Can you play 5.1 surround sound music in the XMB?

[oohhh yeah]

Hi guys. When I first start on my PS3 and it goes to the XMB my receiver says it is in PL Cinema whatever that means. I'm pretty sure that's stereo and not 5.1 surround sound. When I go into GT5 then my receiver says DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 depending on which one I pick. Now that is surround sound. My question is, when I play music in the XMB, how do I get it to play in surround sound? Or does the ps3 not output surround sound in the XMB?

 

[Coxis]

Nope. If you want 5.1 music then you need an original, first generation 60 gb or 20 gb, or second-gen 80 gb or 40 gb and a super audio CD.

 

[irnbrutwinturbo]

Hi guys. When I first start on my PS3 and it goes to the XMB my receiver says it is in PL Cinema whatever that means. I'm pretty sure that's stereo and not 5.1 surround sound. When I go into GT5 then my receiver says DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 depending on which one I pick. Now that is surround sound. My question is, when I play music in the XMB, how do I get it to play in surround sound? Or does the ps3 not output surround sound in the XMB?

PL Cinema = Pro Logic Cinema.

This is basically a clever way of creating fake 5.1 from a stereo source, ie your music.

You CAN get your PS3 to play 5.1 music, but first you must have 5.1 music. I have a resonable collection of DTS tracks on my hard drive, that work just like a normal music track but play in proper DTS 5.1 . The sound is fantastic, especially in some of the more acoustic tracks.

 

[MatskiMonk]

If your reciever has a 6-channel stereo mode use that, it's the most effective use of a 5.1 set-up for stereo music - anything else is just DSP for DSP's sake.

 

[oohhh yeah]

Nope. If you want 5.1 music then you need an original, first generation 60 gb or 20 gb, or second-gen 80 gb or 40 gb and a super audio CD.

You mean you need to have one of those PS3's to be able to play 5.1 in the XMB or to play 5.1 in game? I have PS3 Slim 160GB and my games output 5.1

PL Cinema = Pro Logic Cinema.

This is basically a clever way of creating fake 5.1 from a stereo source, ie your music.

You CAN get your PS3 to play 5.1 music, but first you must have 5.1 music. I have a resonable collection of DTS tracks on my hard drive, that work just like a normal music track but play in proper DTS 5.1 . The sound is fantastic, especially in some of the more acoustic tracks.

Where would you get 5.1 music and how do you know it's 5.1 music? Do music you download from iTunes is 5.1 or is it stereo?

If your reciever has a 6-channel stereo mode use that, it's the most effective use of a 5.1 set-up for stereo music - anything else is just DSP for DSP's sake.

What is DSP? Is it good or bad?

BTW are the tracks on the GT5 disc 5.1?





Edit: I just tried it again and it seems like when I play the music in the XMB it sounds a lot worse. It sounds like stereo. But when I play it through GT5 in game (when my reciever says DTS) it sounds MUCH better. If my theory is correct, since GT5 outputs in surround sound then when I play the music in game it makes it play in surround sound even if the file is not 5.1 surround. That's funny.

 

[Coxis]

To answer your question: You specifically asked about playing 5.1 music from the XMB, so that's what I answered. Every PS3 can output 5.1 sound from games, but you asked about music from the XMB. As far as I know the only way of achieving this is super audio CDs which only the first 2 gen PS3s were able to play.

 

[irnbrutwinturbo]

Where would you get 5.1 music and how do you know it's 5.1 music? Do music you download from iTunes is 5.1 or is it stereo?

I do have DTS & Dolby digital music files, they have been extracted from super audio cd, and DVD soundtracks. I know they are 5.1 because the encoder says dolby or dts and the sound channels are correctly seperated.

A proper 5.1 music file, will play the singers voice through the centre channel. For example, when playing fleetwood mac, if i only listen to the centre speakers, i get the singers voice only. No funny echos, no background music, just pure vocals.

When playing stereo encoded music, i always select just stereo, or 'all channel stereo'. If it sounds 'crap' get yourself proper speakers.

 

[Shoogar]

The XMB has no need for 5.1 which is why it plays sound in stereo. Once you load up a game it switches to 5.1 output. If you go to the settings menu on your PS3 and go to sound settings, you are able to select a variation of different sound types that the PS3 supports.

For example, DPX-21 (Gaming headset) has 5.1 surround sound that runs via Optical Digital. To enable the PS3 to play on that channel in an outside of games you need to enable the 5.1 surround sound option in that menu.

If this doesn't fix the issue then no, the XMB does not support surround sound, the console supports it through game play.

 

[irnbrutwinturbo]

The XMB has no need for 5.1 which is why it plays sound in stereo. Once you load up a game it switches to 5.1 output. If you go to the settings menu on your PS3 and go to sound settings, you are able to select a variation of different sound types that the PS3 supports.

For example, DPX-21 (Gaming headset) has 5.1 surround sound that runs via Optical Digital. To enable the PS3 to play on that channel in an outside of games you need to enable the 5.1 surround sound option in that menu.

If this doesn't fix the issue then no, the XMB does not support surround sound, the console supports it through game play.

Incorrect, the XMB does support 5.1 music, you just need to have some music that is encoded for 5.1

The same way that the XMB plays films in 5.1 , both download and DVD's, it's just the way the files are encoded.