Can confirm. Streaming affects battery life for nearly every hearing aid, rechargeable or not.
Hi Abram.
Many thanks for providing me with the means of copy posts, which I inadvertently posted on the Widex discussion group to this forum. I’ve done this incase anyone else is experiencing problems with the new Widex TV Play.
[Member Nick 31 Jan 2019]
I’m pleased with my new Widex Evoke 440 hearing aids but disappointed with TV Play. I’ve tested with two TV Play devices (having returned the first one) as well as TV DEX. The sound from the TV Play devices is distorted. I feel like I’m hearing a split second echo or some sort of interference. I’ve tried with multiple TV Play devices and three different TV’s in my house. I’ve checked the TV output to insure the source was digital. All are consistently distorted.
On the other hand, the older TV DEX device provides a much clearer sound.
Has anyone else encountered similar problems with TV Play and is there a solution? I’d prefer to use the newer TV Play technology but will have to return this device unless I can find a way for it to provide a clear sound.
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[Noel 03 Feb]
Hi.
I’ve had my Evoke 440 F2’s for a couple of months. I saw the premature release information regarding the release of ‘TV Play’ in the UK and thought that this, and new aids, would solve a major problem I have.
I have a pair of Sennheiser RS 195 wireless headphones, which being digital, suffer from latency. This results in the sound from the TV speakers arriving before the sound from the headphones, causing a very noticeable echo.
I received the ‘TV Play’ a couple of weeks ago and connected it using the ‘optical’ cable. I immediately had problems setting the aid’s volume level, which was far too loud. I had to set the level adjustments to minimum, and the ‘Mixer’ to ‘Surround’ to achieve an acceptable level.
My professional consulted with Widex, who said that an aid software upgrade was necessary, and that this would solve the problem. After the upgrade all of the hearing tests and settings had to be repeated, and as it was not possible to see if the upgrade had solved the problem, I went home to try it out.
I connected the TV Play to our TV, and set the following parameters: Master volume 3. Volume left 3, right 3. Equaliser flat -4, -4, -4. Mixer centre position, which produced an acceptable level.
Whilst these settings provided an acceptable level, there was a slight, but noticeable echo. Eliminating this required shifting the Mixer control to the right, which of course increased the ‘Stream’ volume, whilst blocking the ‘Surround’ sound. This of course prevented me from hearing external sounds, including my wife 
. In addition alterations had to be made the Master volume, Equaliser and left right Balance settings to compensate for the increase in volume. The alternative was to reduce the TV volume to zero, however this was not advisable whilst my wife was watching.
Later I had the opportunity to watch several programmes with the TV sound off. I was aware of a ‘popping’ sound in the left ear, which I presumed to be a result of high level clipping. I checked the Sound settings on our TV, a Panasonic 58DX 900 series. I tried both PCM and Auto with SPDIF (Sony Panasonic Digital Interface, it’s basically the same as Toslink) with output levels of between 0dB to -10dB, but this had no effect on (a) reducing the ‘popping’, or (b) the volume? ?
Finally I watched Question Time, where the popping was really quite distracting, to the point in fact where I turned off the aids and used my Senhheiser headphones. As previously stated these provide excellent sound and allow me to correct for my hearing deficiency, but can only be used when viewing alone.
Whilst using the headphones, there was no 'popping. I checked to see what effect altering the Sound settings on the TV had. Altering the SPDIF level from 0db to -10db resulted in a noticeable reduction of volume. Which I think indicates that the TV is providing a ‘clean’ controllable audio output.
My professional is discussing this with Widex, I have an appointment with him in 4 days to see if/how Widex plan to overcome these issues.
Regards Noel
[Member Nick ]
Thanks for your reply Noel. I’ve sent your comments to my audiologist and will post if I get any helpful update from her.
Regards,
Nick
[Noel 21 Feb]
Hi Nick
Suspect we might be suffering from early adopters syndrome .
Last night I tried again with the same results, what I did notice however was an unnatural stereo effect. What I mean is that when watching, say a drama, I was aware of louder than usual sounds off to the left and right. It reminded me of the early days of stereo records e.g. the Beatles when the stereo effect was over emphasised.
Listening using the TV speakers, or my headphones, the sound stage is balanced, there are no sudden distracting loud noises off stage.
I also noticed in another post that streaming reduced battery life by a considerable amount, 6 days reduced to 4 days, i.e. a third.
