Ask S&V

Q Is it possible to mirror videos (YouTube or Netflix) from my iPad to my Panasonic Viera TV while simultaneously using Bluetooth to send the audio to my receiver? —John Geloso

A The answer is no. When you “mirror” videos from an iPad, you are not streaming audio/video from the tablet to the TV (as you would with devices that support Miracast), but using it to “trigger” streaming of the same content directly from the TV’s YouTube or Netflix app over its network connection. At that point, the set’s built-in audio/video system takes over playback, which means you won’t be able to simultaneously stream Bluetooth audio for the same content to a separate device (in this case, your receiver) and have it be in sync with the image displayed onscreen.

That said, a number of recent Samsung TVs have a feature called Soundshare that lets you output audio from the TV to an external audio device such as a soundbar or receiver via Bluetooth. Recent Panasonic TVs, on the other hand, provide both HDMI jacks with ARC (Audio Return Channel) plus an optical digital ouput to make audio connections to a soundbar or receiver so you can use those to convey sound in place of the TV’s built-in speakers—the option I’d recommend in your situation when using the TV to view Netflix or YouTube.

If you’re really bent on going the Bluetooth route, I’d recommend picking up a Bluetooth transmitter like the TaoTronics TT-BA06 ($36 from Amazon.com). This hooks up to the analog stereo output of your TV—or any other device—and converts the audio signal to Bluetooth so that it can be received by a Bluetooth-equipped speaker or receiver.