Bluetooth headphones for TV and TV recommendations

Cromulent

Cromulent

Cromulent

Soldato
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I'm about to move, and because I'll have very close neighbours and I tend to be awake at night, I'm a bit worried about watching TV and waking them up. Does anyone know of a reasonably sized TV (40" would be the max size really) that supports Bluetooth headphones?

I'll be plugging in an Xbox One, an Amazon Fire TV box and possibly a Wii U so 3 HDMI sockets would be great although I do have an HDMI splitter box if it is required.

I guess these days if you are getting a new TV you might as well get a 4k TV with HDR, but I don't have a massive budget. I'm not that fussy when it comes to quality as I regularly watch DVDs on the current 4k TV (which I won't be able to take with me).

I know nothing about TVs so would appreciate some advice. I imagine I'll get a 4k Blu-ray player at some point, but that is for the future. I'm just planning on it at the moment as the Xbox One is the original model, so it is getting on a bit.

The main content I'll be watching is DVDs, Blu-rays, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Edit: I currently have a Samsung M5500 32" 1080p TV, and it seems OK to me, but I don't think it supports the headphones.
 
40" is a bit of a desert as far as really hi-spec UHD 4K TVs go. It's kind of a similar story with 43" as well. Although the screen size suits some people, the general public has become used to buying huge TVs, and so most of the best-in-class products are 55" and above. That said, some of those absolute-best sets are £2,000+ and a few tip the scales at over £5K so it's very much a case of having deep pockets if you want a heavy-hitter in the performance stakes no matter what the size.

At 40" you'll generally find edge-lit LED using 50Hz panels. Back-lit rather than edge-lit as it allows the potential to do local dimming. This is where the brightness of the LEDs behind the screen can be adjusted to correspond to the brightness level required in portions of the picture. The 50Hz panel thing is a function of price. It means that the motion will not be quite as crisp as a (much bigger) TV witha 100Hz panel. The manufacturers will use software interpolation to process the signal and back-light to work around these issues instead.

The panel choice is between VA (better black level) or IPS (wider viewing angle). Link to web page showing the differences It's said that IPS also produces more uniform colour. That's a function of the viewing angle. If you're sitting quite a way off to one side then the colour does change as well as the image brightness with a VA panel TV. Personally I'd take the better black level and improved contrast of VA and then just ensure to be sat no more than 20 degrees off axis.

On the better 40" sets you'll get HDR (High Dynamic Range). Some TVs just specify that they have HDR, others list the formats supported. There are three: HDR10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). Here's a link explaining the differences Since Dolby Vision requires licensing (a manufacturer cost) and equipment compatibility (another manufacturer cost) and those costs find their way in to the ticket price of a TV then, for the moment at least, lower profit TVs as you find in the 40"-46" market mostly support HDR10 and not Dolby Vision. The other format - HLG - is what the broadcasters will use. It isn't widely supported yet, but if you can find a TV with it then it's a nice future-proofing feature.

Finally, there's the colour support on the panel. A lot of UHD material makes use of Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) which means there a bigger range of colours available and less colour banding where subtle shade differences are required. To make use of this info the TV panel has to be capable of reproducing these extra colours. Your current TV has an 8-bit colour depth panel. Top-end TVs have 10-bit panels. There's a middle ground where the cost of making a 10-bit panel isn't justified but there's still a requirement for compatibility with WCG signals and the ability to display part of the additional colour range. These are the '8-bit + FRC' panels.

FRC is dithering. It's swapping very quickly between two colour shades to create the illusion of a colour in-between.


Of the 40" sets worth considering I don't think any tick all the boxes.

Panasonic TX40EX700B - VA panel, HLG, Dimming back-light, 8-Bbit + FRC

Samsung UE40MU6400 - VA panel, HLG, 8-bit + FRC

Sony KD43XE8004 - IPS, 8-bit + FRC

It's worth just double checking the specs as these are culled from the web and the accuracy can be a bit variable. One thing I would say is that the Sony is an Android OS TV, and my experience with all such OS sets is that they're slow and cumbersom menus systems to navigate. For me it'd be a toss up between the Pana and Sammy.
 
lucid said:
40" is a bit of a desert as far as really hi-spec UHD 4K TVs go. It's kind of a similar story with 43" as well. Although the screen size suits some people, the general public has become used to buying huge TVs, and so most of the best-in-class products are 55" and above. That said, some of those absolute-best sets are £2,000+ and a few tip the scales at over £5K so it's very much a case of having deep pockets if you want a heavy-hitter in the performance stakes no matter what the size.