I’ve edited my profile, but it doesn’t appear to show my location on my posts, anyway I’m in the UK.
Cheers Noel
[Noel 21 Feb]
Hi Nick.
Has your professional taken any action, are you still experiencing the ‘distortion’?
We have carried out further investigations, these revealed an interest interesting fact. If both aids are inserted, as they would normally be, the problem we have tried to describe is apparent. If however only one aid is used, either one, the problem disappears!
It appears that the aids sometimes produce slightly different sounds, perhaps a small delay, or a ‘clip’ and we hear this. Widex are investigating.
I will post again when they report back.
Cheers Noel
[Noel 21 Feb]
Hi Nick.
Today I received an software update for Evoke. Fresh batts then go. All went ok, had to unpair and then re-pair the aids. Then the app kept stopping and I had to send reports. In the end I uninstalled the app and the re- installed to get it all to work. It appears to be better.
I spent a couple of hours fine tuning the settings and now have a ‘working’ system. I think it’s ok, but the differences in tv programme’s sound quality gives rise to anomalies. Added to this my now ‘improved hearing’ makes the anomaly’s more apparent.
Cheers Noel
[reply21 Feb]
Hi Nick.
Has your professional taken any action, are you still experiencing the ‘distortion’?
We have carried out further investigations, these revealed an interest interesting fact. If both aids are inserted, as they would normally be, the problem we have tried to describe is apparent. If however only one aid is used, either one, the problem disappears!
It appears that the aids sometimes produce slightly different sounds, perhaps a small delay, or a ‘clip’ and we hear this. Widex are investigating.
I will post again when they report back.
Cheers Noel
[reply Nick 21 Feb]
Hi Noel,
Thanks so much for all your investigation.
After my two failed attempts with Widex TV PLAY, my audiologist took a device home to test for herself. She told me that her experience was much worse than I described. And Widex has been unable to help.
My audi then gave me a pair of Oticon HA’s and their streamer. The streamer was much better but the aids weren’t as comfortable as the Widex. Tomorrow, she wants me to try Signia aids which she thinks might be as comfortable for me as the Widex and the Signia streamer is identical to the Oticon technology.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been using TV DEX with my Widex HA’s and the quality is acceptable although not as convenient.
Thanks again.
Nick (U.S.)
[Noel 10 March]
Hi Nick.
To recap and update.
I obtained the pair of Widex Evoke 440 F2’s in November, following the publicising of the ‘award’ Widex received for their new TV Play. I eventually received a TV Play unit in January, but had problems. Watching programs containing speech/discussion, ‘plosives’ occurred when emphasis was placed on the beginning of words usually starting with a lower frequency sound, e.g. B’s and P’s.
My audiologist tried to solve this, but as no progress was made he arranged a conference call with the Head of Technical Support in the UK, many setting were tried, but all failed to resolve the problem. without avail. A week later, the local Widex manager came to my audiologist’s practice. settings were checked and a new TV Play was tried . In desperation I asked them to use the aids, and to my relief, they both agreed the extraneous sounds could be clearly heard.
The aids and TV Play were then sent to the Widex UK headquarters where they were tested and the ‘receivers’ were replaced! Logic, would propound, that in the unlikely event that both ‘receivers’ were faulty, the anomalies would also be present when the aids were used on other programmes
The main reason I purchased the Evokes was to be better able to hear the TV. I already have a pair of Oticon Synergy Sense aids, which produced better sound in a ‘social’ environments than the Evokes, and a Set of Sennheiser wireless digital headphones which perform very well but suffer from an echo when the TV speakers are on, due to digital delay.
I informed my audiologist that I was not at all happy with the Evokes, and he suggested I tried a pair of Phonak Marvel 90 R’s, and their TV Connector. I digested all of the Marvel 90 reviews and videos and discovered the Phonaks offer many more features and all of them agreed that the Phonaks exceeded all expectations.
I’m really looking forward to Thursday’s fitting.
Cheers Noel
Hi Noel,
My Audiologist gave me a pair of Signia HA’s and their TV Play equivalent. Sound from the TV play was excellent …. but I didn’t like the sound from the Signa aids as well as he Widex. So, I’ve given up at this time and am sticking with the Widex Evoke aids with their TV DEX product for the TV. TV DEX provides a much clear sound than TV Play. Only downside is that I need to keep TV DEX centered via a lanyard.
