OK, I bit the bullet and got a refurb from eBay with a >99% seller rating.
It should come by the end of the week, according to the receipt.
I’ll let you all know how it works.
Thanks again for all your responses.
Bob
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I have a related but slightly different issue with my Phonak Slim Lumity 90 aids. When paired with my HP Pro Book they reproduce audio superbly when on video conferencing or watching You Tube clips, but when I attempt to listen to an MP3 file via the VLC media player installed on my laptop, the Bluetooth connection cuts in and out repeatedly making it impossible to follow the recorded conversation.
Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so, is there a readily available fix?
Same computer? If not, that’s the first thing I would check. Using YouTube clips on the second computer.
OK the TV connect is shipped UPS ground and is supposed to be here before the end of the month.
My audi updated the app on my android, and I have new tools to use, compression, and a few others. I tried some noise reduction and top down compression on my Music program, saved it as a duplicate, and I can hear the small monitor better.
When I get the TV Connector, I’ll report and let you know how it’s working.
Bob
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Shipping delay (Ho! Ho! Ho!). I guess it’s that time of the year. Of course, like a child waiting for a new toy, I’m impatient, but I have no choice but to wait. December 1 is the new arrival date.
BTW I’ve done more customizing on the music program, I’ve put the bass up a notch, background noise down, compressed louder peaks, and set the voice recognition to almost straight ahead.
I can hear the music in my small 15watt monitor much better than I could with my 6-year-old Oticons.
As soon as I get it in my greedy little hands, I’ll post a report.
Bob
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I would buy a TV connector for my Phonaks, but the problem is that my housemembers listen to the same TV using Bluetooth-connected speakers, which would produce a very annoying echo for me. So my solution here is to use a cheap, separate Bluetooth transmitter for my HAs, and delay the audio for the speakers using a Lindy Lip Sync Corrector device. These are not very cheap (~70$) but they give me the flexibility I need.
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I have the opposite situation.
Most of the people in the room are listening to non-delayed audio. So I need something that is in sync with them. Plus I have to play sax, guitar, flute, windsynth, and/or sing to the music as well.
I hope the TV connector works for me. Time will tell.
So far, no additional delays have been reported.
I use the TV streamer with my P70s and only if I decrease de sound to a point that I hear the audio from the TV that my wife listens to then there is a VERY small delay, one could just get used to it, Resound has a steamer to that I trialed and it has a adjustment to deal with the delay in either direction, to bad Phonak did not incorporate that since its not new tech.
Thanks.
That concerns me.
Since I have to play/sing along with it, I’ll see how long the delay is.
If it works, it’ll be great, if not, I gave it a try.
It’s milliseconds so shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I really have to pay attention to hear it.
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I’d say the latecy is no more than a wireless guitar transmitter, so should affect you at all
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Thanks.
I believe if the drummer is 6 feet behind the band, it’s a few milliseconds, and I’ve dealt with that, without even noticing it.
If I remember correctly it’s somewhere around 5-6ms depending on air temperature. If the TV Connector is in that area, I’ll have no problem.
I ordered it on November 20, and now it’s due December 1, eleven days later. It’s an exercise in patience. I feel like a kid, waiting for Christmas. 
If UPS doesn’t delay again it’s TV minus 2 and counting.
But in the long run, that’ll be a blink of an eye.
I like the Phonaks much better than the Oticons for music. Since I have an Android phone, the Phonak app lets me customize the music and other settings. I can’t use an iPhone because of another project that I do, writing music for an auto-accompaniment app. It’s MS oriented, and Apple doesn’t play well with others.
I’m tweaking the Music settings for my 15w monitor now, and saving it by another name, so as not to overwrite the original music setting. I will probably create another one for the TV Connector.
I’m 77 years old, still gigging 3-5 days per week in the tourist season, and want to extend my gigging days as long as I can. My first paying job was when I was in junior high school, I’ve been a musician all my life, and it’s still the most fun I can have with my clothes on.