At 40" you'll generally find edge-lit LED using 50Hz panels. Back-lit rather than edge-lit as it allows the potential to do local dimming. This is where the brightness of the LEDs behind the screen can be adjusted to correspond to the brightness level required in portions of the picture. The 50Hz panel thing is a function of price. It means that the motion will not be quite as crisp as a (much bigger) TV witha 100Hz panel. The manufacturers will use software interpolation to process the signal and back-light to work around these issues instead.

The panel choice is between VA (better black level) or IPS (wider viewing angle). Link to web page showing the differences It's said that IPS also produces more uniform colour. That's a function of the viewing angle. If you're sitting quite a way off to one side then the colour does change as well as the image brightness with a VA panel TV. Personally I'd take the better black level and improved contrast of VA and then just ensure to be sat no more than 20 degrees off axis.

On the better 40" sets you'll get HDR (High Dynamic Range). Some TVs just specify that they have HDR, others list the formats supported. There are three: HDR10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). Here's a link explaining the differences Since Dolby Vision requires licensing (a manufacturer cost) and equipment compatibility (another manufacturer cost) and those costs find their way in to the ticket price of a TV then, for the moment at least, lower profit TVs as you find in the 40"-46" market mostly support HDR10 and not Dolby Vision. The other format - HLG - is what the broadcasters will use. It isn't widely supported yet, but if you can find a TV with it then it's a nice future-proofing feature.

Finally, there's the colour support on the panel. A lot of UHD material makes use of Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) which means there a bigger range of colours available and less colour banding where subtle shade differences are required. To make use of this info the TV panel has to be capable of reproducing these extra colours. Your current TV has an 8-bit colour depth panel. Top-end TVs have 10-bit panels. There's a middle ground where the cost of making a 10-bit panel isn't justified but there's still a requirement for compatibility with WCG signals and the ability to display part of the additional colour range. These are the '8-bit + FRC' panels.

FRC is dithering. It's swapping very quickly between two colour shades to create the illusion of a colour in-between.


Of the 40" sets worth considering I don't think any tick all the boxes.

Panasonic TX40EX700B - VA panel, HLG, Dimming back-light, 8-Bbit + FRC

Samsung UE40MU6400 - VA panel, HLG, 8-bit + FRC

Sony KD43XE8004 - IPS, 8-bit + FRC

It's worth just double checking the specs as these are culled from the web and the accuracy can be a bit variable. One thing I would say is that the Sony is an Android OS TV, and my experience with all such OS sets is that they're slow and cumbersom menus systems to navigate. For me it'd be a toss up between the Pana and Sammy.
Click to expand...

Awesome. Thank you for the detailed post. I have to admit to not knowing much about TVs at all. I do want a 4k TV that supports HDR though so that when I finally get a 4k Blu-ray player and when I upgrade my Amazon Fire TV Box to one that supports HDR I get the full benefit from 4k Blu-rays and Netflix.

Unfortunately, I have an insufficient budget. £400 would be pushing it which is why I won't be getting a 4k Blu-ray player anytime soon. I'll check out the Samsung and the Panasonic. I already have a 32" 1080p Samsung which seems to be good enough for my needs, but I think I'll be giving that to my parents. My only real requirement is that I can watch TV with headphones, so I don't **** off the neighbours when I move in the next month or two.

I guess if I just get a TV that supports HDR10 and HLG I'll be safe for the most part. Honestly I just want to watch my DVD and Blu-ray collection primarily and as I am quite happy with DVD quality I'm pretty sure any 4k TV on the market will be fine for me.

Having said all of that it sounds like waiting might be a good idea what with all the different HDR technologies. If I wait until one of the standards "wins" then it might be a hell of a lot easier choosing a new 4k TV and would save me some cash which would be very useful while moving.
 
Cromulent said:
My only real requirement is that I can watch TV with headphones, so I don't **** off the neighbours when I move in the next month or two.
Click to expand...
I dont think all the new range of TVs come with a headphone jack anymore. You will probably need one of these if you go Samsung.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Converter-...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1522695748&sr=1-10&keywords=dac

The others recomended above do come with headphone jacks. So just check the specs before buying it.

Which connects via a SPDIF/optical cable and then you plug the jack in there. I would get one with volume control as there is no volume control as it is set in the TV.
 
Last edited:
Tony Edwards said:
I dont think the new range of TVs come with a headphone jack anymore. You will probably need one of these.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Converter-...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1522695748&sr=1-10&keywords=dac

Which connects via a SPDIF/optical cable and then you plug the jack in there. I would get one with volume control as there is no volume control as it is set in the TV.
Click to expand...

Hmm. That is an exciting option. I didn't think something like that was possible. The price is right as well although I might need to get an extension lead for my headphones to make it work. I could keep my old TV in that case while I wait for the whole HDR standards mess to sort itself out and not have to spend too much money.

