PS5 Sound Issues (No Dialogue During Cutscenes)

[Grunty]

Well I'm having a really strange issue with my console and I don't know if others are experiencing this as well. So for whatever reason, I am receiving no dialogue during cutscenes when playing games. I thought it was just Sackboy specific, but I decided to try Spider-Man Remastered and the exact same issue is occurring. No dialogue or sound effects either during the intro cutscene. Only thing audible is the music.

I've went through the game specific settings, uninstalled and reinstalled (Sackboy), turned the console off and on, went through all of the console settings, and I just can't seem to fix it.

Anyone have any idea what is going on here? It's such an odd thing to be occurring.

 

[Deleted member 81119]

I don't know the answer to this, but aren't there settings within the PS5 UI that are standardised settings across all games? Maybe look in there?

EDIT: oh crap you did mention console settings. My bad.

 

[Dany]

I had this happen with miles morales on ps5!! I had to switch the game audio to mono to fix it. Is it really widespread to other games? Wtf that's so bad lol

 

[Centzontotochtin]

Try to tweak language settings in the system and in game presets

 

[coryschmitz]

Happened to me in Miles too. Worked with headphones though. Worked on my speakers when I switched from PCM to Dolby in system settings

 

[Fire Bocchi]

try restarting the ps5, i had the issue in horizon zero dawn, where when i started a new game, no sound would play, and the system locked up when i tried to close the game, havent had any issue since

 

[Grunty]

I had this happen with miles morales on ps5!! I had to switch the game audio to mono to fix it. Is it really widespread to other games? Wtf that's so bad lol

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Happened to me in Miles too. Worked with headphones though. Worked on my speakers when I switched from PCM to Dolby in system settings

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I have not done either of these. I will try this right now and report back.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

When I started Demon's Souls the opening cinematic didn't have any voiceover, but I also couldn't remember if it was supposed to so I didn't worry about it, but now I'm thinking I had the issue lol.

 

[Mmmkay]

Took me a while to figure it out on SM Remastered. Turn off controller audio.

EDIT: huh just played around some more and Mono Audio was my saviour in the SM:R settings.

 

[Silver-Streak]

There's a chance this may have to do with the Audio Output settings as a lot of AV receivers (and Sound Bars) don't handshake 100% accurately. Rather than leaving it to auto, go into your PS5 settings and access the following:

Sound > Audio Output
1. Ensure Output Device matches what you expect
2. Disable Switch Output Device Automatically (Some people's receivers aren't handshaking properly and it's causing this to default to "TV" which then defaults to 2 channel audio)
3. HDMI Device Type: This can vary, but AV Amplifier is going to give you the most options.
4. Number of Channels: Manually set to 5.1 or greater (Note: If you don't have a 5.1/7.1 system, you need to set this to stereo instead of 5.1, otherwise you're overwriting the default settings and you will be missing voice due to not having a center channel)
5. General > Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM or Bitstream may work better, depends on your receiver. I generally recommend Linear PCM (uncompressed) if you can support it, but if you have issues, then Bistream (DTS), then Bitstream (Dolby).

 

[Grunty]

Happened to me in Miles too. Worked with headphones though. Worked on my speakers when I switched from PCM to Dolby in system settings

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This worked. Just tested both Sackboy and Spider-Man and both have their sound intact as they should!

 

[Joker22Hero]

I saw a post earlier that it is connected to the number of channels on your audio setup, so for example the game thinks you have a 3.1 set-up and plays dialogue in the middle channel, but if you only have stereo, this channel does not exist so you don't hear anything

 

[Pankratous]

This happened to me on PS4... it wasn't with cutscene audio, it was with guns in the game I was playing, lol. Battlefield I think. Silent guns.

I had to mess about with the audio settings. I have absolutely no idea what any of the settings I changed meant, but I think I changed from one audio "type" to another.

 

[Diogo Arez]

Weird stuff

 

[Coolsambob]

This happens on Yakuza Like A Dragon on my Series X if I have the game audio option set to surround - very strange issue. Had to set it to stereo in Yakuza's options.

 

[Grunty]

There's a chance this may have to do with the Audio Output settings as a lot of AV receivers (and Sound Bars) don't handshake 100% accurately. Rather than leaving it to auto, go into your PS5 settings and access the following:

Sound > Audio Output
1. Ensure Output Device matches what you expect
2. Disable Switch Output Device Automatically (Some people's receivers aren't handshaking properly and it's causing this to default to "TV" which then defaults to 2 channel audio)
3. HDMI Device Type: This can vary, but AV Amplifier is going to give you the most options.
4. Number of Channels: Manually set to 5.1 or greater (Note: If you don't have a 5.1/7.1 system, you need to set this to stereo instead of 5.1, otherwise you're overwriting the default settings and you will be missing voice due to not having a center channel)
5. General > Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM or Bitstream may work better, depends on your receiver. I generally recommend Linear PCM (uncompressed) if you can support it, but if you have issues, then Bistream (DTS), then Bitstream (Dolby).

