Tendak Digital to Analog Audio Converter - Earphones for Sat TV & Videos via USB on a LG Smart TV

[classylassie]

I am trying to help my cousin who requires earphones while watching TV/Movies. He has a LG Smart TV with a Polk Audio Soundbar. Neither has Bluetooth "out" and from what I understand from retail sellers only the latest tv or soundbars have it. TV has optical audio out - I used the above converter so that I could split the TV out Optical to both his earphones and the Soundbar. It works great for the Sat TV. However on the videos on the hard drive that is plugged into the tv via USB - only some of the sound on the videos work. Because the video files on the hard drive contain various audio formats only some of them work. Does anyone know of a more versatile converter that would be able to play all audio formats. The sound bar does plays the audio for both the Sat TV and any of the videos. The hard drive has a lot of videos so it would be a big job to convert the audio on all those files. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Alabalcho]

A dedicated media player (so called "Android TV boxes") would play (almost) everything. Other option is to have a dedicated PC acting as a DLNA server, with transcoding.

 

[classylassie]

A dedicated media player (so called "Android TV boxes") would play (almost) everything. Other option is to have a dedicated PC acting as a DLNA server, with transcoding.

Thanks Alabalcho,
I have a extra WD Media player would that work? Not sure if this thinking is correct, if the wd media player is connected to tv via HDMI cable then the audio would be converted to a playable audio. Then the optical audio out from the tv would then be in a format the earphones could play?

 

[Alabalcho]

I haven't play with WD Media Player for ages, but as far as I remember, it had quite good support for video and audio formats. Whether audio will pass fro TV thru your earphones is completely different issue, and it will be present with any external source. You might have to switch audio outputs between TV and media player.

 

[classylassie]

Thanks again Alabalcho, I know the WD does play all the files, as another friend of mine uses it for the same files. I was wondering about the same thing, but I don't think the WD has audio out other than through the HDMI connection. I will check that out or other alternatives.

 

[classylassie]

I haven't play with WD Media Player for ages, but as far as I remember, it had quite good support for video and audio formats. Whether audio will pass fro TV thru your earphones is completely different issue, and it will be present with any external source. You might have to switch audio outputs between TV and media player.

You suggested an android box, if the earphones are plugged into the audio out on the box will the audio still play out of the sound bar? I tried this with my roku and when the earphones are plugged in the TV sound stops. I also should have mentioned my cousins are almost 80, one has a hearing problem and the other doesn't. So it needs to be fairly simple to use.

 

[Alabalcho]

For TVs, it's normal for speakers to be cut off when a headphone is plugged in. For Android boxes - probably not, but I can't answer that, I'm afraid...