360 audio quality question

gareman

gareman

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So I spent a little portion of my tax return a relatively decent home theater.

My question is I have the 360 on surround sound setting, and I am playing Bioshock 2. I have it turned up to 9 or 10 out of 30 and it sounds great except when I get a fight with a Big Daddy then the bass turns to crap and it cuts out and makes awful noises. The more I turn it obviously the worst this problem becomes.

Normally I would chalk it up to it not being that great of a sound system, but I am playing Uncharted 2 on the Ps3 and that game sounds fantastic all the time on any volume and has far more bassy explosion and gun fighting.

Is Blu-Ray audio that much better? Should I change audio setting on the Xbox? Any other suggestions?

Please help everyone knows how annoying it is when you get something cool and you experience how cool it can be but something is off about it.
 
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Can we get more details? I'm no audio whiz, but I know others will ask similar questions, and these might even put you on the right track.

What is your setup like?
-Is your audio coming out from your TV to the receiver?
-or from the 360 Directly? Are you using a digital cable?
-How does this compare to how the PS3 is connected?

Did you go to My Xbox -> System Settings -> Console Settings -> Audio from the dashboard and adjust accordingly?

Have you calibrated your speakers? If you are sitting 15 ft away from your center channel, and you have it set at 3 ft, you might have a problem.

It sounds like your Bass is too high and the safety is kicking in.
 
My 360 audio has been messing up lately too. I run it through optical audio. It cuts in and out. I use the same cord on PS3 and have no problems whatsoever. It's turned me from a 360 gamer to a PS3 gamer.
 
I have an optical cable from receiver to tv and from the tv I have my HMDI cables going into 360 and PS3.

Also I have set the bass considerable lower while playing the 360 and it still has that problem, and like I said Uncharted on a higher volume and higher bass levels still sounds amazing even during huge fire fights with tanks and grenades going off.

And yes I used the dashboard to set my audio.
 
Have you tried a game other than Bioshock 2? Its very possible the game was mixed poorly and there is distortion in areas as a result.
 
[quote name='gareman']I have an optical cable from receiver to tv and from the tv I have my HMDI cables going into 360 and PS3.[/QUOTE]
That's probably your problem right there. I don't know the details of your particular TV, but sound from both consoles should be connected directly to the receiver. That means HDMI connections from consoles to receiver, then a single cable from receiver to TV for video. If your receiver lacks HDMI inputs you'll need to run optical cables from each console.

Most (all?) TVs I'm aware of will downmix audio from external sources when outputing from the TV's optical jack. Who knows how many ways the sound is being compromised before finally reaching your receiver (I'm surprised your PS3 isn't similarly affected). You're probably not getting 5.1 surround from either console.
 
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[quote name='Allnatural']That's probably your problem right there. I don't know the details of your particular TV, but sound from both consoles should be connected directly to the receiver. That means HDMI connections from consoles to receiver, then a single cable from receiver to TV for video. If your receiver lacks HDMI inputs you'll need to run optical cables from each console.

Most (all?) TVs I'm aware of will downmix audio from external sources when outputing from the TV's optical jack. Who knows how many ways the sound is being compromised before finally reaching your receiver (I'm surprised your PS3 isn't similarly affected). Your probably not getting 5.1 surround from either console.[/QUOTE]

I think this is correct. The preferred way of connecting components are to have them (360, PS3, etc.) go to your receiver (with HDMI preferred). And then, a single cable from the receiver to the TV.

If you have the cables, and your receiver has the proper inputs, I'd give that way a whirl.
 
-I have tried another game (MW2) and while it sound better the problem was still very apparent

-Its a Phillips don't have the model number on me right now.

-if the problem is the way its connected...why does the PS3 which is connected the same exact way with the exact same type of HDMI cable sound so much better?
 