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Number 5 is what worked here for me, as Cory also suggested. Swapped it to Dolby and now there are no more issues. Thank you both!

 

[Murder She Wrote]

This happened to me while watching Netflix. For some reason it defaulted to 5.1 and once I changed that I could hear dialogue just fine

 

[ciddative]

Yup I would guess the game/system thinks you have a centre speaker and that's where the dialogue goes. Or check the Audio settings

 

[Wein Cruz]

Took me a while to figure it out on SM Remastered. Turn off controller audio.

EDIT: huh just played around some more and Mono Audio was my saviour in the SM:R settings.

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How do you turn off controller audio?

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

Happened to me in Miles too. Worked with headphones though. Worked on my speakers when I switched from PCM to Dolby in system settings

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This is what i did, it happened in Sackboy Adventure.

Really weird

 

[Feenix]

Well I'm having a really strange issue with my console and I don't know if others are experiencing this as well. So for whatever reason, I am receiving no dialogue during cutscenes when playing games. I thought it was just Sackboy specific, but I decided to try Spider-Man Remastered and the exact same issue is occurring. No dialogue or sound effects either during the intro cutscene. Only thing audible is the music.

I've went through the game specific settings, uninstalled and reinstalled (Sackboy), turned the console off and on, went through all of the console settings, and I just can't seem to fix it.

Anyone have any idea what is going on here? It's such an odd thing to be occurring.

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I had this the first time I booted Miles.
There was audio... but no one (Milez, civilians in the world... no one) had voices.

 

[Grimace McRib]

Noticed this in Killzone Shadowfall and Persona 5 Royale. Glad to see this honestly because I thought it was just me or backwards compatibility issues.

 

[Breakdown Robot]

This happened for my on PS5 with AC Valhalla and ONLY AC Valhalla - I have a 7.1 Atmos system and have switch from PCM to bitsteam for just that game, every other game I've played (Miles, DS, Bugsnax, Astro) sounds fine over PCM. So weird.

 

[Amauri14]

This happened to me while watching Netflix. For some reason it defaulted to 5.1 and once I changed that I could hear dialogue just fine

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I remember I had that same issue with Netflix a few years back on PS4, which was connected to a 5.1 system, but I think it was caused and solved with an update of the app. Again, that happened years ago so I honestly not sure if it really solved itself.

 

[curtismyhero]

Had the same issue and I'm connected directly to tv speakers. Changing the setting from tv to I believe av, and then setting the channel to 2 channel (or stereo) corrected the issue right on up.

 

[TeenageFBI]

Happened to me in Miles too. Worked with headphones though. Worked on my speakers when I switched from PCM to Dolby in system settings

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I had to do the same thing. Pretty weird.

 

[EvieFK8]

Had the same issue and I'm connected directly to tv speakers. Changing the setting from tv to I believe av, and then setting the channel to 2 channel (or stereo) corrected the issue right on up.

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This solved my issue as well. I have an LG C9

 

[trajon]

Much like the people above me, I suddenly started seeing this issue on my LG C9 as well and swapping Audio Format from Linear PCM to Dolby solved the problem

 

[curtismyhero]

This solved my issue as well. I have an LG C9

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Yep also gaming on the c9. Such a weird issue.

 

[GSG]

Playing Miles Morales and I'm having this issue. Seems to be related to either eARC or LPCM, even though the sound was completely fine with Bugsnax and Astrobot.

I had to switch to Dolby bit stream to fix it, but that has its own issues(bass is toned down and the sounds cuts out sometimes).

 

[Edge]

Had the same issue, switching worked, but also the mix sounds a bit worse now.

Funny thing tho, you have the exact same issue on Xbox Series X with several games until you change the PCM. What a weird next gen thing.

 

[coryschmitz]

Anyone having an issue with Hulu? I have zero sound haha. I'm assuming this is related to the Dolby/PCM settings but nothing I've tried worked.

 

[saintjules]

Happened to me in Miles too. Worked with headphones though. Worked on my speakers when I switched from PCM to Dolby in system settings

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Still reading through the thread but I had to switch to Bitstream Dolby digital on my Series X and PS5 for it to work properly. Are we missing out on LPCM?

