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[Deadly Cyclone]

Ok, so I have read a ton online and browsed the audio threads here and still can't determine which setting will give me the best 7.1 surround for movies, PS4, XBO, TV, etc. I've broken it down by system below and would like some help on what setting to use.

My receiver is an Onkyo HT-S5400.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004O0TREC/?tag=neogaf0e-20
It has multiple receiver modes for sound including Dolby D, Dolby Ex, Dolby D EX, PLIIX, Neo: 6, TV Logic, All Ch. Stereo, Full Mono, Theater-, Direct, Mono, DTS, Multichannel, etc. To note, the mic that came with the receiver broke, so Direct is kind of hard to do.

Xbox One:
The Xbox One has multiple settings for this stuff. Under HDMI Out it has Stereo Uncompressed, 5.1 Uncompressed, 7.1 Uncompressed, and Bitstream Out.

Then if you select Bitstream out, the Bitstream format option becomes available that has DTS Digital Surround, and Dolby Digital under it.

Which all should I use? Bistream Out and Dolby Digital, then set my receiver to Dolby D EX? What combo in the settings should I use, then what should I have my receiver on?

PS4:
As soon as I turn my PS4 on the receiver goes to Dolby Ex, but DTS is in there too.

For settings the PS4 only has "Bitstream (Dolby)" and "Bitstream (DTS)." I have mine on Bitstream DTS right now and the receiver set to Dolby Ex.

What should the PS4 options be set to? What should the receiver be on?

Other Stuff:
I know for TV and whatnot that it will vary whether or not I even get 5.1 on channels. Should I just set the receiver to whatever the XBO is set at for this (my cable runs through the XBO).

Sorry for the long-winded post but I see all these options in my Onkyo sound modes and in the consoles themselves and have no idea which is best. Thanks for the help!

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Hmm. Dolby D EX it might remain!

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Your system accepts uncompressed LPCM 5.1 or 7.1 over HDMI. So use that.

The other crap is only if you are using the PS4 or Bone to watch movies on DVD or Blu-ray disc.

 

[SolsticeZero]

Your system accepts uncompressed LPCM 5.1 or 7.1 over HDMI. So use that.

Do this, and set your receiver to multichannel. Easy as that

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Your system accepts uncompressed LPCM 5.1 or 7.1 over HDMI. So use that.

The other crap is only if you are using the PS4 or Bone to watch movies on DVD or Blu-ray disc.

Do this, and set your receiver to multichannel. Easy as that

On PS4 what do I use? It's just those two settings, Bitstream DTS or Dolby.

Also, when I do watch a bluray on PS4 do I use Dolby D EX then?

Thanks guys.

EDIT: And when I select "7.1 uncompressed" on XBO, what do I put the Bitstream format to, DTS or Dolby?

 

[CLEEK]

As long as your console are connected via HDMI, set your PS4 and Xbone to uncompressed LPCM. This is true for both gaming and media playback.

PS4/Xbone games will have native LPCM audio (as is the case with the PS3 and WiiU). So this is what you want to output for the best quality. This will send the 7.1 multichannel signals to your receiver, which won't have to decompress/decode the sound.

Bitstream options are just for if your receiver doesn't support LPCM uncompressed audio. Your console will encode the multichannel audio into the selected format (DD, DTS etc), send that to your receiver, which then decodes it. I don't have an Xbone, but the PS4 only supports DD and DTS (lossy, compressed formats) so choosing these options will produce worse results than using uncompressed LPCM.

The other reason to use bitstream would be if you hook your console up using optical rather than HDMI. Optical doesn't have the bandwidth to carry LPCM multichannel audio, so you have to compress the audio using DD or DTS.

As for DVDs and BDs, again, selecting LPCM is the best option. This just means that the console will decode the DTS/DD audio on the disc and output the multichannel signals to your receiver which just plays it without having to do any decoding.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Well the Bitstream option has to be on DTS or Dolby on both PS4 and XBO, those are the only options. On XBO I set the HDMI to 7.1 uncompressed, but the next box has DTS or Dolby bitstream and I have to pick one. On PS4 there is no uncompressed option, just Bitstream Dolby or DTS...

That's why I got confused. I set the XBO to 7.1 uncompressed, but still then have to pick the bitstream option and on PS4 there are only those 2 options.

 

[Cartman86]

My PS4 randomly switches audio settings and it annoys me so much. When it does this I often get no audio until I switch it around. I could switch it back to the "audio-less" setting and suddenly the sound will work. Saw that Giantbomb has this issue as well. Probably because of my convoluted setup, but when every other console works it's kind of annoying.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

So what I ended on is:

XBO:
7.1 Uncompressed
Bitstream: Dolby Digital
Onkyo Receiver - Multichannel

PS4:
Bitstream Dolby
Onkyo - Multichannel

I guess that should do it for now?

