Help with new TV & Sony Headphones connection

tAKticool

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
15
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10,560
Hi everyone-

I need some help from the brain trust here.

I bought a new TV on Black Friday from Walmart --- very great deal --- and it's an off-brand 55" 4K from a brand called Sceptre ... It works, looks great, etc.

The problem is that my father has been having more and more trouble with his hearing as the years go by ... and we got him a set of Sony wireless headphones a few years back. These worked perfectly with the 40" Dynex 1080p that had been being used since Christmas 2009. However for the life of me I cannot seem to make them work on this Sceptre, and I'm beginning to think I'm screwed here and it doesn't have the right connections.

The Sony headphone tower has 2 (or 3 depending on your perspective) connection ports - it has the White and Red L & R connector ports which read Audio 1 L Audio 1 R , and then it has a single port that reads Audio 2. It came with several cords --- but when we were setting it up originally for the Dynex years back, we just used the single-ended Audio 2 cord on the tower and the Red & White connectors into the Red & White connections on the television. No problems.

HOWEVER, This is not working on the Sceptre. First off the connections are different, and they seem less numerous. I Googled pictures of different Sceptre TVs, and they have multiple, many connections on the SIDE of the TV, as well as the back. I have only 2 connections on the SIDE (a USB & an HDMI, neither one I need right now) and a few different connections on the back. The back has what I believe is a single-port "Digital Audio Out" port, then it has a white & red port, next to another 3 ports -- the red and white are paired together, and then a green, blue, and red together. Then there is a "line in" port and a few HDMIs & USBs.

As I said above, I have tried plugging the red & white connectors into the red & white connections - it's just not working. I have tried plugging different cords into different places. Apparently the green, blue, and red are something called "YPbPr" -- no help there. I have tried messing with the menu settings -- something about enabling Digital Audio Out (didn't help) ... I have tried just about everything. This seems to be a very stupid problem to have but a problem nonetheless because without the headphones, my father needs to have the TV turned up to maximum volume and that's a problem for the dog, other people, etc. Just a big mess.

And I cannot seem to get this thing figured out! It seems like it should be just a case of either putting the right wires into the right places or enabling a setting.

Any help here? I could use it, thanks!

OK EDIT/UPDATE-

So I made some progress, I THINK I'm okay now but not 1001% sure.
This is the TV : Sceptre 55" Class 4K Ultra HD (2160P) LED TV (U550CV-U)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-55-Class-4K-Ultra-HD-2160P-LED-TV-U550CV-U/46784939

I was waiting for responses on here and I wound up watching a video from Sony on how to set them up. It recommended that if you can't set it up (The way I had been) , to "reverse it" -- I used the single-ended plug that resembles a headphone jack, and plugged it into the Line Out port on the TV. This made the headphones work. Progress!! Success!! ---- only not.

Apparently this TV has a Speaker On/off setting that correlates with the Digital Out -- in other words, I could set it to use the headphones or the TV speaker, but not both. This would be a nonstarter ... I mean what if company was here, or even if I wanted to watch a game with my father -- either he could listen in the headphones or the TV speaker on, not both. Not going to work.

HOWEVER, the Sony video also recommended trying connecting the headphones directly to the Cable (in this case Satellite) TV box --- however it used a different type of port! However I happened to have an "A/V Out " cord with one thick, multi-metal-rod connector on one end and the Yellow/White/Red connectors on the other end. I simply plugged in the thick end on the Satellite box, and the white and red connectors on the Headphones tower , and it seems like this is the ticket. I then disabled the digital audio out on the TV, and can use the TV speaker volume up or down as we want, and the headphones are being played through the DirecTV box.

(The only problem is that there is a slight, slight delay... almost like an echo, because the headphones get the sound just a bit quicker than the TV speaker. But I think we can live with this.)

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE, this community has always been extremely helpful to me for over a decade, and I appreciate it immensely. Any other tips or advice, greatly appreciated.
 

captaincharisma

Distinguished
it sounds like the old TV had composite or what use to be called RCA jacks (white,yellow,blue) and you new TV does not. most TV's today no longer come with these kind of jacks especially off brand TV's where they limit the number of inputs compared to brad name ones come with . if this is the case you will have to purchase something like a soundbar at has the same kind of jacks or a headphone like jack to be able to use the headphones again.

 

tAKticool

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
15
3
10,560
One thing I am still wondering is if there is a way to force it to allow both the TV speaker and the digital-out/headphones etc. to play at the same time. Seems like a pretty el-cheapo lack-of-feature to me. Was a very cheap deal, can't complain TOO much. But still.
 

In this instance I just think 2 simultaneous output is not mainstream application, no matter how sympathetic one is to the hard of hearing community.

In my current not-so-cheap TV, I can get simultaneous outputs and still get the echo, and if I want to use HDMI ARC, that automatically disables the built-ins, no way to override.
 

tAKticool

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
15
3
10,560
Are you fools listening to yourself?

Free market, off-brand, and "no matter how sympathetic one is to the hard of hearing community" ?

I mean really now, some of you need to get a grip and get a life. I was asking for help with a setting of a TV, please, don't make me say something to embarrass you.