Sony Bravia. Headphone information needed please

[Ethel]

Save me from going mad!

I want to buy a Sony Bravia tv but it must be able to play external sound with the headphones plugged in.

If plugging in the headphones mute the sound the tv is no use to me at all.

I have contacted Sony and been to 4 different shops to get this information and nobody can tell me.

My current Sony does what I want but needs replacing.

Does anybody know for sure?

[Yorky Lass]

I've just pluggeg my ipod earphones into my Sony Bravia and it did mute the TV, leaving the sound only coming out of the earphones. I don't have any headphones but presume the result would be exactly the same.
Hope this helps.

[Yorky Lass]

oops- plugged

[Ethel]

That is an enormous help, thank you.

Back to the drawing board to find the perfect tv for me then.

[squarebear]

I think you may struggle to find one where the sound keeps playing with headphones in, as surely the point of plugging headphones in is so you don't disturb others?

[Yorky Lass]

Pleased to help. Pity the TV will be no good for you because we are very happy with it.

[Cockney_si]

Why?

[Ethel]

Squarebear - my current tv allows the headphone and tv volumes to be set independently.

I am very deaf and can only listen to tv via headphones, and other people need to hear it as well.

[Mattk]

probably not a viable option but we have our tv sound thru a seperate home cinema set-up so the actual tv speakers are not used.if you did this then other people could listen to the sounds thru the home cinema system whilst you use the tv sound itself.

an expensive solution but maybe one to bear in mind should all else fail.

[ACtheTROLL]

ethel ....
tried my toshiba .... you could hear a pin drop ... no joy

however
sort of a variation on mattk's suggestion

do you remember posting a photo of a "mystery" cable you found that I said looked like a phono lead?

your new telly will have a bewildering number of connectors .... and there should be a couple of phono sockets ... for home theatre or whatever

if you cut the plugs from one end of the cable
and replace with
2.5MM STEREO FEMALE JACK
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1 143&criteria=2.5 socket to phono&doy=26m3

(like the second picture ... but replace the stereo plug with a socket).

you could then connect earphones to the output which shouldn't cut the speakers.


I can find every combination except this one on google .... but it's the sort of thing that anyone with a soldering iron could cobble together in minutes .... (perhaps your local tv repair shop??)

it should only cost a couple of quid .... you could nip down to currys and give it a go just to be certain

[4candles]

ACtheT's idea would probably work, in a fashion, but I doubt that the level from the 'line out' sockets of the TV would be sufficient to drive headphones.

If you keep the phono lead intact, you could feed the TV 'line out' phono sockets into a hi-fi amp (plenty of s/h amps about going for a song), and use the headphone socket on the amp.

[Ethel]

Plenty of food for thought there.. I have hugely expensive wireless headphones, so want the best out of them really.

Might have to go with the amp - I don't have a hifi.

[4candles]

If you don't want the bulk of a 'normal' amp, there are also headphone amps eg:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/HARMONY-TV-HEADPHONE-A MPLIFIER/dp/B00131DX7C/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=e lectronics&qid=1206647484&sr=8-12

[ACtheTROLL]

my tosh has 3 outputs (4 if you count earphone) plus one for the dog (it says woofer!!)
hdmi ... line out ... aux speakers ...
so I gave it a go

it's more than loud enough for earphones (in fact unless you are mutt and jeff ... the volume needs to be lower than the TV's.

shame that particular combination of connectors doesn't seem to be available... but I think it's worth trying - took me 5 mins and a burned finger to make a lead (I hate the smell of burning flesh .... esp mine)
the bits would have cost about �6

[Ethel]

I never knew such a thing existed! �50 but freedom of choice for buying a tv. Hurrah!

Thanks to all of you for your help, advice and great suggestions.

Sadly, I am very mutt and jeff and useless with solder. :)

Thanks again.