Edit: Seems on the C9, if you go to Sound > Additional Settings > HDMI Input Audio Format, you can change the specific HDMI Port you're using and change it to PCM. It seems to work that way.

 

[saintjules]

This happens on Yakuza Like A Dragon on my Series X if I have the game audio option set to surround - very strange issue. Had to set it to stereo in Yakuza's options.

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I had the same problem. Changing the audio settings to Bitstream Dolby fixed the issue. Voices were super low in the center speaker. In Valhalla, in game dialogue wouldn't output. Just surrounding FX could be heard.

 

[saintjules]

Much like the people above me, I suddenly started seeing this issue on my LG C9 as well and swapping Audio Format from Linear PCM to Dolby solved the problem

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I just saw on the C9, if you go to Sound > Additional Settings > HDMI Input Audio Format, you can change the specific HDMI Port you're using and change it to PCM. It seems to work that way and I do hear the voices normally.

 

[brjuntinaar]

I had this issue for about a week straight off-and-on. As far as I could tell, it has something to do with the HDMI cord not properly connecting to the receiver. Kind of makes me wonder if it is a hardware defect. I got mine (likely temporarily) fixed by switching the HDMI cord I was using. But I've had temporary reprieve before like this only for it to happen again, so I'm not convinced it's fixed.

 

[Moosichu]

This is an issue with the PS5 outputting 5.1 surround sound channels to thr TV. If you change the audio output to HDMI AV Amplifier (or something like that)and force the channel count to 2. It will output stereo and that resolves the issue.

 

[woolyninja]

Yep, like the last person said, it has to do with the sound output of the PS5 vs your TV. In my case the PS5 was outputting Linear PCM and the TV was expected Bitstream Dolby. Once I changed the PS5 to Dolby it worked just fine.

 

[GSG]

I just saw on the C9, if you go to Sound > Additional Settings > HDMI Input Audio Format, you can change the specific HDMI Port you're using and change it to PCM. It seems to work that way and I do hear the voices normally.

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I just did this and it fixed it! 🎉

Just in time too because I just noticed a horrible audio lag with Dolby bitstream on the PS5(and I don't even get any sound from the rear channels with DTS).

 

[Transistor]

I just did this and it fixed it! 🎉

Just in time too because I just noticed a horrible audio lag with Dolby bitstream on the PS5(and I don't even get any sound from the rear channels with DTS).

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That's an LG thing apparently. Bitstream of Dolby has had lag on LG TVs for a long time, it seems. There's a bunch of reddit posts going back a couple of years on the issue.

 

[Biggersmaller]

Had the exact issue, but when watching a BD. I'm streaming audio from an x900h to a Marantz receiver. Restarted the TV and everything was fine. Been seeing weird PS5 glitches. We are still within a month of release so I'm tolerant of a few minor issues...for now.

 

[Vash63]

I just saw on the C9, if you go to Sound > Additional Settings > HDMI Input Audio Format, you can change the specific HDMI Port you're using and change it to PCM. It seems to work that way and I do hear the voices normally.

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I had this same issue with Animal Crossing on my switch with my C9. The background music was triggering something on the C9 to think it was Dolby or something.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

I had this issue until I noticed my TV was setting the audio out to BitStream. Changing that to PCM helped.

 

[Falus]

I noticed this issue playing injustice 2. I had no name of fighter and some sounds missing. I'm using a soundbar in bedroom and the issue was that I chooses soundbar as sound output. I need to chose avr. (Then 2.0 for this'one after as it's a stereo soundbar ). It's perfect now

 

[saintjules]

I just did this and it fixed it! 🎉

Just in time too because I just noticed a horrible audio lag with Dolby bitstream on the PS5(and I don't even get any sound from the rear channels with DTS).

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Glad that worked out for you. I was playing around in my AVR and was wondering what was wrong. Seems the function for PCM can be passed through 3 different setups on my end. Ultimately the TV setting solidifies it PCM.

As a sound engineer, I can't help but hear that the stereo field / loudness has been reduced under the signal now being uncompressed. I'll have to do more testing, but I'll keep the HDMI ports for my Consoles at PCM.

 

[AgeEighty]

Sounds to me like the console is trying to output to a nonexistent center speaker in a nonexistent surround setup.

 

[saintjules]

Sounds to me like the console is trying to output to a nonexistent center speaker in a nonexistent surround setup.

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Yeah, the Series X does the same at default. Pretty strange, but I think it all stems from the TV/AVR settings more than anything.

