What type of headphones for TV while turbo training?

ai_1

I've been using the turbo trainer in front of the TV recently. My turbo isn't particularly noisy (KK road machine) but I still occasionally miss bits of dialogue which is a pain. I've tried my existing bulky ear covering cabled headphones but these are too bulky and the cable's very irritating. My earbuds only have short cables and I'd rather eliminate them rather than get an extension. So I want to get myself something more suitable - Can you give me some advice?

I'm looking for lightweight wireless headphones with reasonable sound quality for say £70/€80/$100 or less.
The problem is wireless headphones seem to fit into 2 main categories and neither is ideal:

1. TV headphones - IR or FM transmission, mostly bulky ear covering headsets.
Too bulky. Not good when moving and sweating.

2. Smartphone/MP3 headphones - Bluetooth transmission, mostly ear buds but all styles available.
Bluetooth not compatible with TV audio outputs - need some sort of dongle/basestation

So for the style of headset I want I'm not seeing a plug and play option for standard TV audio outputs. Most TVs, mine included, can handle a headphone jack, standard stereo audio out and optical audio out.
Can you recommend an off the shelf, excercise friendly, wireless headset to use with a typical TV?
Alternatively - Is there a straightforward way to use a bluetooth headset with typical TV outputs?

I suspect I'm missing some very obvious solution! Surely I'm not the first person to come across this problem - any suggestions?

monkimark

one of those mini radio transmitter things tyou get for car radios?

ai_1

monkimark wrote:

one of those mini radio transmitter things tyou get for car radios?

I assume that's how the FM transmission headphones work but the problem is I don't see any of these that are lightweight sports type headsets. The FM ones all tend to be big full ear cover types.

The sort of headset I'm after is easily available with Bluetooth transmission, like these, but how do I get the TV audio output transmitted via bluetooth?

cougie

Put subtitles on ? Headphones would annoy me.

willbevan

I was in the same situation last winter. The only light weight sports style I could fine were bluetooth, unfortunately they were not massively load so as soon as the turbo started up I couldn't hear what was going on from the TV so it defeated the purpose.

I know you mentioned you dont want to get an extension but still...

What I ended up doing was getting a simple headphone extension lead off ebay for a few quid and taped it across a black beam (handy placement) to above the turbo trainer. So wires in the way, I simply plug the headphones in and they dangle down from above my head, they dont get in the way when I'm out of the saddle sprinting etc.

I wouldn't do the same on rollers mind you as I would be worried about garroting myself. for rollers I simply turn the volume up but then I live in the middle of the countryside with very few neighbors.

ai_1

willbevan wrote:

I was in the same situation last winter. The only light weight sports style I could fine were bluetooth, unfortunately they were not massively load so as soon as the turbo started up I couldn't hear what was going on from the TV so it defeated the purpose.

I know you mentioned you dont want to get an extension but still...

What I ended up doing was getting a simple headphone extension lead off ebay for a few quid and taped it across a black beam (handy placement) to above the turbo trainer. So wires in the way, I simply plug the headphones in and they dangle down from above my head, they dont get in the way when I'm out of the saddle sprinting etc.

I wouldn't do the same on rollers mind you as I would be worried about garroting myself. for rollers I simply turn the volume up but then I live in the middle of the countryside with very few neighbors.

How did you get a bluetooth feed from the TV?

I did consider doing something with a routed extension cable but don't like that solution. Might resort to it if I have to but surely there's a better way?

meesterbond

I just use an 2m 1/8" extension cable (Maplins I think) from the tv (or laptop in my case) to some cheap, light over the head cans I can find. I think I'm using a pair of £10 sony ones at the moment. The sweat just kills headphones so I can't see the point using anything even vaguely decent and sound quality isn't really a concern.

Having a cable is a minor annoyance at times but anything heavier over my head would be worse.

ai_1

It seems there is indeed an easy bluetooth solution. Bluetooth transmitters like this one are available to plug into 3.5mm audio jacks for transmitting audio to bluetooth headphones or speakers.

@meesterbond
I'd expect sports specific headphones to handle a bit of sweat.

racingcondor

You're right, bluetooth has taken over the light headphone market completely.

I've got a solution though I think. It's a little tech heavy but will work.

TV streamed through a laptop/PC (iPlayer, 4oD, TV card etc, film on DVD for the low tech option), TV connected by HDMI, bluetooth the audio from the computer. If like me you have a cheap laptop that didn't come with Bluetooth then it's only £5 to get a USB plug in Bluetooth dongle.

Opens up all of the Bluetooth wireless sport headphones on the market so you can spend anything from £50 to £250 depending on if you're happy with in ear or want noise cancelling and other expensive gubbins.

MartinGT

I am with Cougie, plus the amount I sweat (sorry) it would annoy me having ear phones on.

monkimark

What I meant was:
One of the http://www.amazon.co.uk/JSG-Accessories ... 753&sr=1-4 plugged into your telly

Then you can use a personal FM radio (most mobile phones have them) and your choice of earphones to listen to it.

Ai_1 wrote:

monkimark wrote:

one of those mini radio transmitter things tyou get for car radios?

I assume that's how the FM transmission headphones work but the problem is I don't see any of these that are lightweight sports type headsets. The FM ones all tend to be big full ear cover types.

The sort of headset I'm after is easily available with Bluetooth transmission, like these, but how do I get the TV audio output transmitted via bluetooth?