Wireless TV Headphones – Infrared Technology
Infrared technology is, simply put, AWESOME.
Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:
“Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light (400-700 nm), but shorter than that of terahertz radiation (100 µm – 1 mm) and microwaves (~30,000 µm).”
Wireless TV headphones that operate with Infrared signals have great benefits and and some obvious drawbacks too. Here’s how they work: The transmitter sends an infrared beam of invisible light to the headphones typically in the 2-4 MHz band.
The Infrared signal emitted by a standard household remote or pair of wireless TV headphones is a progression of on and off flashes of the infrared light. The command is delivered in the time the light is either on or off. These on and off combinations can be translated into a binary code (1’s and 0’s) which in turn can be interpreted as decimal numbers. These numbers are the codes for the device commands.
The device code in the signal needs to match the programmed device code in the equipment you’re using, and assuming it does, the equipment will follow the commands that have been programmed for the command number included in the signal. Oooooowaa LA! I bet you didn’t know that 🙂
So because of the type of signal it can’t penetrate walls so it is solely a line-of-site signal. This means you need to be able to see visually from the transmitter to the receiver to get a clear signal. Because of this most infrared systems are limited to a 30 foot range with clear line of sight.
With Infrared wireless TV headphones you get true stereo (left and right channel) separation without the modulation required for RF technology. As you can imagine this results in exceptional stereo sound quality. Infrared transmission is a lot less susceptible to interference because of its line of sight technology. You can have all sorts of other wireless technology in your home or office and you will experience zero interference. Obviously if roaming about is important to you thought then infrared technology may not be for you.