Ok, here’s the situation. My parents watch TV through a dish system, not sure which and it’s not important. And, they also watch a few channels from their smart TV (Netflix, Paramount +). The receiver handles the connection from the Dish receiver and pipes the picture signal through the HDMI cable to the TV. The TV takes care of this through it’s HDMI cable back to the receiver.
Home audio 101.
Here is where it gets tricky. I needed to add two sets of headphones. And, when I say add, I mean I need to be able to hear the TV from the speakers connected to the receiver AND from the headphones. Yes, at the same time and preferably with separate volume controls. This is a thing that one would think would be a snap. The device linked below was the one that finally made it work, mostly because it worked.
This project started 4-5 years ago. Sound Designers for movies and TV continue insisting on only being able to listen to their content from a full blown movie theater with 80 speakers. it’s to the point that most of you over the age of 30 have turned on captions. Now, imagine trying to listen to it with aged ears. Headphones to the rescue has always been my thought, and I have finally realized success!
Years of trial and error brought me to the following items:
I have tried about 1/2 dozen different solutions before finding the Avantree Orbit Pro. This device takes audio from RCA, optical or HDMI and converts it to a Bluetooth signal that can playback to 2 sets of headphones. If necessary, you can pass that sound along to another output like a soundbar.
The Optical switch is the real magic to make this happen. This allows for multiple optical inputs to be switched into a single input.
The setup goes like this:
- optical out from the TV and dish receiver. Those go into the switch at position 1 and 2.
- Output of switch goes into the Avantree device.
- Avantree device transmits the signal out to Tozo Heaphones. out to the Tozo headphones.
The main reason I selected this particular switch is it’s remote control that allows the users to select their source with a simple button press. It adds a remote the stack, which isn’t ideal. Luckily, I happen to be a professional at documentation and technical writing to work up some reference pages in Apple notes.
The headphones arrived with out-of-date firmware! That took me about 1/2 hour to figure out after reading through the Amazon reviews. Downloaded the app, created an account, then connected each of the phones to my iphone and updated their firmware. After that, the correct codec for improved latency was installed and lip sync delay was a thing of the past!
Volume control happens at the headphones. The Avantree device has volume controls, but to ease use, I have it turned to max. This way, the user doesn’t have to fuss with the thing too much.
This 100% works. The headphones are comfortable in multiple positions and provide the clarity and volume my parents have been hoping for! And the headphones work at the same time as the speakers, which has been one of the blockers for this request.
If you are trying to pair bluetooth headphones to your TV or Dish receiver, or both at the same time, and are looking for a solution, this is it.
, AMA!