5.1 bitstream option and Dts 5.1 bitstream option. Not sure why they couldn't do a universal bitstream option in late 2013. Could be wrong on ps4 stuff since I don't have my ps4 in media room, I just use a Regular 3D Sony bluray player " which I keep in bitstream to get my lossless uncompressed 7.1 audio"

The PS4 OS has separate audio settings for games and movies/TV shows. You can only access movie/TV show audio settings whilst watching a disc

Click Options > Settings

You'll be presented with this

large


That's how you get Bitstream DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, etc.
 
The PS4 OS has separate audio settings for games and movies/TV shows. You can only access movie/TV show audio settings whilst watching a disc

Click Options > Settings

You'll be presented with this

large


That's how you get Bitstream DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, etc.


Okay cool, like I said I never play movies on this one just games. Also is there a secondary audio option I have to turn off. I know you can't bitstream those formats if you don't turn off the secondary audio otherwise it sends the signal as compressed Dolby or dts signal.
 
The PS4 OS has separate audio settings for games and movies/TV shows. You can only access movie/TV show audio settings whilst watching a disc

Click Options > Settings

You'll be presented with this

large


That's how you get Bitstream DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, etc.

Why does this horrible person have their display mode on Zoom?
 
PCM is pre-decoded by the PS4 and is the option you should pick for games if you are running a HDMI connection to your receiver. This will essentially pass whatever the developer encoded the audio in channel wise. You'll lose no quality. The reciever will then down mix to your chosen channel amount.

If you choose DTS instead of Linear PCM for game output a lossy DTS signal is created from the original encoding and sent to your reciever. Don't choose this as it's lower quality.

Movie wise I normally choose bitstream ( you have to do this as the movie is playing, it's not in the OS setting menu). This sends the encoded signal directly to the reciever (probably DTS-MA). The reciever then decodes this to PCM and down mixes to your chosen channel amount.

You can pick PCM for movies. It won't make a difference really. I just like to see DTS-MA on my reciever screen.

If you're using optical. Stop. Buy an decent HDMI cable and use that instead.
 
PCM is pre-decoded by the PS4 and is the option you should pick for games if you are running a HDMI connection to your receiver. This will essentially pass whatever the developer encoded the audio in channel wise. You'll lose no quality. The reciever will then down mix to your chosen channel amount.

If you choose DTS instead of Linear PCM for game output a lossy DTS signal is created from the original encoding and sent to your reciever. Don't choose this as it's lower quality.

Movie wise I normally choose bitstream ( you have to do this as the movie is playing, it's not in the OS setting menu). This sends the encoded signal directly to the reciever (probably DTS-MA). The reciever then decodes this to PCM and down mixes to your chosen channel amount.

You can pick PCM for movies. It won't make a difference really. I just like to see DTS-MA on my reciever screen.

If you're using optical. Stop. Buy an decent HDMI cable and use that instead.


Did you have to toggle the secondary audio track to get lossless to bitstream correctly?
 
If I have my ps4 connected to my receiver via optic and to the tv via hdmi is this right? My receiver only has one hdmi port and its hdmi out. Anyone have a simple guide of how to set up ps4,receiver, and cable box to tv? I have it all connected but always felt I wasn't reaching the true potential
 
Did you have to toggle the secondary audio track to get lossless to bitstream correctly?

It depends on the movie. Most movies have a single track. For example, there will be a DTS track that contains both the DTS Master and the core DTS, and your receiver plays what it's capable.

However, some movies have separate tracks for lossless/lossy audio

If I have my ps4 connected to my receiver via optic and to the tv via hdmi is this right? My receiver only has one hdmi port and its hdmi out. Anyone have a simple guide of how to set up ps4,receiver, and cable box to tv? I have it all connected but always felt I wasn't reaching the true potential

What's the model of the receiver?
 
If you are connecting your surround system via HDMI then you should select 'Linear (PCM)' for uncompressed audio such as Dolby True HD and the like. The 'Bitstream (DTS)' option should be selected if you are connecting to your surround by TOSlink (optical or coax) as it lacks the bandwidth to support PCM for more than two channels.

This.

PCM is uncompressed. You want that if you have the ability. Dolby etc is a compressed format.
 
sony dav-hdx576wf

That's an older system, so there are two ways to do it.

1) HDMI from the PS4 to the TV and optical from the PS4 to the receiver. Pick DTS for this scenario.

2) HDMI from the PS4 to the TV and optical from the TV to the receiver. Pick DTS for this scenario, too.

Some TVs don't send surround sound over optical from the TV to the receiver. What TV do you have?
 
Did you have to toggle the secondary audio track to get lossless to bitstream correctly?

If I'm honest, I gave up using the PS4 as a BR player. My PS3SS just works better (got a nice remote, auto switches everything off when I power it down) and is much quieter.

