My wife constantly complains about me watching TV late at night while she’s trying to sleep. She won’t wear earplugs so is there a way I can use earbuds or headphones with the TV? I have a 2023 Vizio TV, if that matters.
Your wife is going to be a very happy woman because the latest generation of Vizio SmartTVs all support Bluetooth and make pairing with a Bluetooth device a breeze. In fact, just about every modern television, whether you’re buying a low-cost store brand or a fancy state-of-the-art screen, now includes support for Bluetooth devices. They aren’t all easy to program, but Vizio’s done a really good job with its newly updated pop-up mini-settings window.
Bluetooth also has two pairing modes, depending on the device. Pair your phone with your car entertainment system and it’ll display a PIN that you’ll have to confirm for it to connect. Pair headphones or earbuds with your phone, however, and there’s no PIN needed. This is good, because you don’t want to fuss with entering that value on the television!
I have been testing out a new pair of 1More Q30 PistonBuds Pro earbuds for my YouTube channel, so I decided to pair them with my new 2024 Vizio VQP65C-84 65-inch Quantum Pro SmartTV…
VIZIO BLUETOOTH SETTINGS
I was watching the Porsche Carrera Cup from the beautiful Watkins Glen racetrack, which you’ll see in the background. On the Vizio remote, I pressed the gear icon button for settings, which brought up the side window:
Notice that the second box on the left side is audio related and offers exactly what we want: “Pair Headphones”. Couldn’t be easier to find! You can go into All Settings if you really want to, but why make it more hassle? Choose “Pair Headphones“.
PAIR YOUR BLUETOOTH DEVICE
The TV will show a list of available Bluetooth and other audio output options, including the TV Speakers:
Now it’s time to open up your Bluetooth earbuds and put them in your ears (that usually puts them in pairing mode: If it doesn’t, put your phone in “airplane” mode and try again) or push the appropriate button on your Bluetooth headphones to get them into pairing mode. After a few moments your device should show up as a new option:
There they are! Choose them and after a moment or two you should see this:
Notice on the bottom “1MORE PistonBuds PRO Q30 have been connected”. They also now show up on the left with a checkmark next to them.
This should all be obvious because you should be hearing the TV audio through your earbuds. I am now able to listen to the cleanup after a bit of a pileup at the very beginning of this leg of the race. Such a beautiful day at Watkins Glen, this is not how we race fans want to see it go!
UNPAIRING THE EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES
Now that it’s working perfectly, congrats. The Vizio user interface can be a bit confusing, however, as you can see below:
It’s listing “Bluetooth Headphones: Off” but they’re working! What? Turns out that this has become a shortcut for you to disconnect the headphones or earbuds. Choose it and the TV will switch back to its usual speaker setup, whether that’s the TV speaker or a soundbar.
Once disconnected, it will then show the most recently paired device as an option:
A bit confusing, but remember, if it shows the earbuds that generally means they aren’t connected. If it includes a checkmark (as shown above), then they are. Once you use your newly paired earbuds for a few minutes it’ll all make sense. And that’s all it takes to restore marital harmony. 😁
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Vizio TVs and smartTV software since the beginning. While you’re here, please check out my computer basics help area for lots more useful tutorials and how-to guides. Thanks!