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The TV connect arrived late last night.
We had a morning gig, so I didn’t try it out on the job. I’ll give a full report on that later. Probably Monday, as we have 2 more gigs this weekend, and I’ll try it on both.
First impressions…
I got home and plugged it into an identical mixer that I have in my home studio. I used the headphone jack.
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It paired instantly with my h-aids.
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There is not enough latency to notice.
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The sound is clear.
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On the connector there is a volume control. There is a bit of a lag between tapping the + or - and the volume going up or down. Same for the on/off control.
I also have a volume control on the mixer. Getting the two settings will have to wait until I get on the gig. I’ll start with the mixer’s headphone volume low.
On the Phonak phone app, when it goes from Automatic to TV Connector, the only control I have is the mix between the hearing aids and the sound from the TV Connector. That’s a nice feature.
I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t set the equalization and noise reduction, like I did on the Music setting, but I’ll find out on the gig if that is a problem or not.
If this works as well as or better than the 15w monitor, I’ll be a happy camper.
Bob
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Second impressions:
Gigged with it Saturday and Sunday. I powered the TVConnector (TVC) with a USB from the laptop, and used the headphone output of our mixer to provide the signal (music).
I was actually able to hear the tracks better and at a lower volume than I can with the 15w monitor. That’s a good thing.
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I found I had to adjust the mixer’s headphone output to a very low setting, about 1.5 out of ten. Too much overdrove the TVC and distorted the voices — easy fix — then I just adjusted the volume on the TVC itself.
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The TVC responds to the volume changes quickly, so if a particular song is a bit louder than the others, a tap or two fixes it quickly.
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Everything does sound different, tone wise, but that’s something I will eventually adjust to. Before my hearing deteriorated due to an misdiagnosed allergy, I wore musician’s ear-plugs and adjusted to those just fine.
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Through experimentation, I found I needed to move the balance slider in the phone app more toward the TV side and farther from the surrounding side.
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It switches from Automatic to TV Connector very quickly, but takes a minute or so to switch back to hearing aids. I guess that’s built in, and inconvenient. I’m going to try turning the unit off and on to see if it comes back on quickly.
The bigger tests will come on Wednesday and Friday, as those are the places we gig at, where the crowd is noisiest.
So far it’s a success story.
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Didn’t work as well in the noisy environment. When the audience was dancing, singing along, clapping, lauging, cheering etc., I had to turn the TVC up to where it was slightly uncomfortable.
I’ll try balancing the surround and TVC on the app, and only put the backing tracks channel into the aids.
If I can hear the comp, I can sing and play.
It’s a work in progress.
Bob
Didn’t work as well on noisy Wednesday, tonight will be the real test. This crowd gets really rowdy.
Still experimenting with settings.
I can’t remember if you’ve posted your hearing loss numbers, I’ve forgotten if so. Are you in the range that you could use activevent receivers? They shut out the ambient sound when streaming. I like them quite a bit.
WH
Don’t forget that you can adjust the program in Target.
I haven’t posted my numbers. It just seems like a tool for the ‘bad guys’ on the Internet to exploit. It’s severe. Although I’ve always used musician’s earplugs, a misdiagnosed illness got them.
It seems the combination of using the TVC and my 15w monitor in noisy settings is best.
If I set the slider about 3/4 the way to TV, that suppresses the audience noise a lot. But there is no bass response to the hearing aids, so by turning the treble down and the bass up all the way on the monitor, it fills in.
But the combination of the two lets me listen at a low volume when the audience itself is around 85dba already.
The only problem is between songs. It takes the app about a minute to change back to Automatic, and during that time, I can’t understand an audience member’s speech.
I hate to have my phone out all the time, so I can switch programs in the app. But until I find a better way, that might be the answer.
If you don’t want to use the app, a long press on the button should take you back to autosense from the tv connector.
If you don’t diy your audi can adjust the program to reflect what you are doing manually.
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