If I have my ps4 connected to my receiver via optic and to the tv via hdmi is this right? My receiver only has one hdmi port and its hdmi out. Anyone have a simple guide of how to set up ps4,receiver, and cable box to tv? I have it all connected but always felt I wasn't reaching the true potential

Does your TV have a HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) port? If so do the following:

PS4 to TV using HDMI,
TV box to receiver using HDMI
receiver to TV HDMI ARC port using HDMI

The PS4 will pass it's audio to the TV and down to the receiver using the the ARC. Of course your receiver might not support this in which case you'll need to do what Transistor recommends
 
i can't believe there some people saying PCM is only 2.0 and bitstream is better LOL.

PCM is THE BEST THING YOU CAN USE on PS4. Of course, you must have an amplifier that support that in multichannel

Not NECESSARILY true...if your PS4 is outputting a Dolby TrueHD or DTS MA signal from say a bluray movie...you've got a choice...bitstream is going to pass the audio along and let your receiver decode it...PCM is going to have the PS4 decode, and pass it along to the receiver as uncompressed audio...your choice where you want the decoding done (receiver or PS4)...

But it terms of games...YES generally just set it to PCM if you're using HDMI...

HOWEVER (lol)...many older (or more basic) receivers can't perform processing (like upmixing 5.1 to 7.1) on PCM or lossless audio formats...so if a game is only encoded with 2 channel (stereo) or 5.1 channel audio, your receiver won't be able to expand that audio to your other speakers...but they can generally perform processing on older formats like run of the mill Dolby Digital or DTS
 
If I'm honest, I gave up using the PS4 as a BR player. My PS3SS just works better (got a nice remote, auto switches everything off when I power it down) and is much quieter.



Does your TV have a HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) port? If so do the following:

PS4 to TV using HDMI,
TV box to receiver using HDMI
receiver to TV HDMI ARC port using HDMI

The PS4 will pass it's audio to the TV and down to the receiver using the the ARC. Of course your receiver might not support this in which case you'll need to do what Transistor recommends

His receiver doesn't support ARC
 
If I'm honest, I gave up using the PS4 as a BR player. My PS3SS just works better (got a nice remote, auto switches everything off when I power it down) and is much quieter.



Does your TV have a HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) port? If so do the following:

PS4 to TV using HDMI,
TV box to receiver using HDMI
receiver to TV HDMI ARC port using HDMI

The PS4 will pass it's audio to the TV and down to the receiver using the the ARC. Of course your receiver might not support this in which case you'll need to do what Transistor recommends
Most TVs don't support passing audio from external sources via ARC. Typically it's only internal sources such as OTA, apps, etc, that is supported.
 
Does the ps4 have to go to the surround system or can it work through tv connected to surround sound system?

My Sony TV passes AC3 aka Dolby Digital 5.1 out of its optical connection (PS4 -> HDMI -> TV). Doesn't do the same for DTS and PCM MC. Both of them get the 2.0 treatment.

However my PS4 is connected to the Receiver anyway via HDMI and sometimes I just set HDMI to AC3 so my TV can send AC3 to my Creative X7 (the reason why my I use optical on the TV)
 
Does the ps4 have to go to the surround system or can it work through tv connected to surround sound system?

If your receiver only supports optical audio and not lossless HDMI, having it go through the TV is generally fine. However, if your receiver supports HDMI audio, PCM surround, DTS Master and Dolby TrueHD, then you definitely should connect it to the receiver.
 
If my Sony receiver doesn't have an HDMI In, that means I'm stuck with optical if I want surround sound, correct? And that is a bit lossy, correct? Though since my receiver is also a Blu-ray player, I will get uncompromised surround sound if I play a Blu-ray on it, right?
 
If my Sony receiver doesn't have an HDMI In, that means I'm stuck with optical if I want surround sound, correct? And that is a bit lossy, correct? Though since my receiver is also a Blu-ray player, I will get uncompromised surround sound if I play a Blu-ray on it, right?

Yes, your optical in will only support lossy audio like DTS and Dolby Digital. However, you are in theory correct that discs from the built in player should support lossless audio. That could really vary from model to model, though
 
Is there a reason why with my PS3 the receiver will display 'Dolby 5.1' or 'DTS' depending on the blue ray; but with my PS4 it only ever displays 'multi-in'.

This is with both set to linear PCM.
 
Is there a reason why with my PS3 the receiver will display 'Dolby 5.1' or 'DTS' depending on the blue ray; but with my PS4 it only ever displays 'multi-in'.

This is with both set to linear PCM.

