Is it Possible to Force 5.1 LPCM Sound on PS4 like on PS3?

The place for all discussion on gaming hardware
Post Reply
User avatar
Lawfer
Posts: 2283
Joined: Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:30 am

Is it Possible to Force 5.1 LPCM Sound on PS4 like on PS3?

Post by Lawfer »

I have a 7.1 capable receiver, however the speakers setup is actually 5.1, on PS3 you can tell the console to output in 5.1 manually by disabling all 7.1 output (in automatic setup it enables 7.1 since it detects that my receiver support 7.1). However the issues on PS4 is that it doesn't look like there is any such settings and only a few games allow you to setup what kind of output you want, such as The Last of Us Remastered which allows me to set "5.1" in the menu, but most other games don't have such option.

It seems that based on this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEUlHooWX0s&t=3m14s

Image

That there is an option that allows you to force 7.1 or 5.1, however for me this option does not appear, all I get is "Primary Output Port" and "Audio Format (Priority)", the option "HDMI Audio Output" does not appear for me.

According to Sony's website:

https://manuals.playstation.net/documen ... utput.html

It says that only certain PS4 systems have this option?

My PS4 is a launch PS4 Pro.

My screen basically looks like that:

Image

According to this:

https://feedback.naughtydog.com/knowled ... figuration
If you have a 5.1 speaker setup but your PS4 System is detecting and outputting 7.1 over HDMI, you need to let the PS4 System know that you prefer 5.1 output mode. Otherwise, sounds may disappear when sent directly to the back channels which are missing from the 5.1 configuration. Do the following:

Boot up the PS4 System and access the Settings menu
Select 'Sound and Screen', 'Audio Output Settings', 'Primary Output Port', 'HDMI'
Make sure the checkbox 'Output 5.1ch Audio' is selected
Select 'OK' to apply the changes
I am supposed to check the checkbox for "Output 5.1ch Audio" but where am I supposed to see that "Output 5.1ch Audio" checkbox though?
nmalinoski
Posts: 1974
Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2017 1:52 pm

Re: Is it Possible to Force 5.1 LPCM Sound on PS4 like on PS

Post by nmalinoski »

Have you tried having the PS4 redetect the video and audio settings? If that doesn't get you the option, then you may have a PS4 that can't force 5.1 like the documentation you found says.

Separately, what's wrong with allowing your PS4 to output 7.1 and letting your AVR deal with converting it to 5.1?
User avatar
Lawfer
Posts: 2283
Joined: Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:30 am

Re: Is it Possible to Force 5.1 LPCM Sound on PS4 like on PS

Post by Lawfer »

nmalinoski wrote:Have you tried having the PS4 redetect the video and audio settings?
The PS4 doesn't have settings like that unlike the PS3 and even if it did, an automatic setup will just detect that my receiver support up to 7.1 and automatically set everything for 7.1, that's what PS3 does.

nmalinoski wrote:If that doesn't get you the option, then you may have a PS4 that can't force 5.1 like the documentation you found says.
The Sony documentation only talks about an option ("HDMI Audio Output") that's not available on my PS4 model for some reason, but I found this here:

Image

My receiver supports 7.1, but my configuration is 5.1, so I have been using my PS4 all these years with 7.1, damn.

Anyway glad that at least Sony is offering the option! Just wished it wasn't all obscure and hidden within settings.

I don't think that Nintendo even has settings like these for their Wii U and Switch.

nmalinoski wrote:Separately, what's wrong with allowing your PS4 to output 7.1 and letting your AVR deal with converting it to 5.1?
https://feedback.naughtydog.com/knowled ... figuration

https://www.facebook.com/notes/supermas ... 538836760/
Unfortunately, some HDMI equipment deliberately misrepresents its native channel configuration, and then intentionally downmixes or discards the extra channels.

While this isn't always an issue when watching movies, it's a very big problem for games. Movies typically only use the surround channels for ambience or an occasional front-to-back effect. Games are different: they render positional audio to all channels, all the time.

If the channel configuration is incorrect, game sounds can attenuate or drop out completely. Some example setups that might cause this:

- TV sets with 2 speakers that misrepresent as 5.1 or 7.1 channel devices over HDMI
- Receivers that are configured for 2.0 or 5.1 but misrepresent as 7.1 channel devices over HDMI
- HDMI switchers and splitters that hide or misrepresent the actual channel configuration
- PS4 System optical output not configured to match target equipment

Symptoms of incorrect channel configuration are:

- Missing or heavily attenuated dialog
- Sounds not panning around the player with even volume levels
- Sounds heavily attenuated or missing when directly behind the player
- All sounds playing from the front in a surround 5.1/7.1 setup
- No audio

It's critical to make sure that the PS4 System knows exactly which primary output port to use, and how many channels it needs to output on that port to match your equipment setup.

Although some equipment can automatically downmix multichannel audio, this is never going to sound as good as having the correct channel setup identified in the PS4 System's settings. Positional audio for games is rendered completely differently depending on the channel configuration, so for this reason any downmix done by the output device will always be inferior.
User avatar
maxtherabbit
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:03 pm

Re: Is it Possible to Force 5.1 LPCM Sound on PS4 like on PS

Post by maxtherabbit »

on most receivers you can run a speaker setup routine that sets the surround config in the receiver

maybe if the receiver "knew" it was operating in 5.1, it would relate that info to the ps4?
nmalinoski
Posts: 1974
Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2017 1:52 pm

Re: Is it Possible to Force 5.1 LPCM Sound on PS4 like on PS

Post by nmalinoski »

maxtherabbit wrote:on most receivers you can run a speaker setup routine that sets the surround config in the receiver

maybe if the receiver "knew" it was operating in 5.1, it would relate that info to the ps4?
Probably depends on the receiver. With my Onkyo TX-NR555, my PS3 detects it as a 7.1 receiver and autoconfigures output to allow both 5.1 and 7.1, even though the receiver is well aware that it only has five speakers connected (I haven't gotten a sub yet).
Post Reply