Apr 18, 2017 My speakers say they support DTS and Dolby Digital. I couldn't get consistent sound out of them using my HDMI devices and my TV (so sound coming from the TV through optical) regardless of whether I picked Linear PCM (default) or Auto on the TV so I took the TV out off the equation by connecting the PS4 directly to the speakers, setting it to bitstream so the speakers use the speakers. Apr 04, 2017 Bitstream unprocessed. That means the player will send out the audio signal exactly as it is, and leave it up to your receiver to do all of the decoding. PCM will decode the 7.1 or 5.1 core only and bypass the Atmos encoding. Bitstream re-encoded for Dolby/DTS will almost certainly do the same thing and give you just the core.
Posted by2 years ago
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So up until tonight, my launch PS4 Pro's audio setting had been set to Bitstream (Dolby), since it sounded the best to me. But while playing No Man's Sky tonight, the speakers on my Yamaha 5.1 receiver would start intermittently losing sound. So after trying to figure out why this was suddenly happening (tried turning receiver on/off, tried turning PS4 on/off, tried turning TV on/off, problem still pops up), I tried switching the audio to Linear PCM, and the problem goes away.
So I have two questions – QUESTION ONE: does anyone know why this could possibly be happening? And QUESTION TWO: after extensive Google searching, it seems the consensus is that Linear PCM is best for HDMI/5.1/7.1 sound for 'lossless' audio, but why is it that Bitstream (Dolby) sounds 'best' to me – and I mean 'best' because in most games, using that setting has a more 'real' surround sound effect. Like, things that are behind me in games actually make accurately placed sounds in my rear surround speakers... BUT when I use Linear PCM (or even Bitstream DTS), I don't hear things that are behind me in games in my rear speakers. I hear SOME audio (music, and sometimes ambient sounds) in my rear speakers, so I know they're working. Is Bitstream Dolby doing some sort of post-processing 'simulation' to place sounds through my speakers, and is Linear PCM playing the purest form of audio, the way the games are supposed to be playing their respective sound?
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HDMI Normal / Bitstream Audio on HDMI or S/PDIF:
If you select HDMI Normal / Bitstream audio to output audio from your source device (e.g. Blu-ray player, etc.) to your external device (e.g. HDTV, Home Theater, AV Receiver, etc.); the source device will stream compressed audio on HDMI or S/PDIF out without decoding it.
If you, for example, play a Blu-ray disc with audio encoded in Dolby TrueHD and you select Bitstream, the Blu-ray player will simply stream the Dolby TrueHD track from the Blu-ray disc to the AV Receiver to be decoded. i.e. It will not use its on-board Dolby TrueHD decoder.
Note: In some cases, based on EDID information the source device may be forced to decode audio and stream it to the external device as uncompressed PCM / LPCM. e.g. If your TV does not have the capability to decode Dolby TrueHD.
HDMI PCM / LPCM Audio on HDMI or S/PDIF:
If you select HDMI PCM / LPCM audio to output audio from your source device (e.g. Blu-ray player, etc.) to your external device (e.g. HDTV, Home Theater, AV Receiver, etc.); the source device will use its on-board audio decoder to decode audio and then stream uncompressed PCM / LPCM audio to the external device on HDMI or S/PDIF out .
If you play, for example, a Blu-ray disc with audio encoded in Dolby TrueHD and you select HDMI PCM / LPCM, the Blu-ray player will use its on-board decoder to decode the Dolby TrueHD track on the Blu-ray disc and then stream uncompressed PCM / LPCM audio to the external device on HDMI or S/PDIF out.