 

[GSG]

Glad that worked out for you. I was playing around in my AVR and was wondering what was wrong. Seems the function for PCM can be passed through 3 different setups on my end. Ultimately the TV setting solidifies it PCM.

As a sound engineer, I can't help but hear that the stereo field / loudness has been reduced under the signal now being uncompressed. I'll have to do more testing, but I'll keep the HDMI ports for my Consoles at PCM.

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Just an update on this. I have a feeling that changing the TV setting to PCM didn't fix the issue, just masked it and there was some Dolby upmixing going on to make it seem like the rear channels were working fine. The reason why I say that is because in Miles Morales, when I would walk in front of a sound(someone speaking or car honking the horn), the sound wasn't coming from the rear channels but rather the front channels, which I know is incorrect because the same type of sound would come through the rear channels with Dolby bitsream.

I tried the Netflix Test Patterns video and had some interesting results:

With the TV setting at PCM and my PS5 set to LPCM, I was hearing a robotic voice counting up.
With the TV setting at Bitstream and my PS5 set to LPCM, I was hearing a surround sound speaker test with the center speaker getting cut out.
With the TV setting at Bitstream and my PS5 set to Dolby Bitstream, I was hearing a surround sound speaker test with all the channels outputting correctly.

I then tried the same video on LG's Netflix app and had similar results to the TV setting at Bitstream and my PS5 set to Dolby Bitstream(which would appear to me is the correct setting).

I then opened up Bugsnax with the TV setting at PCM and my PS5 set to LPCM and I was getting sound through the center channel normally.

It's a really weird issue and I hope Sony fixes it :/

That's an LG thing apparently. Bitstream of Dolby has had lag on LG TVs for a long time, it seems. There's a bunch of reddit posts going back a couple of years on the issue.

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That's pretty annoying because we can't even use Dolby bitstream as a workaround while we wait for these issues to get fixed.

 

[Transistor]

Just an update on this. I have a feeling that changing the TV setting to PCM didn't fix the issue, just masked it and there was some Dolby upmixing going on to make it seem like the rear channels were working fine. The reason why I say that is because in Miles Morales, when I would walk in front of a sound(someone speaking or car honking the horn), the sound wasn't coming from the rear channels but rather the front channels, which I know is incorrect because the same type of sound would come through the rear channels with Dolby bitsream.

I tried the Netflix Test Patterns video and had some interesting results:

With the TV setting at PCM and my PS5 set to LPCM, I was hearing a robotic voice counting up.
With the TV setting at Bitstream and my PS5 set to LPCM, I was hearing a surround sound speaker test with the center speaker getting cut out.
With the TV setting at Bitstream and my PS5 set to Dolby Bitstream, I was hearing a surround sound speaker test with all the channels outputting correctly.

I then tried the same video on LG's Netflix app and had similar results to the TV setting at Bitstream and my PS5 set to Dolby Bitstream(which would appear to me is the correct setting).

I then opened up Bugsnax with the TV setting at PCM and my PS5 set to LPCM and I was getting sound through the center channel normally.

It's a really weird issue and I hope Sony fixes it :/



That's pretty annoying because we can't even use Dolby bitstream as a workaround while we wait for these issues to get fixed.

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Have you tried changing the HDMI audio input type on the LG TV to PCM from Bitstream, and then putting the PS5 in PCM mode?

 

[AndyD]

There's a chance this may have to do with the Audio Output settings as a lot of AV receivers (and Sound Bars) don't handshake 100% accurately. Rather than leaving it to auto, go into your PS5 settings and access the following:

Sound > Audio Output
1. Ensure Output Device matches what you expect
2. Disable Switch Output Device Automatically (Some people's receivers aren't handshaking properly and it's causing this to default to "TV" which then defaults to 2 channel audio)
3. HDMI Device Type: This can vary, but AV Amplifier is going to give you the most options.
4. Number of Channels: Manually set to 5.1 or greater (Note: If you don't have a 5.1/7.1 system, you need to set this to stereo instead of 5.1, otherwise you're overwriting the default settings and you will be missing voice due to not having a center channel)
5. General > Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM or Bitstream may work better, depends on your receiver. I generally recommend Linear PCM (uncompressed) if you can support it, but if you have issues, then Bistream (DTS), then Bitstream (Dolby).

Click to shrink...

This. It was occasionally a problem on PS4 as well and it's entirely device dependent (receiver/soundbar and it's firmware sometimes). Mix in TVs that don't always do a great job of ARC/eARC passthrough and it's a recipe for inconsistency.