[quote name='gareman']if the problem is the way its connected...why does the PS3 which is connected the same exact way with the exact same type of HDMI cable sound so much better?[/QUOTE]
Something to do with the particular jack each console is plugged into? Wouldn't hurt to swap jacks on the tv to see if the 360 improves and the PS3 gets worse.

Still, while the PS3 may sound better to you, I strongly suspect you're not getting actual surround sound with your current setup (not 5.1 anyway).
 
[quote name='Allnatural']Something to do with the particular jack each console is plugged into? Wouldn't hurt to swap jacks on the tv to see if the 360 improves and the PS3 gets worse.

Still, while the PS3 may sound better to you, I strongly suspect you're not getting actual surround sound with your current setup (not 5.1 anyway).[/QUOTE]


Not that it matters to me, but what do you mean? I am kind of ignorant about audio stuff. I do know that if I hear someone on my left back speaker while playing a game if I turn around to my left sure enough there is an enemy and the sound "swoops" to the front speakers.

I am about to get a new optical cord off of monoprice can you make any suggestions on any cords I would need to have better connection and setup?
 
[quote name='gareman']-I have tried another game (MW2) and while it sound better the problem was still very apparent

-Its a Phillips don't have the model number on me right now.

-if the problem is the way its connected...why does the PS3 which is connected the same exact way with the exact same type of HDMI cable sound so much better?[/QUOTE]Having the model # would be helpful, so we can see what the receiver can and can't do.

Here's one thing that has me concerned:
[quote name='gareman']I have an optical cable from receiver to tv and from the tv I have my HMDI cables going into 360 and PS3.[/quote]

That makes me think your receiver can't do HDMI audio + video, so you're running the optical cable to the TV, which normally would downmix the sound from 5.1 to stereo, since the TV only has stereo speakers.

Is there any reason why you can't run the optical cables to the receiver. Assuming again your receiver isn't able to HDMI video + audio, the HDMI cables for video should go to the TV and the optical audio cables should go to the receiver.

If the receiver can at least do HDMI video passthrough, then everything should go to the receiver over HDMI + optical or HDMI without optical, and then HDMI to the TV.

My setup has everything going to my receiver over HDMI (since it can do HDMI audio + video) and then HDMI out to the TV, which only sends video to the TV. Audio gets set to the speakers, and I've never had any issues with bad audio from a 5.1 source and it's coming out as 5.1 audio.

Again, I'm guessing here until I see the model # of the receiver so I know what I'm working with.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Having the model # would be helpful, so we can see what the receiver can and can't do.

Here's one thing that has me concerned:


That makes me think your receiver can't do HDMI audio + video, so you're running the optical cable to the TV, which normally would downmix the sound from 5.1 to stereo, since the TV only has stereo speakers.

Is there any reason why you can't run the optical cables to the receiver. Assuming again your receiver isn't able to HDMI video + audio, the HDMI cables for video should go to the TV and the optical audio cables should go to the receiver.

If the receiver can at least do HDMI video passthrough, then everything should go to the receiver over HDMI + optical or HDMI without optical, and then HDMI to the TV.

My setup has everything going to my receiver over HDMI (since it can do HDMI audio + video) and then HDMI out to the TV, which only sends video to the TV. Audio gets set to the speakers, and I've never had any issues with bad audio from a 5.1 source and it's coming out as 5.1 audio.

Again, I'm guessing here until I see the model # of the receiver so I know what I'm working with.[/QUOTE]
I was concerned about the only 1 hdmi port for the dvd player it self.

I found it on wal-marts site

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Philips-H...-Upconverting-DVD-Player-HTS3372D-F7/11600018
 
You need to run the optical from the XBox 360 directly to your receiver in order to get surround sound. As it has been stated most tv's down mix the audio to stereo. If your receiver & XBox 360 both support HDMI you can run HDMI from the 360 to the receiver.

If you have hdmi port issues on either your tv or your receiver, you can buy a hdmi switch from somewhere such as monoprice.com that will essentially split 1 port into multiple.
 
