Electronics 101...or lower

January 4, 2007 11:53 AM

How to plug headphones into a TV when there's no outlet to plug them into? (for the super, super electronically clueless)

We bought my mom a pair of wireless headphones for her bedroom TV. Unfortunately, there is no outlet on the TV to plug the receiver thingy into. The one cord that runs from the TV (the coaxial cable?) is plugged into an RF modulator, into which her DVD player is also plugged.

She'd like to be able to use the headphones for watching TV and DVDs, so we're wondering if there is any sort of adapter that would allow this to happen.

posted by Lucinda to technology (13 comments total)

There are 5 dollar cables at Radioshack that will have male (pronged) ends that fit into the audio out of your TV and a female (end with a hole in) that you can plug a headphone cable into. Bring the adapter to the store to make sure; there are different sizes of headphone jacks.

Don't buy any fancy box from them, the cable will work fine.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 12:01 PM on January 4, 2007

Does the TV have any sockets on it at all apart from for the aerial? For example, you can sometimes you can access the TV's sound through the camcorder input on the front.

Otherwise, the answer is no. Any device capable of separating the audio from the RF cable would be almost as complex as a whole other TV. The last resort is to hook up the headphones to the audio output on the DVD player (which won't work for TV).
posted by cillit bang at 12:05 PM on January 4, 2007

Are there RCA outputs on the back of the TV? A lot of newer TVs have these - they're the Red/White plugs that a lot of consumer level devices use. If there are, you could easily find a cable that turns a red and white RCA pair into a 1/8th" headphone jack, which you could plug into the transmitter.

Also, are you sure that there's no headphone jack? I don't mean to treat you like you're stupid - I was convinced for months that my wife's TV didn't have a headphone jack, but it was slyly hidden on the front, on one of those "game input" panels.

Other than that, you're mostly out of luck - if you're sure there's no jack, and there's no RCA outputs, it's going to be very difficult to get sound out of the TV. If she only used it for DVD watching, you could take the sound straight out of the DVD player, but I have the feeling that's not the case.

On preview, pretty much what J. and Cillit said.
posted by god hates math at 12:07 PM on January 4, 2007

Do you have a make and model number for the TV? That would probably be the easiest first step.
posted by stovenator at 12:14 PM on January 4, 2007

The only output on the TV is an RF output, alas.

If it was a VCR hooked up to the TV instead of the DVD player, would that work? She could watch TV through the VCR, where there's an audio output thingy. (She's mentioned moving stuff around and would not be adverse to moving the DVD player out of the room.)
posted by Lucinda at 12:14 PM on January 4, 2007

Yes. Though obviously she'd have to remember to change channel via the VCR rather than the TV.
posted by cillit bang at 12:20 PM on January 4, 2007

Another option, if your TV doesn't have audio out or the headphone jack, is to use your current VCR or buy a new one, I'm sure they're fairly cheap. You can plug the coaxial cable into the VCR, and the VCR will have Audio Out RCA jacks, the VCR might even have a headphone jack already. Then you can convert the Red/White RCA cords into the headphone jack that Jeremiah recomended.

This will get the cable television's audio to transmit through the headphones. For the DVD player you could use the same cord, you might even be able to plug the DVD player's output into an input on the VCR which would solve both problems.

Here is the kind of cord you will want Female Mini to 2 RCA Male
posted by trueluk at 12:21 PM on January 4, 2007

#Lucinda: The only output on the TV is an RF output,

Have you looked hard? I once had a TV that had a little inconspicuous door on the front behind which was a headphone jack.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 12:26 PM on January 4, 2007

Ages ago, before most TVs had headphone jacks, I bought a TV Band radio and tuned it to the station I wanted to watch, and plugged my headphone into that. Obviously, this does not solve the DVD issue, but just throwing it into the mix. Worked great for my use, which was watching Letterman without waking the wife.
posted by The Deej at 4:38 PM on January 4, 2007

If the TV set is old enough to only have an antenna input, if you are going to spend ANY money on getting her headphones to work, consider putting that money towards a cheap new TV. Seriously, regular TVs are cheaper than ever and most cheap sets come with RCA stereo outputs if not an 1/8" stereo output. You may even find a TV much newer than your mom's for free or super cheap on craigslist.
posted by roboto at 7:30 PM on January 4, 2007

I go with the `Get another TV' train of thought, if the unit really has no output and you don't feel comfortable breaking out the soldering gun and installing it yourself (not recommended).

I have twice in my life attempted to give away a TV only to find that nobody wanted it. With the increase in demand for LCD tv sets and Plasma screens, a regular CRT unit with all the functions you need should be readily available at a very low price.
posted by tomble at 11:30 PM on January 4, 2007

If the TV doesn't have an output, then how will you jigger it so that the TV doesn't output sound, yet you get sound into the headphones? Sure, you might be able to get sound into the headphones if you do a lot of fooling around, but I still don't see how you're going to get it so that the headphones have sound and the TV isn't outputting sound from its speakers.
posted by antifuse at 6:17 AM on January 5, 2007

Turn the volume down on the TV? That won't affect the output from the VCR, and wireless headphones tend to have their own volume control.
posted by cillit bang at 9:32 PM on January 5, 2007