Thank you. That was very handy. Luckily my current TV has an optical port.
 
No problem.

Just a heads up. They are powered. It is powered via a Mini USB? connection so any USB port can power it.

The one I linked to is the one I use for my wireless headphones. Mine goes into a mains plug adapter.
 
I'm not sure it's as simple as "one format winning". If there's a head-to-head it's between HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Both are HDR formats for streamed content and for films on UHD Blu-ray disc. Neither of those apply to broadcast* though. For stuff that you might get via Freeview (if they ever adopt UHD) or from Sky or from Virgin then HLG is what you'll need to have to get the benefits of HDR.

Between HDR10 and Dolby Vision it's the latter that is technically superior. The catch though is it's a higher cost system and requires a much higher kit specification to get the full benefits. At the moment I'm not sure if there are anything more than a handful of TV panels that support the full 12-bit colour resolution, nor the required brightness (4000 nits) required to show the system off to its full benefit. There are OLED TVs that can do the colour range and I think that's about it.

Besides, Dolby have been careful to avoid talk of a format war. Dolby Vision is being marketed as an enhancement to the HDR10 core system. What that means is that if you have a disc that has Dolby Vision picture encoding, Dolby Vision enhancement will only be available to access if the player and the TV and anything in between the two is compatible. If not then you'll still get HDR in the form of HDR10. This is a bit like you have with Blu-ray sound at the moment. The hi-res audio formats (Dolby True HD and DTS-Master Audio) are accessible if there's a compatible sound system attached to the BD player, but if not then you still get DD or DTS core audio.


* Technically DV can be used in broadcast, but so far the broadcasters have their eggs in the HLG basket.

I think your idea of waiting makes sense. We are seeing technology trickle down.

Regarding your headphones, @nicknack35 is correct about the Bluetooth lag. Have a look for headphones with either an Optical Audio input (TOSlink) or a set of phono inputs (analogue audio, the red and the white connections) in which case you'll need an Optical to Analoghue Audio converter. These are cheap - £10~£15 - and do wexactly what they say on the tin: converts Optical to Analogue Stereo.

The headphones will need their own volume control. This is important! Optical can't be level controlled by the TV volume buttons. You must be able to change the volume at the 'phones rather than expecting to be able to do it via the TV.
 
lucid said:
I'm not sure it's as simple as "one format winning". If there's a head-to-head it's between HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Both are HDR formats for streamed content and for films on UHD Blu-ray disc. Neither of those apply to broadcast* though. For stuff that you might get via Freeview (if they ever adopt UHD) or from Sky or from Virgin then HLG is what you'll need to have to get the benefits of HDR.

Between HDR10 and Dolby Vision it's the latter that is technically superior. The catch though is it's a higher cost system and requires a much higher kit specification to get the full benefits. At the moment I'm not sure if there are anything more than a handful of TV panels that support the full 12-bit colour resolution, nor the required brightness (4000 nits) required to show the system off to its full benefit. There are OLED TVs that can do the colour range and I think that's about it.

Besides, Dolby have been careful to avoid talk of a format war. Dolby Vision is being marketed as an enhancement to the HDR10 core system. What that means is that if you have a disc that has Dolby Vision picture encoding, Dolby Vision enhancement will only be available to access if the player and the TV and anything in between the two is compatible. If not then you'll still get HDR in the form of HDR10. This is a bit like you have with Blu-ray sound at the moment. The hi-res audio formats (Dolby True HD and DTS-Master Audio) are accessible if there's a compatible sound system attached to the BD player, but if not then you still get DD or DTS core audio.


* Technically DV can be used in broadcast, but so far the broadcasters have their eggs in the HLG basket.

I think your idea of waiting makes sense. We are seeing technology trickle down.

Regarding your headphones, @nicknack35 is correct about the Bluetooth lag. Have a look for headphones with either an Optical Audio input (TOSlink) or a set of phono inputs (analogue audio, the red and the white connections) in which case you'll need an Optical to Analoghue Audio converter. These are cheap - £10~£15 - and do wexactly what they say on the tin: converts Optical to Analogue Stereo.

The headphones will need their own volume control. This is important! Optical can't be level controlled by the TV volume buttons. You must be able to change the volume at the 'phones rather than expecting to be able to do it via the TV.
Click to expand...

It sounds like I can get a "decent" system for about £30 of extras then. It seems like that equipment will be the right choice for me. I need to save as much as money as possible at the moment so every penny counts and maybe in a year or so 4k TVs will have matured a little bit more and 4k Blu-ray players will be that bit cheaper.
 
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