PS3 Optical input to Nuendo 5

Nuendo
1

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone has a managed to record 5.1 audio of an optical input from a PS3 or XBox?

Im wanting to route the 5.1 signal to my surround setup so i can play games in 5.1 during studio downtime… All I seem get when i plug the optical cable into the v4hd white noise.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Would a dolby decoder do the trick?

Nuendo 5.1.0
Motu V4hd
Mac octo 2 x 2.8
OSX 10.6.6
Genelec 5.1 surround sound

2

A decoder with discreet outputs should do the trick as you will have analog outputs from the decoder to analog inputs in your daw.

Best.

3

Do you by any chance know of any good ones?

Never looked into a decoder before.

Thanks heaps.

R

4

i don’t have a ps3 but can’t you run a cable from the ps3 to the optical in of the mac?

5

I’m assuming then that your PS3 is outputting Dolby Digital on its optical output.

The question is can your interface accept that format as a digital input?

Most are Toslink stereo input or Adat 8 channel inputs. I haven’t seen many optical inputs that accept 5.1 on pro audio interfaces so that is what I’d check first.

6

It all depends on what the output stream actually is.
If it is Dolby Digital, it will need to go through a decoder before hitting Nuendo.
If it is DPL (matrixed - very common on games) then you again need to decode it, or else record the stereo matrix & decode later with the Minnetonka DPLII plugin, for example.
If it is DTS, again it will need to be decoded first.

The best way is to use a proper decoder, and record the analogue output from that into your workstation.
You can try it with various hack decoders (if it ain’t licensed by Dolby Labs, it is a hack or reverse engineered) but results can vary. Most AV amplifiers can do this stuff on their internal decoders, and you can get line level outputs with no problems at all.
As the output is most likely already in a lossy format, it makes sense to use the best decoders you can and that means genuine/licensed Dolby Labs or DTS…which is what will be in those AV amplifiers.

Good luck!

7

Dolby pro logic was the standard in PS2 and xbox original but next gen consoles like PS3 and Xbox 360 are almost entirely Dolby Digital and DTS.

So you need a decoder first.

8

I thought I said that already?
There are definitely matrixed streams on PS3 too - they may say Dolby Digital, but you can easily enough create a 2.0 DD file with Dolby Surround (LCRS) encoding in it.

line out from AV amplifiers.
They will be the best bet.