Assuming it's this unit here:
http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/51-home-cinema-systems/hts3372d_f7/prd/us/

You don't have a receiver. You have a HTIB (Home Theatre In-a-Box), which in this case is nothing more than a glorified DVD player with the connections for 5.1 speaker output, plus the speakers.

According to the manual, there's no HDMI inputs, so you'd have to run all of your HDMI cables to the TV. There is one optical input, so you would need to run your sound to either the TV or an optical switcher. If you run them to your TV, it's likely going to downmix it to stereo and then you'd get muddled audio when your HTIB tries to do the surround sound.

Get one of these, which is an optical switcher:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2946&seq=1&format=2

Run optical cables for audio from the PS3 and the 360 to the switcher, and then run a cable from the switcher to the optical input on the back of the HTIB.

You'd need to make sure to switch the optical switcher for the device you'd be using, and then it should get 5.1 surround sound from the PS3 and 360 to the HTIB and then out through the speakers.

This is the only way I can see to work around the limitations of the HTIB system. A regular receiver would be much easier to work with.

You could also use this HDMI switcher:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5557&seq=1&format=2

You'd run the HDMI cables to the switcher (running video + audio), then the HDMI cable from the switcher's output to the TV's video input and optical cable from the switcher's optical output to the optical input on the HTIB.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Get one of these, which is an optical switcher:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2946&seq=1&format=2[/QUOTE]
I have this exact optical switch at home splitting the single optical input on the receiver to 3 inputs allowing me to run the optical directly out of my Xbox 360, HD-DVD Player, and Blu-Ray player. Works perfectly. Oh and it doesn't come with any optical cables so you'll need a cable for each device and a cable to run from the splitter to the receiver. (4 optical cables max)
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Assuming it's this unit here:
http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/51-home-cinema-systems/hts3372d_f7/prd/us/

You don't have a receiver. You have a HTIB (Home Theatre In-a-Box), which in this case is nothing more than a glorified DVD player with the connections for 5.1 speaker output, plus the speakers.

According to the manual, there's no HDMI inputs, so you'd have to run all of your HDMI cables to the TV. There is one optical input, so you would need to run your sound to either the TV or an optical switcher. If you run them to your TV, it's likely going to downmix it to stereo and then you'd get muddled audio when your HTIB tries to do the surround sound.

Get one of these, which is an optical switcher:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2946&seq=1&format=2

Run optical cables for audio from the PS3 and the 360 to the switcher, and then run a cable from the switcher to the optical input on the back of the HTIB.

You'd need to make sure to switch the optical switcher for the device you'd be using, and then it should get 5.1 surround sound from the PS3 and 360 to the HTIB and then out through the speakers.

This is the only way I can see to work around the limitations of the HTIB system. A regular receiver would be much easier to work with.

You could also use this HDMI switcher:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5557&seq=1&format=2

You'd run the HDMI cables to the switcher (running video + audio), then the HDMI cable from the switcher's output to the TV's video input and optical cable from the switcher's optical output to the optical input on the HTIB.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your help!

So there is still hope for me and I won't have to return it?
 
[quote name='gareman']Thank you for your help!

So there is still hope for me and I won't have to return it?[/QUOTE]Yes, I think you can work around with the info I gave you.

The cleaner/easier solution would be the HDMI switcher with the optical out, as you would just use HDMI cables to get it to the switcher, an HDMI cable out to the TV and an optical cable out to the HTIB. You'd just have to switch between the PS3, the 360 and the DVD player, with an HDMI cable from each device to the switcher.

The other solution would be the optical switcher, running HDMI cables to the TV from the HTIB, the PS3 and the 360, and optical cables from the PS3 and 360 into the switcher.

I think the HDMI switcher would probably work best/easiest, though again, I'm just going on what I've seen in the manual for the HTIB and the devices you're listing.
 
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