PC + PS3 through Amplifier?

[ZedXYZ]

Hey guys, first time poster here!

I have a Sony Amplifier from a few years ago (We're talking like, 2008 or so), and I want to run music through my amp via PC, while playing my PS3 game.

At the moment, my PC routes audio to Source 1 via an optical cable. The video signal goes separately to my TV. My PS3, on the other hand, routes the audio to Source 2 via optical, and then sends its video source to the amp, which is then sent to the TV via the amp. As seen in the photo below (although a bit tricky to make out), source 2 ALSO has the option for a standard RCA connection, instead of HDMI. I attempted to plug my PC into the Source 2 RCA, with my PS3 in the source 2 optical (using a 3.5 to RCA from my PC's headphone jack to the amp), yet the amp still only played audio from the optical line, not the RCA line as well. I unplugged the 3.5 end of the RCA, and tapped the metal bit of the cable. No noise came from the amp, so it can be assumed the amp is the issue, not the PC. I know the cable is in solid working condition.

Any ideas?

TL;DR: How can I play PS3 audio via optical in my amp, and PC audio via RCA in my amp at the same time, since the amp is only playing the PS3 audio, even when I connect a 3.5 to RCA from my PC's headphone jack to the amp?

Photo of the back of the amp:

Thanks!

 

[ssddx]

that is a receiver, not an amplifier. whats the difference? a receiver has a dac, amp and switch inside of it while an amplifier is only an amplifier. just for clarities sake.

receivers also only will accept and play one source of audio at a time. given you have video separate, you can play music and just not have game audio easy enough. if you have spare speakers you could also (on some sets with the option) play music on a zone2 connection through the spare speakers but not over the main speakers. for example 5.1 for gaming but 2.0 extra speakers for music.

if you want any mixing of the audio so that it is playing music along with the game sounds you will need to do it before it gets to your receiver. since yours has analog inputs it should be possible with a cheap 2:1 analog mixer and either a converter or audio extractor to pull and translate audio from ps3 to analog format. note: i've not done this, but it should be possible and get what i think you want.

of course doing this you lose out on 5.1 via optical for surround sound completely unless you have multiple connections and change your ps3 audio output settings between the two.

TLDR; if you have it, zone2 is likely the best option.

 

[ZedXYZ]

TLDR; if you have it, zone2 is likely the best option.

So from what you've said, Zone2 is practically the only option? I couldn't see anything about Zone 2 in the products marketing or in the manual, so is it pretty much not likely I'll be able to do it (run PS3 and PC audio at same time)?

 

[ssddx]

as i explained earlier, AVR's do not like pushing two sources of audio into one stream. they are more meant for swapping between multiple streams and using one at a time.

zone 2 is the only multi-source option they have.

IF you gave up 5.1 (if you even run a 5.1 set???) and used the analog inputs you can certainly mix the audio before it gets to the receiver (with the appropriate cables and conversion boxes) but i'm not sure you wanted to do that or what your setup is.