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Bumping my own thread a bit.

The XBO is set to 7.1 uncompressed, but my Onkyo has options to be Neo 6 Cinema, Direct, TV Logic, and PLIIX Cinema. Should I just set to Neo 6 Cinema? That seems to make the surround light show up on my Onkyo.

All of this is confusing as hell really. Depending on what the XBO/PS4 is set to the Onkyo shows different stuff. Also I have 4 categories on the Onkyo, Movie/TV, Game, Music, and Stereo. Each having 5 or 6 modes underneath.

I typically keep it on Movie/TV and just set it to Neo 6 cinema, direct, or Dolby EX depending on what's actually available, as not all of them show up all the time.

 

[Pons]

Not directly answering your question, but I have a ps4 and an Onkyo 5.1 system, looks just like yours except without the extra two speakers.

Best set up, on the ps4 is to pass audio via the hdmi cable in to your onkyo reciever (mine has 5 or so hdmi ports on it, handles video and audio over the hdmi), that should get you 3 options on the ps4, bitstream, dolby, or lpcm.

LPCM is the best option. Lossless and not compressed/doesn't need decoding by the reciever)

Then have your onkyo set it direct mode, direct mode means it doesn't decode anything and just passes what comes from the ps4, which is doing what it needs to since it is set for lpcm and is uncompressed.

Do note though, (I am not 100 pct on this, its been a while since I futzed with it)
If you connect your ps4 to your onkyo with an optical cable for sound, instead of hdmi, then I do not believe you get the lpcm option, just the bitstream or dolby option. Then you have to set the Onkyo to match the sound decode type you desire (dts, 5.1, multichannel etc).

It also means, other than using the hdmi selector options for specific devices on the Onkyo, I do not have to fuss with ever changing the audio settings, cause all modes are set to direct, since it comes in to the receiver from the source device as lpcm, uncompressed and no decoding needed. As intended by the source device.

Also, the only thing my onkyo ever says, whether its ps4, wii u, or cablebox, is Direct on the display, because I have it set up where all those individual things pass through lpcm audio, which presents it in its native format to the receiver, so no decoding needed. Sound that is produced from the receiver, is what is intended by the source device, whether it be 2.1 (some cable tv), 5.1, or dolby, or thq, or whatever.

 

[Argyle]

All of this depends on a few factors:

How many speakers do you have hooked up?
How do you have your consoles hooked up to the receiver?
...and your personal preference, of course.

First off - there's a difference between say "Dolby Digital" and "Dolby Pro-Logic IIx."

Dolby Digital, Dolby True HD, DTS, DTS Master Audio, these are all codecs or compression schemes. Think of them like JPEG vs PNG - Dolby Digital and DTS are lossy like JPEG, TrueHD and Master Audio are lossless like PNG. There is also Multichannel PCM, this is like a BMP image, it is not compressed at all. But just like how you can convert from PNG to BMP and the result is the same, there is essentially no difference between TrueHD/Master Audio and Multichannel PCM, aside from how much data gets sent.

(If you're not familiar with image formats, consider JPEG to be like MP3, PNG to be like FLAC, and PCM to be like an uncompressed WAV.)

Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, DTS Neo:X, etc, these are all algorithms to upconvert audio from fewer channels to all 7.1 channels. These are INDEPENDENT of the codec used to transmit the audio and have different properties. Which one you choose is purely personal preference, there is no "right" one. These only kick in if you have fewer channels than you have speakers (for example, playing 2 channel audio to 5.1 speakers, or 5.1 audio to 7.1 speakers). If you don't use these then you will not get audio from the extra speakers, but you may prefer not using any upconversion (stereo music, for example) so again, personal preference.

The way things are connected to the receiver is important because it essentially determines how much bandwidth is between the console and the receiver. You can connect with say stereo analog and it will only transmit stereo. For an optical or coax digital connection, there is only enough bandwidth for uncompressed stereo, or compressed 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS. If you want to use the lossless modes or uncompressed mulichannel PCM, you need to be connected via HDMI.

Also, there is sometimes two things to consider - what format the sound comes out in games, and what format the sound comes out for Blu-Ray movies. For games the sound mix is uncompressed as the game generates it, you want it to send it over to the receiver that way if possible, because the only compression it can apply in realtime are the lossy Dolby Digital and DTS codecs. For movies, because things like TrueHD and DTS Master Audio are encoded on the disc, it can send the receiver the compressed bitstream instead of uncompressing it in the player and sending the unpacked data to the receiver. The net result is generally the same, the only difference is whether or not the player can add things like the bloops in the menu to the audio (for this the audio must be uncompressed for additional sounds to be mixed in).*

So, tl;dr version:

For the best audio, hook everything up via HDMI.
Select multichannel PCM for games whereever possible. (I don't know why the PS4 is not letting you do that, is it hooked up via HDMI?)
For movies (no choice on Xbone, it's buried in a menu on PS4), you can choose bitstream or not and it generall won't make any difference unless you have a setup for Dolby Atmos. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it.
For Dolby PLIIx/Neo:X, etc, listen and decide which mode sounds the best to you. Personally I prefer Dolby PL2x, but Neo:X isn't bad at all.

