Bam! Thank you, cottemar! The double-tap did it. It’s definitely the key statement in the instructions (which I obviously skipped over because I know everything there is to know about this sort of thing,) 
The first trial is to see if it releases me when I get 25’ away to the TV Connector.
Thanks again!!
The original TV Connector does not have a volume control, but the V2 (the one I have – $100 “refurbished” on eBay, but they are mostly more than that now) – has an On/Off switch and Increase/Decrease buttons. Dolby Digital is supported – at least on the V2 TV Connector – as long as the optical connection is used and the TV output is set to Dolby.
If you have a link to the V2 Connector manual or spec sheet, that sure would be helpful. I’d like to be sure about this because the manuals on the phonak & phonakpro sites all specify that Dolby Digital and DTS are not supported, only sterero (PCM).
Thanks!
Page 18…Dolby IS supported…DTS is NOT
Note this at the top of p. 13:
“The TV Connector can receive and transmit Dolby Audio™, stereo or mono audio signals. Please make sure no DTS function has been enabled in TV (or on alternative audio source) settings.”
If anyone wants one of these, Amazon has a $6 coupon probably today only. With tax it came to $23.31! It might still be available. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098RWHV6R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Or use the link in first post.
I think there may be confusion with the terminology. From your link and the Phonak site manuals:
The TV Connector supports Dolby Audio™, stereo or mono audio signals. Please make sure that the TV or audio source is not using the DTS audio setting. If this audio signal is present, the LED indicator on the TV Connector will be blinking red. Please change the audio signal to Dolby Audio™ or stereo (PCM) in the audio settings menu of your TV or audio source.
Note that Dolby Digital is not specified; that omission is significant. Dolby Audio is simply the blanket term for the various Dolby technologies. The Phonak device is limited to PCM digital stereo, where by comparison to Dolby Digital (or DTS), the “sound does not include discrete audio information for multiple channels. Instead, sound is extrapolated from a two-channel (stereo) signal.”
The distinction is shown more explicitly here in the Resound TV device spec:
*Stereo PCM
*- Sample rate: Up to 192 kHz
*- Sample resolution: Up to 32 bit
*Dolby Digital
*- Channels: Max 5.1
*- Bitrate: 32 kbs to 640 kbs
*- Sample rate: 32, 44.1, and 48 kHz
The Oticon and Signia TV devices (which are the same) state it this way:
TOSLINK. Either digital stereo (PCM) or Dolby® Digital
Dolby Digital and DTS formats utilize “perceptual data reduction techniques to remove useless data in PCM signal output, thereby preserving high fidelity sound." Both are 5.1 channel; they differ in bit rates and compression technology while achieving very similar results: They both remove noise otherwise found in PCM and both enhance sound quality in a way not possible with PCM, using their own codecs.
So both Dolby Digital and DTS are superior and distinct from PCM digital stereo. If the Phonak device supported Dolby Digital it would need to explicitly state so for licensing purposes (as the competitor devices do), but it does not.
Thanks mingus… all I know is my original Phonak TV Converter downstairs serves a Samsung w/ sound settings at Dolby Digital, and is fed via the optic cable. The significantly less expensive Amazon Converter I have upstairs requires PCM setting on that Samsung… the major jest of this thread was to call folks attention to a found alternative, albeit a lesser alternative in some ways, to the brand-name converters that have always been so expensive, and are now becoming more-so & scarce.
Fair enough. Thanks.
How would you get Dolby 5.1 sound when you have only two “speakers,” one in each ear?
You don’t - but then again, you do. The Dolby Digital encoder can utilize up to 6 channels, but it will be delivered in whichever speaker configuration is supported. Here is how it works:
Many Dolby Digital decoders are equipped with downmixing to distribute encoded channels to speakers. This includes such functions as playing surround information through the front speakers if surround speakers are unavailable, and distributing the center channel to left and right if no center speaker is available. When outputting to separate equipment over a 2-channel connection, a Dolby Digital decoder can optionally encode the output using Dolby Surround to preserve surround information.
“Preserving surround information” is what I get through my 2.1 soundbar and is also what I surprisingly experienced while using the Signia “Streamline TV” connector. While of course neither the soundbar nor the connector w/HA’s can deliver a full 5.1 speaker experience, with both I can hear objects which sound spatially separated from other objects and the voices. Essentially the encoder/decoder algorithms mix the sound in such a way as to create a multi-dimension perception for the listener, aka “virtual sound.”
For sound encoded in Dolby Digital, a Dolby Digital decoder is required to deliver that encoded audio. If the device is limited to digital stereo (PCM), the additional DD encoded sound information in the source is lost. This is why I raised the question in my previous post a few days ago: The decoder matters.
When I bought the TV Connector for my KS9s the advantage of the TV Connector over a Bluetooth connection was supposed to be in battery life–Bluetooth supposedly used batteries much faster than the TV Connector.
So I will be interested to see what @cottemar experience is with battery life.
I have Signia aids. Will this work with those?
Thanks Bob… i’ve noted no real difference between the Phonak unit & the Amazon.
Always appreciate a more economical option. I’m curious about the difficulty in pairing? The advantage of the TV connector is that connecting is pretty seamless. At worst I have to press a button on the back of the unit and it gives me a signal and just starts working. Anytime I’ve tried to bluetooth connect to something (like my computer) it becomes much more difficult (at least for me) I have Phonak Marvels and I find I have to go to my bluetooth settings, forget other devices, put my aids in pairing mode by turning them off and restarting. Is all that required with the device that is available on Amazon? BTW I just looked via the original link and they are saying its no longer available. Along these lines is anyone aware of a device that transmits on the same frequency as the TV connectors. I got one of mine from my audiologist at the Phonak price and bought 2 additional units at Costco for 99.00
Hi Butch!..well, sure 'nuff it’s unavailable. However, the pairing holds once paired, & the process was basically the same as the TV Connector.
That said, I’ll share that I’ve also paired a Unitron uTV-3 that I had bought for my other HAs…paired up fine & uses the optic cable for feed from TV.
There are similar bluetooth transmitters available on Amazon. I tried one of mine that I use for Blueooth headphones on my TV output last night. There WAS a slight echo, but when I turned the TV sound off and just used my KS 10’s I was surprised at how good the lipsync was. It is way off when watching video on my PC and using bluetooth to the hearing aids.
As for the AptX low latency feature on my transmitter, the headphones or hearing aids also have to have the low latency feature built in, and the Phonaks do not have it, so I was expecting bad lipsync. I think that the TV connector from Phonak uses an FM signal which uses less juice and isn’t subject to lipsync issues. I am happy to stand corrected if someone has more info.
I’m sure it’s Bluetooth LE but set to a specific Phonak frequency, called Airstream technology.
You are probably right. Their description is vague, but it is 2.4g so not FM. How do they get the low latency??
