Just got a PS2. I'm using component video to my HDTV & fiberoptic to my receiver. For everything I play on the PS2, my receiver just shows as stereo. The optical-out is turned on on the PS2 (if not I wouldn't get sound from it). I tried American Beauty DTS & it just showed up as stereo on the receiver, although I could hear the rear surrounds during the DTS logo. Is it only showing up as 2 channel because the PS2 doesn't have a built-in decoder? It sounds like I'm getting the proper surround, but I was wondering why the receiver only shows everything as stereo?

I have a stupid question...Does your receiver decode DD and DTS?

Yeah, the receiver has DD & DTS. I played the DTS track on American Beauty & it seemed to play fine, the receiver just showed as stereo even though there was discrete sound coming from the rear. It didn't even show if it was DTS or DD Digital. Watching on my regular player it always says DD, unless I'm watching a DTS dvd, then it says DTS. Everything from the PS2 shows up as stereo only though? Strange, but at least it works. I got the component cable 2 hours after the system & when I switched cables the difference was huge- much clearer & sharper (I am watching on a 65" HDTV though so component does make a big difference).

i had the same prob when i first got my ps2. Put in you dvd movie then wait until the dvd menu appears then:

1. press select on ps2 controller

2. go to icon that looks like a suitcase (Setup)

3. go over three to audio setup

4. go down and turn dd & dts on

now the ps2 will now output the encoded siginals to your decoder

i think that should help
reply and let me know

damn i wish i had your tv

That answered a question for me about if it was set up for DD and DTS, but I don't have a receiver/decoder yet and I hadn't worried about it just have it hooked up thru s-video the audio going out my TV to a 6 yr old bookshelf surround stereo I have. Looks like i can just pick up one of those $300 home theater systems from CC. Don't forget you have to turn the optical out on in the same part of the menu to get the DD and DTS options to come up.

I had the digital optical out turned on at the main menu, but not on the dvd menu for DTS, 5.1, etc. I changed that & set the tv size to 16x9 (again, I thought doing that on the main menu took care of that). So now I tried American Beauty DTS & DD 5.1 & both showed up on my receiver as such. The games still just show up as stereo though. They don't even read as digital. Only 1 of the 10 games I got is surround as far as I know- NHL 2001. I could definitely hear discrete crowd noises (sometimes pretty loud) coming from the rears, but it still only shows up as stereo. Anyone else playing the games through their stereo notice this, or do yours display properly? Any current games 5.1 yet (cutscenes only at this point).

All existing games are either 2 channel stereo or dolby surround (matrixed). There are none yet that have 6 channel (5.1) sound capability. The Bouncer is supposedly going to have 5.1 cut scenes, and I beleive I also read somewhere that Square has figured out away to use 5.1 in the game although I don't know if this has been confirmed. It is a lot more difficult to do 5.1 in real time as it would have to be in most if not all games, unlike movies and music where everything is pre-recorded.

By the way, FWIW, I think the PS2's setup menues are kind of cumbersome and unuserfriendly.

Playstation 2 nothing to do with a PC.

In the PS2 menu there is an option for DD/DTS and the receiver will read the signal correctly. I watch all my movies on my PS2 now.

The movies are okay, they show up as DTS, DD 5.1, etc. on my receiver. It's just the games that show up as stereo, even though they sound like surround (guessing that my receiver is decoding it properly, but not reading the signal as 5.1, 2.0 surround, etc.). While the quality wasn't too bad on the PS2 for dvds, it still can't come close to my progressive-scan player. On a 65" HDTV, you need progressive-scan or you see pretty much edge pixelation on quickly moving objects.