Roger ON iN mic issue

If that was the actual advice given than I absolutely agree with you.

@Psych1

The Phonak Rep told my friends audiologists and him, that it doesn’t matter what serial number the Roger X is, it’ll transfer into his Phonak Nathos Nova Aids.

It was me who told him, that the Phonak Rep was incorrect.

Seems such basic stuff that they are getting wrong.

@PeterH said:

My point, really, is that you certainly don’t need a separate Roger device for each set of Hearing Aids

You are correct. If the aids have 03 licenses installed, they will connect with any Roger device in the 03 device group.

I haven’t read, and might not understand, all of the fine print of the Roger license agreement that we, supposedly, agree to. However, we have found many creative ways to do things that were not intended by the manufacturer.

For example, Roger licenses are usually separate from the device and either included with an in device or purchased separately. The “recover” feature in the upgrader program is there to assist if you somehow have corrupted a legitimately purchased receiver. However, we have found a way to use that feature to generate extra receivers to be given away or used in various ways. Is that legal? I’m not sure. Is it stealing? Seems so to me. Do the providers here sanction this? It would appear to seriously violate professional ethics if they do. This is only one example, there are many. Roger devices and licenses are expensive and many who need or would benefit from having them cannot afford them. Does that make it ok?

@Psych1 said:

The “recover” feature in the upgrader program is there to assist if you somehow have corrupted a legitimately purchased receiver.

Is that actually what it’s for? If that’s spelled out somewhere, then ok. But if that’s not the case, then one person wanting to use a single $2000 device with both a regular and backup pair of aids seems like a perfectly reasonable use of that feature.

While I’m scrupulously honest in my transactions, I did feel RIPPED OFF by Phonak regarding the Roger On iN V2s. But then the choice was mine to go buy the Phonak rechargeable Lumity Life aids back in 2022. I was convinced by their marketing message that the aids were waterproof (GONG that one!) and that they were the best in speech comprehension (I’m SOLD on that one!).

Initially I only got 12 hrs a day use from this rechargeable. So I’d have to swap in my old size 13-battery Marvels every night to watch TV. After updating to a not-officially released OS on my Android phone, that went up to 17 hours. That’s it!

I felt compelled to get an identical pair of rechargeables to get through a single day. So now I had TWO pairs of these rechargeable aids. Then the Roger On iN V2 came out, and since I now had TWO (redundant) pairs of aids, I paid for TWO (redundant) Roger mics. The Phonak rep never told me about using ONE of the mics for BOTH aids that I needed to get through a single day. My audi didn’t know I could’ve done that either.

When I recently bought the 312 Lifes, it was a total surprise to already be streaming with the very Roger mic that my audi was moving the license from. It’s THAT kind of misleading misinformation that makes me feel RIPPED OFF. I sat there - like in the Twilight Zone - wondering how I could be streaming on a mic without a PAID for license. My audi hadn’t even removed the license from that one pair of rechargeables before I was already streaming through the mic with my new 312s on.

I can only assume that SOMEONE at Phonak knows what’s going on with the license - how to xfer it onto the aids or how to move it from one pair of aids to another. But I still feel like I’m flying blind when I attempt to do this on my own. Even the myPhonak app does not seem to display accurate results. The other day, I’d tried to remove, then re-xfer the license to my aids and even tho I was streaming with the Roger mic, myPhonak showed I had ZERO license installed on these aids (right aid, left aid). That kind of frustrating user experience tends to erode confidence in the entire Phonak product line.

Ah, I know, I’ve said this all before, but I want to keep reminding folks that we really DON’T have the full story about Roger On iN V2 licenses. It’s needlessly confusing. Phonak needs to figure out how to make money while making the entire process EASY. I bought my two old TV Connectors free and clear. I can pair any Phonak aid I want to them quick and easy. (their sound quality is better than the Roger, too!) But with these Rogers, Phonak’s #1 priority seems to be to MAKE MONEY off us, and not provide a working solution transparently.