* So yeah, Dolby Atmos. Probably no one else cares about it but if you do, don't buy an Xbone to play movies, it can ONLY stream multichannel PCM and not bitstream for movies, which is required for Atmos playback...

 

[chippy13]

All of this depends on a few factors:

How many speakers do you have hooked up?
How do you have your consoles hooked up to the receiver?
...and your personal preference, of course.

First off - there's a difference between say "Dolby Digital" and "Dolby Pro-Logic IIx."

Dolby Digital, Dolby True HD, DTS, DTS Master Audio, these are all codecs or compression schemes. Think of them like JPEG vs PNG - Dolby Digital and DTS are lossy like JPEG, TrueHD and Master Audio are lossless like PNG. There is also Multichannel PCM, this is like a BMP image, it is not compressed at all. But just like how you can convert from PNG to BMP and the result is the same, there is essentially no difference between TrueHD/Master Audio and Multichannel PCM, aside from how much data gets sent.

(If you're not familiar with image formats, consider JPEG to be like MP3, PNG to be like FLAC, and PCM to be like an uncompressed WAV.)

Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, DTS Neo:X, etc, these are all algorithms to upconvert audio from fewer channels to all 7.1 channels. These are INDEPENDENT of the codec used to transmit the audio and have different properties. Which one you choose is purely personal preference, there is no "right" one. These only kick in if you have fewer channels than you have speakers (for example, playing 2 channel audio to 5.1 speakers, or 5.1 audio to 7.1 speakers). If you don't use these then you will not get audio from the extra speakers, but you may prefer not using any upconversion (stereo music, for example) so again, personal preference.

The way things are connected to the receiver is important because it essentially determines how much bandwidth is between the console and the receiver. You can connect with say stereo analog and it will only transmit stereo. For an optical or coax digital connection, there is only enough bandwidth for uncompressed stereo, or compressed 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS. If you want to use the lossless modes or uncompressed mulichannel PCM, you need to be connected via HDMI.

Also, there is sometimes two things to consider - what format the sound comes out in games, and what format the sound comes out for Blu-Ray movies. For games the sound mix is uncompressed as the game generates it, you want it to send it over to the receiver that way if possible, because the only compression it can apply in realtime are the lossy Dolby Digital and DTS codecs. For movies, because things like TrueHD and DTS Master Audio are encoded on the disc, it can send the receiver the compressed bitstream instead of uncompressing it in the player and sending the unpacked data to the receiver. The net result is generally the same, the only difference is whether or not the player can add things like the bloops in the menu to the audio (for this the audio must be uncompressed for additional sounds to be mixed in).*

So, tl;dr version:

For the best audio, hook everything up via HDMI.
Select multichannel PCM for games whereever possible. (I don't know why the PS4 is not letting you do that, is it hooked up via HDMI?)
For movies (no choice on Xbone, it's buried in a menu on PS4), you can choose bitstream or not and it generall won't make any difference unless you have a setup for Dolby Atmos. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it.
For Dolby PLIIx/Neo:X, etc, listen and decide which mode sounds the best to you. Personally I prefer Dolby PL2x, but Neo:X isn't bad at all.

* So yeah, Dolby Atmos. Probably no one else cares about it but if you do, don't buy an Xbone to play movies, it can ONLY stream multichannel PCM and not bitstream for movies, which is required for Atmos playback...

This has got to be the best explanation I have read so far for any of the audio setups. Listen to this GAFer.

 

[Pons]

Yep, Argyle with a nice breakdown

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

All of this depends on a few factors:

How many speakers do you have hooked up?
How do you have your consoles hooked up to the receiver?
...and your personal preference, of course.

First off - there's a difference between say "Dolby Digital" and "Dolby Pro-Logic IIx."

Dolby Digital, Dolby True HD, DTS, DTS Master Audio, these are all codecs or compression schemes. Think of them like JPEG vs PNG - Dolby Digital and DTS are lossy like JPEG, TrueHD and Master Audio are lossless like PNG. There is also Multichannel PCM, this is like a BMP image, it is not compressed at all. But just like how you can convert from PNG to BMP and the result is the same, there is essentially no difference between TrueHD/Master Audio and Multichannel PCM, aside from how much data gets sent.

(If you're not familiar with image formats, consider JPEG to be like MP3, PNG to be like FLAC, and PCM to be like an uncompressed WAV.)

Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, DTS Neo:X, etc, these are all algorithms to upconvert audio from fewer channels to all 7.1 channels. These are INDEPENDENT of the codec used to transmit the audio and have different properties. Which one you choose is purely personal preference, there is no "right" one. These only kick in if you have fewer channels than you have speakers (for example, playing 2 channel audio to 5.1 speakers, or 5.1 audio to 7.1 speakers). If you don't use these then you will not get audio from the extra speakers, but you may prefer not using any upconversion (stereo music, for example) so again, personal preference.

The way things are connected to the receiver is important because it essentially determines how much bandwidth is between the console and the receiver. You can connect with say stereo analog and it will only transmit stereo. For an optical or coax digital connection, there is only enough bandwidth for uncompressed stereo, or compressed 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS. If you want to use the lossless modes or uncompressed mulichannel PCM, you need to be connected via HDMI.

Also, there is sometimes two things to consider - what format the sound comes out in games, and what format the sound comes out for Blu-Ray movies. For games the sound mix is uncompressed as the game generates it, you want it to send it over to the receiver that way if possible, because the only compression it can apply in realtime are the lossy Dolby Digital and DTS codecs. For movies, because things like TrueHD and DTS Master Audio are encoded on the disc, it can send the receiver the compressed bitstream instead of uncompressing it in the player and sending the unpacked data to the receiver. The net result is generally the same, the only difference is whether or not the player can add things like the bloops in the menu to the audio (for this the audio must be uncompressed for additional sounds to be mixed in).*

So, tl;dr version:

For the best audio, hook everything up via HDMI.
Select multichannel PCM for games whereever possible. (I don't know why the PS4 is not letting you do that, is it hooked up via HDMI?)
For movies (no choice on Xbone, it's buried in a menu on PS4), you can choose bitstream or not and it generall won't make any difference unless you have a setup for Dolby Atmos. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it.
For Dolby PLIIx/Neo:X, etc, listen and decide which mode sounds the best to you. Personally I prefer Dolby PL2x, but Neo:X isn't bad at all.

* So yeah, Dolby Atmos. Probably no one else cares about it but if you do, don't buy an Xbone to play movies, it can ONLY stream multichannel PCM and not bitstream for movies, which is required for Atmos playback...

Thanks for the info. As an FYI I have 7.1 surround, and the consoles are plugged directly into the receiver via HDMI.

Right now I'm in a game on XBO and shuffling around it does not show multichannel at all. I left it on Neo 6 Cinema, but could do PLIIX or Direct as well. (The XBO settings are on 7.1 uncompressed for HDMI).

 

[Argyle]

Thanks for the info. As an FYI I have 7.1 surround, and the consoles are plugged directly into the receiver via HDMI.

Right now I'm in a game on XBO and shuffling around it does not show multichannel at all. I left it on Neo 6 Cinema, but could do PLIIX or Direct as well. (The XBO settings are on 7.1 uncompressed for HDMI).

I don't have the same receiver you have so things will look a little different...there is usually some indicator (whether on the front panel or a GUI overlay of some kind) to indicate what signal the receiver is getting, what kind of processing is enabled, and which speakers are active.

Here is an example, showing the Xbone playing a Blu-ray movie:

On my receiver, "Signal" indicates the format of the audio signal, in this case multichannel PCM.
"Sound" indicates the type of processing, in this case "Multi In" (again, multichannel PCM) "+ Dolby Surround" (I have a newer receiver, Dolby Surround is the next generation Dolby Pro-Logic, essentially.)

You can see the speaker indicators on the input signal, showing a 7.1 channel signal coming in, and the active speaker indicator shows that I have 7.1 channels of audio coming out.

The options you are mentioning seem consistent in that you can layer Neo 6 or PLIIx on top, what it would do is a good question since you already have a 7.1 signal. Does it sound different than direct (no processing)?

BTW, this screenshot also illustrates that the Xbone (currently) does it WRONG - in this example I am watching Star Trek (2009), which has only a 5.1 mix. Here's a screenshot of the same movie being played on a PS4:

It looks almost the same but notice that the input signal does not have the SBL/SBR channels active. This is correct and matches what is on the disc, this allows the receiver to fill in the missing SBL/SBR channels with Dolby Surround/Pro Logic IIx/DTS Neo:X/etc. On the other hand, the Xbone sends SBL/SBR channels full of zeroes which means that the receiver cannot use an upmixer to fill in the missing channels because it thinks it is already getting a signal for those speakers. (I think the PS4 did it wrong for a while too, but it was fixed at some point with a firmware update.)

So, tl;dr, don't watch Blu-ray movies on your Xbone at all if you have a 7.1 surround system, if you have any choice in the matter.

BTW, here is the option on the PS4 for multichannel PCM, do you not have this option on this screen?