[pinkbob]

There is no optical connection on my tv...I am thinking of buying a bluetooth soundbar which is connected via optical, and further use bluetooth headphones to listen, can I connect to my Skybox instead of tv and achieve good results/ thanks folks

[chrisjr]

If all you ever watch is Sky then that will work. If you have an other kit connected to the TV then it won't make any noise when watching a DVD/Blu-Ray movie for example.

What TV is it? And what soundbar? There may be alternative methods of connection but without knowing what you've got impossible to suggest any.

I've not seen any soundbars that allow you to pair with headphones. Virtually all the ones I've seen that have Bluetooth are to pair with a mp3 player or similar so you can play music from the player via the soundbar.

[pinkbob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

If all you ever watch is Sky then that will work. If you have an other kit connected to the TV then it won't make any noise when watching a DVD/Blu-Ray movie for example.

What TV is it? And what soundbar? There may be alternative methods of connection but without knowing what you've got impossible to suggest any.

I've not seen any soundbars that allow you to pair with headphones. Virtually all the ones I've seen that have Bluetooth are to pair with a mp3 player or similar so you can play music from the player via the soundbar.

Thnx for your interest....TV is a 50" Panasonic Model TH-50PX60B, bought 8 years ago!
not bought the soundbar yet but its a Sharp HTSB32D Soundbar with Bluetooth I was thinking of getting.....the idea of the exercise is to use my existing bluetooth headset to hear the TV as I'm hard of hearing so wont have to have the tv blasting, I have tried a Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the headphone socket on the TV but sound is very poor, if you have an alternative idea, I'm all "ears" lol thnx

[chrisjr]

OK. The TV does not have any kind of digital out. But it does have a pair of phono sockets (between the SCART and PC VGA sockets) for audio out. The soundbar does have an analogue input on a 3.5mm stereo jack by the look of it. So a simple stereo jack to two phono plugs lead would sort that out and let you hear sound from anything connected to the telly.

However. I can find nothing in the manual for the soundbar that suggests the Bluetooth can be used with headphones. It seems it can only be used to get audio into the soundbar, ie to play audio from an mp3 player, phone or similar. It does not appear to be able to send audio to some other device such as your headphones.

So if you were wanting to use it as a headphone amp (in effect) then I fear that might not work.

It could be your Bluetooth headphones are too limited for your needs. If you have the transmit unit plugged into the headphone socket on the TV how "loud" do you have the TV volume control set to? If it is close to or at 100% then it could be too high for the Bluetooth system and causing distortion. Too low and the Bluetooth headphones need to be cranked up to 11 to hear anything. Getting the balance right between TV and Bluetooth volumes right can be a pain.

An alternative might be a more conventional pair of wireless headphones. These might deliver a cleaner sound. Most have their own volume controls so the base unit can be plugged into the audio out on the back of the telly which may also clean up the sound. If your headphones have their own volume control you could try that as well if you have a suitable connecting lead.

If you do decide to change headphones then have a look at these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-W.../dp/B005SO0OFE

75 quid but Sennheiser make some very fine headphones.

[pinkbob]

I understand your explanation for the soundbar and bluetooth, I definitely had the wrong idea there so will not now be buying that. In all honesty I had not even thought about the volume control on the tv to boost the bluetooth headphones, I have just tried, went through the full volume control on both tv and headset but only recieving the one volume level which is actually very good and clear but not loud enough. I bought wireless headphones many years ago, I remember they were big things, I think I still have them somewhere, will search them out.
Many thanks for your help

[chrisjr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkbob

I understand your explanation for the soundbar and bluetooth, I definitely had the wrong idea there so will not now be buying that. In all honesty I had not even thought about the volume control on the tv to boost the bluetooth headphones, I have just tried, went through the full volume control on both tv and headset but only recieving the one volume level which is actually very good and clear but not loud enough. I bought wireless headphones many years ago, I remember they were big things, I think I still have them somewhere, will search them out.
Many thanks for your help

When you say you went through the full range of volume on the TV did that vary the speaker volume? If so it is possible that the volume control on the remote only alters the speakers. The headphone level is controlled separately.

This is most likely the case if plugging the headphones in does not mute the TV speakers. So you might have to dive into the menus to find the headphone volume control.

There is also a possibility that the headphone socket can be put into "Line Out" mode which is likely to be fixed level. So that would need changing to Headphone mode to allow you to alter the volume.

If you need a manual you can download it from the Panasonic website

http://www.panasonic.eu/Downloads/en_GB/popup.html

Put the model number in the search box. You then have to agree some T&Cs to access the manual. That is why I can't do a direct link to the actual PDF doc.

[pinkbob]

What can I say....you my friend are an absolute genius, the answer was the headphone setting in the TV menu, now using the bluetooth transmitter, their too loud now need to turn it down, its always a simple answer to, you just gotta know it! wish I could buy you a drink sometime, thank you so much......