Why do smart TVs make it so hard to connect to my headphones?

Date:
Sat, 18 Sep 2021 16:00:50 +0000

Description:
Bluetooth audio on TVs isnt always straightforward but are manufacturers or user habits the problem?

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Another day, another frustrating attempt to connect headphones to a smart TV
.

As a TV reviewer, a lot of screens come my way, and the biggest pain of the testing process is no doubt getting my various gear games consoles,
streaming devices , audio accessories, and streaming service accounts all
set up and good to go. And I cant help but wonder why connecting wireless headphones , in particular, is usually so much of a bother.

While some smart TVs these days still come with cabled headphone outputs, its an increasingly rare sight and rightly so, given the rise of wireless audio and the fact that wired headphones rarely come with a cable long enough to watch TV comfortably at the same time.

There are plenty of wireless headphones to choose from, including dedicated headphones for TV watching that can carry 5.1 (or even 7.1) channel audio as well as active noise cancellation to keep out the sound of your family, friends and home. But its perfectly possible to connect bog-standard wireless earbuds or over-ear cans and enjoy some solo audio time.

Its possible, that is, but not always intuitive. Ive had plenty of issues
just trying to find the correct settings which tend to be hidden far away from the Audio settings youd think they would be housed in. Anker projectors like the Nebula Solar Portable (which features Android TV) keep the
connection options under Remotes & Accessories, rather than Audio while new Panasonic OLED TVs with HomeMyScreen keep them under a Setup submenu (Setup > Bluetooth Setup > Bluetooth Audio) rather than Sound.

If youre familiar with this quirk of connection settings, its not too hard to figure out what to do though even then the experience isnt always seamless. (Image credit: Shutterstock) Lets connect

TV reviewer and calibration specialist Vincent Teoh, from HDTVTest , says
that I don't think it's a priority for TV manufacturers, and that if it's not a priority, TV manufacturers generally won't allocate resources to implement it.

That somewhat echoes the official response from Anker, which tells us that Bluetooth isnt an essential feature, with only around a quarter of their customers tending to use it with their projector range.

When connecting to Panasonic TVs, its important to set the sound to
'Bluetooth Only' to ensure the TV remote is controlling the headphones themselves. But we found that the touch controls on our high-end, over-ear Sony WH-1000XM4 cans simply wouldnt work when they were connected to the Panasonic JZ2000, which felt like an odd ability to lose in that context.

And its clear that the lack of interest in Bluetooth connectivity in TVs partially from manufacturers, and partially from users, most of whom dont use the feature regularly if at all is causing occasional blind spots like
these, where compatibility with headphones only goes so far. Sometimes, as with the LG E9 OLED we reviewed back in 2019, the Bluetooth connectivity simply wont work at all.

To Panasonics credit, it did include a new dual Bluetooth feature in its 2021 TV range, allowing you to have separate volume settings for two connected headphones and dual connection is now the norm on the new Apple TV 4K for
the Apple AirPods too.

But theres clearly a long way to go before Bluetooth implementation in smart TVs is as seamless and easily accessible as it is to switch between picture presets at the press of a button.

For those who want to watch TV and films with their headphones, there are avenues available to do so just dont expect it to be as simple as it should be for a good while yet. How to connect wireless headphones to your TV



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/why-do-smart-tvs-make-it-so-hard-to-connect-to- my-headphones/


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