Hi,
I have a relative moving into an aged care facility and need to purchase a TV that has a headphone jack as you are not allowed to use the TV speakers as it may disturb other people.
The current TV seem to only have RCA outlets to go to an Amp. Any help in coming up with a solution or a TV with outlet would be greatly appreciated
Colin
Thanks Hellbound.
I thought about the RCA cables and tested on TV but it did not mute the TV Speaker.
Whats the tv model/brand?
Probably need to go into the settings and select external speaker only
On my Samsung tv I mute it when I'm using headphones. This stops the sound coming out of the tv speaker but it still goes to the headphones.
RCA won't drive phones directly as it has too low signal and it is a fixed level - it is not controlled by the volume of the TV. It needs to go through a small amplifier with headphones socket - example small portable cd player with line in and phones jack, possibly wireless headphones (make sure it has a independent vol control and line in), small ipod dock with line in and phones out etc.
I suggest buying another tv with a proper phones out to keep it simple. Tough choice for an ozbargainer. Or if you have an electronics inclined friend, do a simple fix to add a headphones socket to the TV. The cost is a few pieces of wire and a socket, and lots of free time. Sadly, not many tvs today come with phones sockets -it saves the manufacturer about 20 cents in production.
Let me just add that 4 years ago when I was shopping for flat screen TVs, I had a heck of a time finding one with with a 3.5 headphone jack. I eventually found one, but it was like only 1 in 7-8 models I looked at that had them.
Just last month, I was shopping again and I am happy to have found that models with the headphone jack are once again quite a bit more common. (I only looked at 3 models this time, but each of them had a jack)
I want TVs with the headphone jack precisely because I want to hook up headphones or a cheap set of 2.1 speakers to it. I doubt my audio would make a audiophile happy, but for me, it works a treat!
-Anecdotal evidence-
I have one of these connected to RCA.
You can plug in up to 4 headphones or wireless headphones (for headphone parties)
http://www.allansbillyhyde.com.au/prod/BEHA400/Behringer_Mic…
Got mine for $25 on sale.
@ IMFrugal - I wish they put them in soundbars too. I don't want to listen to 5.1ch all the time.
Other options aside, and there a number that you may consider too fiddly, the small and potentially very cheap - eBay/Amazon - headphone amp+TV-menu speaker-muting (IF an available option on the current set), is indeed one to consider.
If buying a new TV (you don't mention the size in question), because of anticipated use in close-quarters, manufacturers are more likely (I presume, still), to include a headphone jack on smaller sets.
I bought a Samsung 27 inch TV for use in the kitchen, just three years ago. It has a headphone jack.
If you look for sets that size and smaller (if otherwise suitable) you might find that models that allow headphone-use are still common.
There will still be some larger models kicking around that also allow.
I just had a look at the rear of a 22 inch TV, purchased for use elsewhere in the house. Headphone jack on the rear panel - and a 3.5mm line-level audio INPUT. Don't mix-up those two when you go shopping.
Can't just use an RCA to 3.5mm adapter?
Samsung TV's have 3.5mm audio out, don't see why this wouldn't work fine for headphones, even if it's not labelled as such