Sound from headphones & TV at the same time

[Otispunkmeyer]

Might be an awkward one this.

My mum is pretty hard of hearing so they have to watch TV either very loud or put the subtitles on. What they wanted to do is have a way that they can both listen to the TV at the same time, but different volumes.

So I suggested a set of wireless RF headphones for my mum would probably work and then my dad can just listen via the Sound bar thing (which is some old but huge Sony TV stand thing with speakers in it).

They have an old, perhaps first gen LG OLED (the curved one, perhaps LG 55EC930V) and as far as I can remember you can generally only select one sound output. The only option for two outputs is to have the Optical out + BT surround or something, but connecting to the BT in this mode obviously isn't the best because its like the background fill channels. Optical out is disabled if you plug into the external headphone jack so that option is out.

The TV stand is a Sony RHT-G800. It has a lot of inputs, but basically no outputs. Currently it is set up with optical input from the TV as there are multiple devices connected to the TV (sky box, blu-ray and firestick). The TV stand I think has 2 HDMI inputs and one HDMI out, it pre-dates HDMI ARC I think. You have to manually switch the inputs with the remote to listen to/see either of them. I am not really sure how it all works to be honest and it would just confuse my parents who are already confused as it is. The TV stand is left on optical IN and it just works whatever they do with the TV.

So my thoughts where this:

Get a optical splitter box so that the current optical out is split into two: One goes off to the TV stand as normal, the other goes off to another box which will convert the optical into a analogue output (3.5mm or the L/R co-ax thing) and then the headphones connect to this. I did try to find 1-box which did all of that but it seems like there are a lot of converters or splitters, but nothing that would allow optical pass through with an analogue conversion to tap off. I don't know how much delay, if any, this set up would introduce though.

[uknick]

My old Sony has a separate headphone volume to the main speaker volume. You have to mute the main speakers to only listen with headphones.

[OutInTheShed]

I can't help with the mechanics of making it happen, but a friend of mine with hearing problems manages this with a pair of Sennheiser wireless headphones, it works brilliantly, the sound is very clear through the phones and doesn't need to be so loud.

It is absolutely the thing to do if you can make it work.

[Lucid_AV]

I've had a quick mooch t the TV instructions. It does look like only one output at a time is allowed. That seems awfully restrictive, but there it is. Given that the TV stand/speaker has no output options, and ARC is off the table, then I'd agree with your idea of an optical splitter. Make sure to set the TV audio out to PCM. This will minimise any audio delay as well as making sure that the sound format is compatible with any digital-to-analogue audio convertor.

[Timothy Bucktu]

Easyish...I couldn't find an all in one box either, but these bits are so cheap, it's worth a punt to see how it goes.
Optical splitter...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404554338641?mkcid=16&a...

Optical to 3.5mm and phono

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204498697834?mkcid=16&a...

Edited by Timothy Bucktu on Tuesday 5th December 17:29

[Otispunkmeyer]

Lucid_AV said:

I've had a quick mooch t the TV instructions. It does look like only one output at a time is allowed. That seems awfully restrictive, but there it is. Given that the TV stand/speaker has no output options, and ARC is off the table, then I'd agree with your idea of an optical splitter. Make sure to set the TV audio out to PCM. This will minimise any audio delay as well as making sure that the sound format is compatible with any digital-to-analogue audio convertor.

Yeah, I thought it was weird as well. But there you go. Good idea to set PCM.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Timothy Bucktu said:

Easyish...I couldn't find an all in one box either, but these bits are so cheap, it's worth a punt to see how it goes.
Optical splitter...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404554338641?mkcid=16&a...

Optical to 3.5mm and phono

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204498697834?mkcid=16&a...

Edited by Timothy Bucktu on Tuesday 5th December 17:29

Yeah these bits are mega cheap really so it's worth trying. I did find a cheaper splitter on Amazon, only splits into two rather than 3 and doesn't seem like it needs to be powered either. That maybe a bad idea though, if the splitting makes the signals too weak.

[Skyedriver]

I watch TV, mostly motorbike racing, some football using a set of Sony wireless headphones plugged into the headphone socket and the TV sound turned off. I can turn the TV volume up separately so you could do the same. Now as far as I know the Sony set which rest on a wireless transmitting cradle when not in use are not available anymore but think the Sennheiser 175 model is similar.

[Timothy Bucktu]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Timothy Bucktu said:

Easyish...I couldn't find an all in one box either, but these bits are so cheap, it's worth a punt to see how it goes.
Optical splitter...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404554338641?mkcid=16&a...

Optical to 3.5mm and phono

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204498697834?mkcid=16&a...

Edited by Timothy Bucktu on Tuesday 5th December 17:29

Yeah these bits are mega cheap really so it's worth trying. I did find a cheaper splitter on Amazon, only splits into two rather than 3 and doesn't seem like it needs to be powered either. That maybe a bad idea though, if the splitting makes the signals too weak.

Those passive ones are usually two IN one OUT I think? You need one in, two out obviously.

[RizzoTheRat]

When you say hard of hearing, bad enough that she has hearing aids? My inlaws have a system that broadcasts the audio to MiL's hearing aids. Not sure how it works but if she has aids talk to the supplier. I only realised they had it when FiL muted the TV during the adverts to talk to us about something and MiL started laughing about something that was on the TV and hadn't realised we hadn't heard it

[Otispunkmeyer]

RizzoTheRat said:

When you say hard of hearing, bad enough that she has hearing aids? My inlaws have a system that broadcasts the audio to MiL's hearing aids. Not sure how it works but if she has aids talk to the supplier. I only realised they had it when FiL muted the TV during the adverts to talk to us about something and MiL started laughing about something that was on the TV and hadn't realised we hadn't heard it

She does have aids yes, but decides not to wear them all the time. She does have other problems with her ears so perhaps this is why. But it is also an avenue worth exploring.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Timothy Bucktu said:

Those passive ones are usually two IN one OUT I think? You need one in, two out obviously.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EMK-Splitter-Converter-X-...

this is the jobbie. Says you can use it 1-in-2-out. But yeah, I wondered about it having no power supplied to it whether you'd just end up with two signals at half the brightness. It may still work of course as long as its still bright enough for the other thing to handle.

ETA: Just had a look at the Sennheiser RS175. Appears that these have digital input (optical) which is handy. They are pricey tho!

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 6th December 12:22

[Timothy Bucktu]

For the sake of an extra couple of quid, I'd probably go for the active version.

[Otispunkmeyer]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avantree-Bluetooth-Transm...

just found this. Optical pass thru BT transceiver. A neater solution perhaps and then a wider choice of headphones.

ETA:

https://avantree.com/uk/opera-bluetooth-headphones...

Job jobbed perhaps. Pre-paired BT headphones on a charging stand that has optical pass through support.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 6th December 13:00

[Ace-T]

Otispunkmeyer said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avantree-Bluetooth-Transm...

just found this. Optical pass thru BT transceiver. A neater solution perhaps and then a wider choice of headphones.

ETA:

https://avantree.com/uk/opera-bluetooth-headphones...

Job jobbed perhaps. Pre-paired BT headphones on a charging stand that has optical pass through support.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 6th December 13:00

I have these. Wanted headphones I could use with tv, or have it playing through soundbar.

They are great. Super comfy over my glasses, easy to set up and I just mute the soundbar. But it does play through both for folks with different hearing abilities. Dead essy to set up too. We did have a problem with the headphones not retaining charge bust customer service was good and they swapped them out with little fuss.