Hope the Phonak work well for you.
Best,
Nick
Many posters here claim the Phonak TV connector has minimal drain on batteries. Possibly due to the fact you don’t have to pair your Phonak aid to the TV connector itself.
In case anyone is still interested, on latest June 2019 firmware, TV PLAY can now be accessed via button control on hearing aids as well as by the app. You can switch to/from without faffing around finally!
How do I upgrade to the latest firmware? Is it available on the Widex site or do I have to make an appt w/ my audiologist?
EDIT: I answered my own question – I just needed to update the EVOKE app on my iPhone (via my “App Store”). Thanks for the tip, @anon70092419!
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Is anyone happily using the TV Play with a computer (using an audio jack to connect the pc headphone jack to the TV Play). I was able to get this working for short periods of time (a few minutes), but it kept cutting out. (When I pulled the audio plug out of the computer, I could hear the sound, so it was the transmission to the aids that was cutting out.) I watch training videos and participate in Skype conference calls a lot more than I watch tv–so in theory this device would be helpful. In practice–well, either I’m not doing things right or it’s not useful for my purposes.
I use the TV PLAY exclusive with 3.5mm inputs from computers as well. The timeout is ~30 seconds from last received audio. For optical input, I think this timeout doesn’t happen providing there’s an optical connection active, although I’ve only done very limited testing as I have nothing that uses optical here.
Playing a 20kHz tone from the computer constantly stopped the timeout, whilst being high enough not to cause any issues/be reproduced by the Evokes although I haven’t for a few months and just accept it as a ‘feature’.
I suspect a really short burst of audio every 20 seconds would probably also work but no idea how long it would need to be or whether it would be annoying etc.
Thanks! Wonder what I’m doing wrong. I was testing by listening to a video and listening to a podcast, so I don’t think I was getting 30 seconds of silence. When you plug in the TV-Play, your computer probably asks you what the connection is. I was choosing “headphone”–is that what you did?
I don’t use Windows, but headphone should be fine!
I have the opposite problem with my TV set. When I first put on the hearing aids, if the TV is on, the hearing aids automatically go into TV play mode. I have to go to my iPhone in order to change the mode to universal. I don’t want this and I would like to know how to disable this function because It chews up battery life.
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The Widex TV PLAY actually does have a optical out port for passing through audio to e.g. an soundbar. The optical out is however not very well documented. You will need an optical TOSLINK to optical jack cable. Like this one: Køb Optisk MiniPlug / Toslink digital kabel - 2 m på Av-Cables.dk
The Widex TV PLAY will detect if the jack connector is an analog in (with metal sleeve) or an optical out (plastic sleeve).
Oh yeah, oh yeah 
Yellow Submarine. John sings on the right channel, instrument plays on the left.
Perfect song for testing strereo transmitting, is true or false.
Listen it when unplug the right channel. Do you recognise it?
On the right channel is acapella, on the left is karaoke
Swap the channels! This will be very weird.
Soren, I can’t for the life of me find this information. Where did you source this?
Ok I admit this is a well hidden fine-print detail. http://webfiles.widex.com/WebFiles/9%20502%204886%20001%2001.pdf
The text says “one 3.5mm TRS jack analogue stereo/optical output”. So if you plug in this 3.5 mm optical plug in the analog in port you will see the optical output light up. Hope this information helps!
Ok, so I have checked and double checked. The document you have referenced, is a misprint. The Widex Play device does not, in any way shape or form, have an audio output either analog or digital.
Just trying to help you. I’m using the Widex TV Play daily and know this feature well. The “analog in” plug doubles as an optical out provided that you use the correct optical cable. I use this feature for the specific purpose to pass optical audio through the Widex TV Play on to a soundbar. The optical cable cost less than $5, so if you ever get hold of one I can only encourage you to try it out. The bottom of the analog in connector actually does have a LED that repeats the optical in signal. The technical term for the connector type it supports is Mini - TOSLINK. Sometimes used for laptops as well.
Cheers!
1 Like
Correct my old Mac mini used this for TOS link.
Soron
Thanks. This was my biggest question. One more question is the mini to toslink connection back to the sound system always hot; in other words I don’t have to be using hearing aids for the pass through to power the audio system if I am not in the room.
Yep, having just tried this it does pass through, providing there’s an input signal, regardless of whether Evokes are on, actively using, or off.