How to use both headphones and HDMI cable

[IAmDre]

Hi,

I am using my old phone (an Xperia Arc S) as a multimedia player since it has a HDMI port. I would like to use my headphones while watching a movie. The problem is when I connect the headphones they don't seem to be recognized at all when the HDMI cable is plugged in too. All the sounds go through the HDMI cable. Is there a way to fix this?

Thanks

 

[zedorda]

I believe it is possible but it would likely require kernel modification since this sounds like a driver level issue. Have you tried getting the audio signal from the end device (TV, monitor)?

 

[IAmDre]

Unfortunately my TV doesn't have a Jack cable.

 

[Rukbat]

HDMI is a video/audio spec. When you plug in an HDMI cable, all video AND audio is sent through that jack. Modifying the firmware to change that would make the device non-HDMI-compliant and if, in the future, you wanted to send a video over to a TV set, you'd have to modify the TV set to accept HDMI audio through a patch jack of some sort (that you'd feed from the phone's headphone jack). MUCH easier to dig into the TV set and add a headphone jack at the speaker wires.

 

[IAmDre]

Can you give more details about "dig into the TV set and add a headphone jack at the speaker wires" ?
When I connect my laptop to this TV I am able to choose whether I want the sound to be released from the TV, from the laptop itself or from any external headset so I thought there was a way to do so with Android.

 

[Rukbat]

There might be, if someone has written an app to totally violate HDMI, which someone evidently did for your laptop. HDMI specifies that audio be sent over the HDMI cable, it doesn't allow for no audio being sent.

As fr as digging into the TV set, you cut the hot wires going to the speakers, connect them to the input sides of a headphone jack, connect the output terminals of the jack to the speakers and the frame of the jack to the ground side of the speakers. Then when you plug in headphones, that's where you'll hear the sound. When you unplug them, it'll come out of the speakers. The jack should cost under $5. Even if you have to buy wire, solder and a soldering iron (and wire cutters), you shouldn't be out more than $25. (Or find a ham radio operator and ask for help. Chances are he'll even have a spare jack lying around.)

 

[IAmDre]

I'm not comfortable with the idea of opening my TV so in the worst case I'll get a new one.
I tried an app called SoundAbout that was supposed to solve this issue as there is an option to do this but unfortunately it doesn't work for me. The sound is only lowered when I plug in the headphones but there is no sound coming from the headphones.