Help Me Hear, But Not See - streaming music edition

January 14, 2018 7:57 PM

I like listening to streaming music services, but when I put it through the FireTV the tv (linked to a sound bar & sub woofer) the image on the tv screen is such a bummer. Is there some way to make the screen go dark or show screensaver images? I realize I can use bluetooth speakers w/ my phone, and I've done this. The problem w/ bluetooth is I can't have music playing softly in the background while listening to a podcast on my phone.

How do people solve this audio vs visual problem? Is there something in the Spotify app that does this? Maybe I want to switch streaming services? Please recommend hardware or software that will help me hear dulcet tones minus the visually grating app graphics splashed across my tv screen. Thanks in advance!

posted by jbenben to Technology (7 answers total)

If you have a modern smart TV this is likely somewhere in its settings. Mine (a Visio) has it in the menu related to the sleep timer for whatever reason.
posted by something something at 8:15 PM on January 14, 2018

Response by poster: I have the last Samsung before smart tv's happened. Any solution will have to be a feature of the app or plug in component's settings.

We have a firetv and chromecast. I would definitely get a roku if that would solve this?
posted by jbenben at 8:40 PM on January 14, 2018

Does your TV allow you to setup profiles for different picture modes, e.g. Movie mode, Sports mode etc.
You could configure one of these to have very low brightness and contrast settings so that the image is barely visible, and then use the switch picture mode button on the remote to switch to this mode as needed.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 11:40 PM on January 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

We have a Sharp LCD 52" that's about ten years old now and you can just go into the menus and turn the screen off. We do that all the time when we leave the house and want to leave something on to keep the dogs company.
posted by kindall at 11:52 PM on January 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah I have an older Sharp TV and the ability to turn the screen off but keep the speakers on was in the menus. I would hope that more recent TVs would have that ability as well because it is quite useful for streaming music.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:36 AM on January 15, 2018

Best answer: I'm pretty sure a Chromecast would solve this problem for you, and Chromecast audio is pretty inexpensive.
posted by dbx at 7:57 AM on January 15, 2018

Response by poster: Yep, that's likely the solution! Thanks!!
posted by jbenben at 10:15 PM on January 15, 2018