If you have a non-fat PS3, it will bitstream if it supports it, since on the PS3 you manually selected all of the formats your receiver was capable of taking (OG fat PS3s didn't bitstream DTS Master or Dolby TrueHD, instead it converted it to PCM). On the PS4, you simply tell it to do one or the other. However, you can change the settings, mentioned in a few posts above, so that blurays bitstream instead of output as PCM. This is an absolute must if you have a Dolby Atmos system
 
If your receiver only supports optical audio and not lossless HDMI, having it go through the TV is generally fine. However, if your receiver supports HDMI audio, PCM surround, DTS Master and Dolby TrueHD, then you definitely should connect it to the receiver.
So how would I know if it's working? I generally game with my headset but just curious.
 
Looks like either optical from the PS4 to the receiver or HDMI from the PS4 to the TV and optical from the TV to the receiver would work.

Set your PS4 to DTS and try both methods. If you get sound on both, then it works either way

Ok. Just to be clear I should hear sound in all speakers if it works.
 
Ok. Just to be clear I should hear sound in all speakers if it works.

Yes, but only if sound is supposed to be coming out of that speaker, of course. Do you have a test bluray? Look into getting the Disney WOW disc. It'll help you out in this scenario as it gives a distinct sound from each channel

It's a bit old, but look at the discs in this thread:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=181951

They are all discs with surround tests
 
I'm guessing YouTube audio test wouldn't do?

This is why we need to have Wipeout HD/Fury ported with Crossbuy to PS4, as it had its own speaker test for 5.1 surround sound systems.

My own question: I'm using a very old receiver which only has optical, it supports both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS. Everyone in this thread recommends DTS but I don't see any mention of DD5.1. Why is that? is DTS flat out better?
 
This is why we need to have Wipeout HD/Fury ported with Crossbuy to PS4, as it had its own speaker test for 5.1 surround sound systems.

My own question: I'm using a very old receiver which only has optical, it supports both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS. Everyone in this thread recommends DTS but I don't see any mention of DD5.1. Why is that? is DTS flat out better?
DTS runs at a much higher bit-rate than Dolby Digital. So, yes, it is just plain better

Standard DD 5.1 is 640kbps, DTS is 1.5 mbps
 
Something that hasn't really been made clear in this thread: The PS4's (same with PS3) Blu-ray/DVD app has it's own audio settings (see Vashetti's screenshot). If you select "Linear PCM" in the main settings you can still select "Bitstream" in the Blu-ray app to get that sweet DTS-HD MA or Dolby TruHD to your AVR. And when you're there please turn off noise-reduction, ZOOM and dynamic range control.
 
Something that hasn't really been made clear in this thread: The PS4's (same with PS3) Blu-ray/DVD app has it's own audio settings (see Vashetti's screenshot). If you select "Linear PCM" in the main settings you can still select "Bitstream" in the Blu-ray app to get that sweet DTS-HD MA or Dolby TruHD to your AVR. And when you're there please turn off noise-reduction, ZOOM and dynamic range control.

My Sony system supports all new audio formats and has three HDMI in ports. It's just a receiver, no blu Ray. So I should do bitstream for movies and PCM for games? Immediately after changing to bitstream it sounded better but maybe that's placebo? What is dynamic range control?
 
My Sony system supports all new audio formats and has three HDMI in ports. It's just a receiver, no blu Ray. So I should do bitstream for movies and PCM for games? Immediately after changing to bitstream it sounded better but maybe that's placebo? What is dynamic range control?

Dynamic range is shit. Turn it off. And it is placebo, generally.
 
Ok. Just to be clear I should hear sound in all speakers if it works.

That depends on a few factors...

- how was the audio mixed? 2.0? 2.1? 5.1? 7.1?
- is your receiver performing any processing on the audio like upmixing?

For example...applying something like Dolby Pro Logic IIx...that can create a 7.1 "mix" from 2.0 or 5.1 sources...this will cause sound to come from all of the speakers...

But if you're just listening to the audio in a mode like "through" or "direct" (depending on what your company calls it)...you will only get sound from the speakers that the audio track is originally mixed for...so only front L+R for 2.0..and so on...

A real audio purist would probably tell you that you should always listen to the audio mix as it was originally mixed and shouldn't mess with it...but I always want to take advantage of all my speakers so I use something along the lines of Pro Logic IIx for 5.1 sources to mix them to 7.1...and often for 2 channel (stereo) sources I'll use something like "all ch stereo" (that's what Onkyo calls it) which just duplicates the L+R signal to your surround and rear speakers...
 
I'm surprised by the comments suggesting bitstream for movies even if your A/V setup supports HDMI + Linear PCM.

Is the rationale that for the movies that support DTS MA, bitstream provides better audio than Linear PCM?

I'm fairly confident that almost everywhere I've read the discussion (including here), the standard suggestion was to use Linear PCM with an HDMI, 5.1 audio setup for both games and movies.
 
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