Sorry for the rant.

As I said, I really haven’t read all the fine print. I’m sure we could have a debate about the perfectly reasonable and justifiable action of stealing a loaf of bread to feed your hungry family, although the law in that case is clear. Roger receivers cost $300 and we have been instructed here, step by step, how to obtain up to 10. If we had been given step by step instructions on how to steal a bag of chips from your neighborhood convenience store we might be appalled. And, the site moderator might even step in. I’m not convinced that because the Roger receivers are expensive it is ok to steal them.

@WhiteHat said:

There may be a firmware update for your mics, too.

I’d sure never learn about that from my audi! No one at Phonak seems to share the update info so it can trickle down to US USERS. Should be a no-brainer given that Phonak has the serial numbers on all our devices in their database, right?

I don’t think they get notice until they connect target to your HAs. Common complaint across the industry. It would be nice if we could at least check for the existence of an updated firmware from the app, even if we can’t apply it.

WH

I don’t know about others but ReSound/Jabra does have this feature in their app under:
My Enhance Pro - Hearing aid software updates.

The TV connector connects via cable to the TV. I, however, want to hear the audio from the central speaker more closely, which obviously does not have RCA or jack outputs, leaving the other speakers unchanged

Turns out we also have a 7.1 surround sound system in our house. Our set-up is probably different from yours, but from what my brainiac hubs describes: You likely have several video/audio inputs (eg Apple, Roku, etc.) that go to your receiver. You’ll need to make sure that video/audio input ALSO is connected to the output: 7.1 AND a pre-amp/line OUT port into which your streamer cable is plugged. With that setup, you should be able to get the best streaming audio quality through the Roger.

I’ve tried all kinds of combinations for streaming audio in our TV room: TV Connector, Roger in its cradle, and Roger mic placed by the main speaker. By far, the old fashioned TV Connector delivers the best quality sound. But the Roger in its cradle is also excellent. Roger mic placed near a speaker is GARBAGE. You’ll get way too much ambient sound from the room competing with the video you’re trying to watch.

Audio latency is not even the main problem here - altho I’ve lived through setups that had that going on, too.

I find that if I’m using the TV Connector OR Roger On iN V2 in its cradle, it’s best if you have the audio output coming from the receiver. If you take the mic outside of the cradle, you should first MUTE your aids, and force the audio to come only through the mic.

Hope you can figure this out to have an enjoyable TV/movie viewing experience. There is nothing more frustrating than to have unreliable or poor streaming experience at the end of a long day when you want to sit in a big chair and go “DOH!”

@lello58 said:

The TV connector connects via cable to the TV. I, however, want to hear the audio from the central speaker more closely, which obviously does not have RCA or jack outputs, leaving the other speakers unchanged

Interesting question. I have a 7.1 theater in the basement, so I went down to see what it would sound like. Obviously it depends on your hearing and I can hear the dialog and sounds with my Phonak Lumity 90’s pretty good. With that said, I looked at a couple minutes of a Netflick film and a couple of minutes of Fox News on YouTubeTV. So take this for what it is worth, which may not be much
I noticed a slight lag when the Roger On was pointed at a speaker and the result was not real comfortable but that may be because I am not used to it. I muted my hearing aids and that helped a bit also. My speakers are mounted in-wall speakers so that may (or may not) affect the result. I think it depends on your particular hearing loss.
Previously I tried hooking the Roger directly to the receiver using a Toslink cable. That did not work well because the input/output modes were not compatible with the Roger. I found that I could only hear YouTubeTV but none of the other inputs. I have an old Marantz 7000 that I bought 15 or so years ago. Newer receivers may have compatibility enhancements. 1Bluejay had some more informative comments on this in a previous post above.

@lello58 said:

want to hear the audio from the central speaker more closely, which obviously does not have RCA or jack outputs, leaving the other speakers unchanged

Can you put a splitter in the feed to that speaker and send one half to the speaker and half to the connector?

WH