Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

I have really been noticing this.

First off, I have an Onkyo 5.1 system which provides me with good surround sound. I use a PS3 to play both movies and video games. When I pop in a game, the sound is nice and full. It fills the room, I can hear sound behind me clearly, and I don't have to turn up my volume too loud.

Blu Ray's are another story. I pop in a Blu Ray and the sound is dull. I feel like I have to crank the volume up REALLY loud, which is annoying when there is a really loud sound in general, such as a helicopter or a musical score. Then you have to crank it back down.

Also, I feel I barely hear sound behind me. The sound certainly doesn't feel like it surrounds me.

Conversely, when I had HD-DVD's and used my XBOX 360, I always felt that the sound was very strong.

Is it just me, or is the Blu Ray sound dull? I own a good 10-15 films on Blu, so I've tried more than one disc in the player.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Are you running HDMI to your receiver?

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

I have an Onkyo 7.1 surround system and PS3 and the sound off my Blu Rays seems great, as far as I can tell.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

This definitely sounds like an equipment/settings problem. I have a PS3 hooked up to an Onkyo 805 and my Blu-rays absolutely blow me away.

How are you connected? what model Onkyo do you have? Have you turned off dynamic range control on your PS3 (since the louds are really loud it sounds like you already have)? Have you run Audyssey if your model supports it? Have you done any other calibrating?

If you're running HDMI make sure you are not bitstreaming BD audio to the receiver. Select PCM.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

It definitely sounds like a dynamic range issue, but I could be wrong.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

agreed.

my guess is he has an Onkyo HTIB with no HDMI hooked up with an optical cable from his PS3 with his defaults on his PS3 on the wrong setting. His PS3 is attempting to send HD-Audio to his receiver.

Games sound good because they are Dolby Digital.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Yeah, hopefully he posts his components, connections, and settings soon. It will make things easier.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Funny I just had a thread asking why all my DVD's even the SD's are sounding so much better than before.

No way should a BD sound dull unless the settings are wrong.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

I have an Onkyo 705 and a PS3 and I'm certainly not experiencing his problems. Unless he's not liking how diffuse movie surround mixes are versus the more laser-specific game surround mixes.

But then he says his HD DVDs sounded fine. :shrug:

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

I have an Onkyo 605 and all my Blu-rays are run on a PS3 and sound PHENOMENAL (transfer pending per title, of course). You definitely need to look up online and find out the difference between bitstream and PCM and what kind of audio you have your PS3 enabled to stream out. If your system can't handle the HD audio, or isn't setup properly for the kind of audio you need to your reciever, then you're going to have problems. Without knowing your connections, we can't help you. I was confused when I first got my PS3, too... but I googled around and found my answer out within ten minutes.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

There should be a sticky guide that has a section on PS3 hookups.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Err, you do have "Dynamic Range Control" or "Night time viewing mode" turned OFF in both your receiver and player? Dont you?

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Thanks for chiming in, guys.

I don't have HDMI hooked up. I have the component cables (I think that's what they're called--the green, blue, red cables) hooked up to my TV. I also have an optical cable going from my PS3 to my Onkyo receiver.

As for my Onkyo, I have a RT520.

Can someone please explain how an HDMI cable would help with surround sound? I ask because I know it's one single cable that goes from, say, the PS3 to your television. And while that'll help with an excellent picture, wouldn't you still need an optical or coaxial cable hooked up to your receiver to get the surround sound, regardless?

Thanks.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

HDMI carries sound too. In fact, it's a much bigger pipe, so you can fit master-quality, 24-bit 5.1 audio through it. That's what Blu-ray frequently offers. Optical and coaxial can't carry that sort of expansive lossless audio, so your player has to downconvert the audio to a lower quality to fit. It sounds like something's being lost in that process...that taking a TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and downconverting it to Dolby Digital or DTS is stripping all the impact away.

I know what you mean. It took a few days for my HDMI receiver to show up after I bought my PS3, and my temporary workaround during that time was to run HDMI to my TV and then optical from my TV to my receiver. The result was exactly what you're describing.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

You would hook up the HDMI cable from your player to your receiver. Your receiver would also have an output for a second HDMI cable to go from your receiver to your TV. The receiver would extract the sound and play it through your speakers, while sending the image signal on to your TV. Your receiver may not do that, though, you'd have to check.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

You don't need optical cables for surround sound. Not if you have a newer receiver that supports HDMI for sound. HDMI is the purest way to deliver audio and is the only way to get High Resolution audio as far as I know. That would be the only way to go to get the right kind of kick out of Blu-ray discs for their audio performance. The difference is minimal on certain films, IMHO, but very dramatic with others. You can definitely tell a major difference on many titles so your current configuration/setup seems to be what is causing the problem.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Hmmm...so you're saying that the only way to get great sound is to have a receiver that essentially has two HDMI outputs--one for the first HDMI cable that goes from my PS3 to my receiver, and the second that would go from my receiver to my TV?

Here's my question...if that's the case, how does the PS3 project the image onto the screen? Doesn't there have to be a direct connection of an HDMI cable going straight from the PS3 to the television?

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

From the HDMI cable that's running from the receiver to the TV. (It's how I have mine setup -- HDMI from my PS3 to my receiver, and then HDMI from the receiver to my TV.)

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

The current iteration of HDMI can carry up to 1080p image and uncompressed surround sound over ONE cable. So you have one from your PS3 to your receiver than your receiver to your TV.

They actually just unveiled a new HDMI standard that will also carry ethernet signals as well (but don't worry about this, it's still far off) so it will be able to carry video/audio/internet all in one cable. Neat, huh?

I like HDMI because it helped with the clutter behind my receiver... instead of every HD component taking 4 wires to hook up (RED, GREEN, BLUE, OPTICAL) I can now have 1 wire from each component. Also makes it much less costly to ceiling mount a projector as you can cut the amount of cables you need to buy significantly.

Yo, Adam! What up?

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

I have both my HD DVD and SONY BD players going into my Pioneer receiver via HDMI and then one single HDMI from receiver to TV. My two input choices on the TV are then cable or DVD, then I have HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 on the receiver. My universal remote is programmed to automatically switch the HDMI output on the receiver when I power on the player and receiver.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Don't confuse outputs with inputs. The receiver will have one or more HDMI inputs to receive signals from various input devices (PS3, upconverting DVD player, cable box, whatever) and it will have probably a single output to pass the signal on to your TV.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

OK, thanks guys. I'll delve into this deeper tomorrow when I get more time. I'll check for HDMI inputs on my receiver.

If my receiver doesn't have them, is there another way to get better/stronger sound from my Blu Rays?

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Even with optical you should be fine. I concur that it's probably a setting problem somewhere --- either the player, the receiver or both.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Not with a PS3. Unless there's still a setting issue. What you described sounds like settings. Even without HDMI, you should have excellent sound from optical. Frankly, it should be indistinguishable from the HDMI possibilities with your system.

Re: Why Is the Blu Ray Sound So Poor?
 

Okay. So what kind of settings are ideal, or does it depend on the system and setup?

I'll admit I don't fiddle around with the settings much at all, but at the same time I've never had dull sound previously when using DVD, HD DVD, Video games, etc.