Comparison of Phonak TV Connector: OLD vs NEW model

I have one of the newer TV Connectors. I bought it because with the Bluetooth transmitter I bought, I had considerable latency. This is the Marvels, and I know that because I have one of the little, old style remote mics that was used with the Compilot. When I pair that Mic with the Compilot and use my older B50 aids, I get no latency. But when I pair that same mic to the Marvels, I get latency. The main thing that annoys me about the TV connector is that like Bluetooth, it loses connectivity with my aids and I hear the Autosense startup jungle. This from a distance of no more than 8 feet. This happens several times an hour. The device is pretty easy to use, and the sound is OK,I guess. Certainly nothing to write home about. I guess the one thing I do like about it is the stereo effect on content from my TV. I rarely notice that coming from my external TV speakers, but it is quite noticeable when using the TV connector. Also, the TOSlink connector is also the 1/8" stereo sound input. I guess I had not seen that before though others have told me it is pretty common. I don’t really think it is worth the price I paid for it. I hope soon used units will begin appearing on eBay. I have my eye out for a used remote mic for the marvels. I have heard good things from the few people who have reported using them.

It’s the same device but the new ones have the buttons. Some of my patients have bought wireless plugs/outlets to remotely turn them off and on because the indicators drive them crazy. They work well but that was a poor design from Phonak. MFi usually has more options and flexibility.

Gary, I checked the H/A’s App (Called just Remote" on Settings/Apps & Notifications/“Remote” (the name Phonak gave the app for the KS9 version of these H/As) on my phone and the history is blank - that is, to-wit: “This app has not posted any notifications.” which would lead me to suggest that perhaps the dings are not being generated by the phone, but by the H/As.

Or at least they could have made the dinging option a user-controlled option on the Connector rather than a programmer option on the hearing aids!

I have lots of YouTube and Twitter subscriptions. I have email notifications. I have Facebook notifications. I have texting notifications. My phone is chiming all the time. I turn notifications OFF and not even a peep until I turn notifications back ON again. Try turning notifications OFF and see what happens.

Gary,

You may want to test this again. The chime only comes on mine when the Connector stops transmitting. I can start and stop sounds from my phone (music, etc.) and the phone audio supersedes the TV Connector audio after about a second and then the TV audio cuts back in about a second after the phone audio stops. But no chime.

The only time I get a chime is when I pause or turn off the TV and after 45 seconds the HA chimes (for disconnection) I think because the TV Connector stops transmitting. I also get a chime when I go out of range.

But as I said at the beginning, with the TV playing, I can play sounds from my phone and I never get any chime as the TV audio cuts in and out, superseded by the phone audio when present. In fact, I can start playing a song on my phone, it supersedes the TV audio, and then 10 seconds later I pause the TV program, and I never even get the 45 second chime.

For reference, I have the old-style TV connector (without buttons on the top). Perhaps this is why I get a chime 45 seconds after the audio stops instead of the 20 seconds you reported. But other than that, the notification that causes the chiming should be HA-originated, and should be irrespective of which TV Connector one has.

AFAIK the constant chiming is a connection bug in the link-access protocol, causing it to connect/disconnect repeatedly. I experienced it a few times and I got it to go away by rebooting the HAs.

1 Like

Yes, I absolutely understand what you’re saying. Just like yours, my TV Connector only chimes when it breaks from a computer sound source and then only after about 45 seconds. My phone however chimes from many sources and the notification interrupts the sound source on my computer for a few seconds. And that’s why I frequently turn “Do Not Disturb” ON/OFF.

I really need to take the time to go to settings > Apps & Notifications on my phone and turn some of these pesky notifications OFF permanently. They’re irritating even when I’m not using my TV Connector. I look at these apps on my phone often enough that I really don’t need to hear chiming all the time! :sunglasses:

1 Like

Yes, I end up turning off my A2DP connection in my BT settings because there are just too many notifications that pop up.

But I wanted to call this out because it’s different from the “constant chiming” problem people are talking about with the TV connector. The constant chiming people are hearing is the TV Connector disconnection chime.

1 Like

Yes, I agree and good point. I was just pointing out additional chime sources. I just now turned OFF notifications for Facebook, twitter and YouTube where most of my irritating notifications come from. I should have done that a long time ago.

2 Likes

In my case I made the TV unit turn on and off with the TV, no dinging when it is turned off. Simple solution.

Your ‘do not disturb’ tip just made my day. Also have many notifications coming in and the interrupts the notification sounds cause with my hearing the streaming program are disruptive Many thanks…

1 Like

How new is the model you’ve tested for us? I got my TV Connector in August. 7% better hearing and more volume control range sounds worth it. The information/instructions I got with mine were minimal, disappointing. My housemate just got the new Phonaks and was told he could use my TV Connector. No way to figure out how that gets set up or how it will work with both of us using the same device. Your post was most helpful…perfect timing for me to find today. Thank you.

All your housemate needs to do is pair his Phonaks to your TV Connector. (You can pair as many as 8 HA’s to a TV Connector.) You set a central volume (about midway) on the TV Connector and then control individual volume with your own HA’s. It’s really simple and easy.

I have one of the new connectors with volume. I’ve found that I like to have the volume set high and then lower the volume to taste on my hearing aid or using the app. If I do the opposite, I can hear static mixed in with the audio.

Did you connect with the audio jack or did you connect with the fiber optic connection? I have a recent OLED TV with a fiber optic audio connector. My audio is crystal clear.

One of the issues I intend to address with my fitter on Friday is have her set my hearing aids to get rid of the constant “dinging” on the TV Connector connected to my laptop. I seem to recall that there are 3 settings, the current one that drives me nuts, plus one that turns off all dings, and an intermediate one whose behavior I am unclear on.
Any clarification and suggestion as to which setting I should request would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Fiber. I find there is a bit of noise if I amplify a low volume signal. If I turn up the volume on the connector and lower the volume on my HAs, then there is no detectable noise.

One other nitpick about the connector. Since I enabled fiber optic output, my TV no longer accepts commands from HDMI devices. So, my Chromecast can’t turn my TV on anymore. Minor deal, but it’s a shortcoming that I think is common to many televisions.

OK. The noise could be endemic to your particular TV audio circuit. I’m not experiencing that. If the noise is coming from your TV Connector, I would consider exchanging it. You might try the TV Connector on another TV or a computer to test.

I’m feeding both my TV Connector and my Sound Bar from the same fiber optic port using a Y connection. I also have a Chromecast Ultra connected to an HDMI port. My Chromecast works as it should.

Hi Nate - This is the screen you need to use get rid of the dinging. I have it set at Manual, which means that it never makes a sound. You have to connect to the program manually with the app, or button presses on the aids - it just becomes an additional program. Really annoying that it becomes the “last” program, and not the “first” if you are using the button presses, and have to cycle through the manual programs first - 4 long presses fells like forever! On the app its instantaneous of course. I prefer manual as most of the time i’m in range, I don’t want to connect, and also now I never have to touch the TV connector at all (it’s hidden behind the TV & powered by USB from the TV). Good luck ! Bob

image