The Best Way to Watch TV

I Hate My Bluetooth TV Headset. Here’s Why..

Why Bluetooth is the worst technology for a television headset

I was excited when my Bluetooth TV headsets arrived because the prospect of listening to tv as loud as I wanted without my wife constantly telling me to turn down volume was golden. In addition, I was told I could mute the tv so she couldn’t hear what I was watching, which is nice.  

Like most of us, I love my Bluetooth headsets for listening to music so out of habit I purchased a Bluetooth TV headset for my TV. What I big mistake! I’m not mentioning the manufacture because I’m not here to bash them but I am here to save you from making the same mistake. 

Audio Delay: Bluetooth was originally developed for secure communications, which ads a lot of what techies call overhead. This overhead of two-way cross checking slows down the audio. The result is the audio won’t keep up with the lips. Think of an old Bruce Lee movie. Ugh! Totally annoying. 

Pairing: Pairing my Bluetooth headset to my phone is easy and it works great but pairing my Bluetooth headset to my television was a nightmare because the user interface with televisions in general really sucks and my tv was no better. Ask yourself how do you put your TV in search mode? Well after a lot of reading and calling around I figure it out and besides the audio delay I was convincing myself I made a good purchase. But when I turned off my television it disconnected my headset. Ugh again! Then my Bluetooth Headset decided it preferred to connect to my iPad and iPhone instead of my TV. This happened every time I powered off my TV.  

Peer to Peer: Bluetooth is peer to peer meaning by design the device, such as your iPhone, iPad or in this case my television, only communicates with my headset. Think about using your Bluetooth headset with your phone. Once it connects you are the only one that can hear it, which is the way you want it. But when it comes to watching tv it would be nice if my wife could set the television volume so she can hear it while I crank up the volume in my headset. NO! Or what if my wife and I want to both wear a headset to watch TV. No again! 

Solution and my recommendation 

I finally figured out that when it comes to TV headsets, Bluetooth sucks! A much better technology is good old Infrared or 5.8 Ghz RF. Neither of these technologies has an audio delay, neither of these technologies need pairing to use and neither of these technologies is peer to peer meaning my wife and I and theoretically my entire neighborhood could all be wearing a headset watching the same program. 

 

 

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