Okay, bear with me here, as this may end up seeming somewhat complicated, but I'm having an issue with my audio output on my PS3. I have the standard US 60gb PS3 plugged into my Sharp Aquos 32" TV via HDMI cable, and the TV out to my receiver via optical cable.

The problem I have is this, and is weird - the problem is that I don't get any sound out of the optical output of the TV from the PS3, just to the TV speakers, and here's where it gets really weird, the optical output starts working just fine the moment I start to play a Bluray Disc. So it works like a dream, exactly as it should, except for only if it's playing bluray. It won't work for Warhawk, for example, or even for just standard button noise when navigating the PS3 OS. The optical output doesn't even turn on - no red light behind it or anything. When the bluray kicks on though, bingo - power.

Any ideas what might be causing this? The TV's settings aren't really adjustable to fix it, and when swapping to another HDMI input, the problem wasn't solved, so I'm thinking it must be something in the output of the PS3. It seems like it must be trying to output a different audio format for the bluray than it is for anything else, and I can't figure out how to rectify that.

Any help on this one'd be hugely appreciated.

The BD/DVD Audio Settings for both Optical Digital and HDMI are set at Linear PCM. I currently have the HDMI output for Audio Output settings set to include Dolby Digital 5.1, Ch. DTS 5.1ch, AAC, Linear PCM 2ch 176.4kHz and below, and same with the 5.1ch. None of the above seems to produce any sound out of the operation of the PS3 outside Bluray output.

It works fine with the optical out on Linear PCM, as I had that setup going before with no problems. I have an Xbox360 on hand right now too, so what I had hoped to do was to be able to plug multiple things into the TV and use the one optical output there so as to get the surround working properly on everything. The HD cable box has the HDMI going to the TV and the sound then going from the optical to the receiver in a working manner, and the Xbox currently has the sound going into the TV via red/white RCA and out to the receiver via the optical as well.

What confuses the bejeezus out of me is why the setup works just fine with the signal travelling through the HDMI to the tv and out from there ONLY when a BD disc is playing, as that does give the impression that it should be working fine otherwise. Why would the sound be working through the setup fine with bluray but not with standard operation? Is there a known bug or anything regarding this?

Also - what would changing the BD/DVD Optical settings change based on the HDMI cable? I guess I'm hoping to be able to find a way to rectify this problem without simply having to abandon my previous plans and end up with more cabling than I should need otherwise.