If You Don't Laugh, I'll Tell You

So I've been playing my  PS3 with no sound for a couple of weeks, and to understand why you need to delve into my understanding of HDCP.

It was my initial thought that HDCP was preventing my monitor from decoding the audio signal from my PS3.  This is because HDMI cables have several signals that are encoded, including video and audio signals, and should, for whatever reason, something not be working correctly, any one of those signals can be interrupted.

HDCP is ostensibly to prevent video pirates from copying movies using run of the mill Blu-ray copiers.  Should the receiving device not recognise the signal, it will simply refuse to play it.  This leads to occasions where you can see video, but can't hear anything, because the audio signal isn't being processed.

The reality is that these measures have been implemented to enforce region locking.  If you have an Asian TV and a European player, you may not be able to hear the audio, or see the video; or maybe nothing will work.

I assumed the reason I couldn't pick up an audio signal was because of this 'content protection,' and gave up trying shortly after I couldn't get it to work.  My plan was to purchase an extra cable, and run the audio through that, into a separate set of speakers.

As it turns out, the reason for there being no audio was much less sinister, and frankly more stupid than HDCP.

In Korea, a speaker 'mute,' symbol is the reverse of England.  A speaker that is crossed out means the speaker is, in fact, not muted.  A speaker that appears to be blaring out music, with the three curved lines, means mute is activated.

...

I honestly don't know what possessed me to try it out again, but I'm glad I did, as I learned a few important lessons.  Firstly, Sony isn't always as sinister as its' competitors.  Secondly, Asian logic is backwards.  Finally, always try for a few minutes to get something working, before you give up.