Bluetooth headset for MacBook Pro

I'm not sure on a good one to reccomend, but I can reccomend that you stay very far away from Motorola headsets - something in the way they've implemented bluetooth causes it to not function correctly with the MBP's bluetooth radio.

i use my plantronics 520 i got from radio shack. i have it synced to my Iphone along with my MBP for ventrilo. it works great for me.

jacob lial wrote:
i use my plantronics 520 i got from radio shack. i have it synced to my Iphone along with my MBP for ventrilo. it works great for me.

i agree plantronics makes quality stuff.

1) I have two new MacBook Pro Unibody Aluminum Late 2008 models. I can replicate this problem on both units.
2) I am using Skype 2.7.0.330.
3) I've tested this with MacOS 10.5.5 and 10.5.6

If I set up a bluetooth Headset and use it with Skype, it degrades into illegible audio in about 5 minutes. Only a reboot of the Mac cures it. At worst, it even locks up the OS and the stack trace on the report sent to Apple shows some of the BT methods/stack as the culprit. A reboot of the Headset does not help restore legible audio.

I have tried three brands and models of BlueTooth Headsets:
Plantronics 510
Jabra BT 250v
Motorola H350

All headsets exhibit the same problem. Problem can be replicated on both MBPs. This worked just fine on the old 2007 MBP.

I even went so far as to just play music through the BlueTooth headsets via iTunes. The audio starts chopping up around 5 minutes of use. Again, only a reboot of the Mac helps.

i know there is a problem with bluetooth PAN as well i wonder is it is affecting your headset as well here is the forurm thread link

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1756081

and

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1531568

this is affecting the early and later 2008 MBP models // this works fine for older models

also did you try using the internal mic and speakers of your notebooks to see if you have the same problem? ... if you have the same problem then skype is the problem if not then its prob the bluetooth /// mostlikely a bluetooth problem tho

Per the questions posed:

Yup, should have said so. Sanity tested the same behavior with:
1) My iPhone Headphones, which just plug in to the headphone socket yet use the mic on the headphones line
2) A USB Plantronics headset (DSP 400) which worked for a 10 hour conference call without a hitch.

So the alternate, non bluetooth headset approaches work like a champ.

And remember, this behavior is exhibited outside Skype -- even with iTunes just playing music to the headsets.

i think it has to do the the bluetooth Protocal ... not so much drivers as bluetooth devices can be connected just fine but does not function properly.

Amen! Same here. This is very annoying. After discovering that Bluetooth PAN was not usable at all. Now, I just tried to use my Bluetooth Plantronics 590 headset as "headphone" to listen to music and had to disconnect it almost immediately. There was a serious audible distortion all the time. Unusable again. That headphone worked beautifully with my previous MacBook Pro (2006) under Tiger. I paid over $3000 for this new MacBook Pro with taxes and it has some serious parts of it that are unusable. Not fun...

Message was edited by: NemesysSoft

With the macbook pro, is it possible to connect to a bluetooth headset that is a2dp? i have an itech d-clip and it is not even recognized when i search for bluetooth devices. any ideas? thanks

itech d-clip specs:
# Bluetooth speciification v2.1+EDR class 2
# Supports Bluetooth Headset, Handsfree, A2DP & AVCRP profiles

My Bluetooth headset/headphones (insignia) worked great for a few days. Then out of nowhere I was in a call over Skype and I could hear the other end just find, but all they could hear was static. Did a test call with Skype and it produced same results, nothing but horrible static. Discharged my MB, rebooted, gave it another shot, and again, same thing. Tried my Plantronics headset that I use with my Blackberry, and I could hear fine on these also, but no static or sound or anything was transmitted when calling Skype or someone else, it was like the headset was muted, but wasn't. Set Skype to use my internal mic and speakers and everything works great this way.

So the audio works fine on both B/T headsets for listening to Itunes or any sound, but the audio in is either static or not present at all. Internal speakers and internal microphone function as normal.

Texasthad, I have exactly the same problem with my Sony DRC-BT15 and Mac Pro. The headphone function is crystal clear, the headset audio output is fine, but the mic is just static.

I have noticed if I remove the unit and then pair it again, sometimes I can get it to work again. But eventually it starts to echo and then just feeds back into endless distortion.

The problem isn't just skype, any application I try to use the DRC-BT15 with, same problem on the mic.

If you find a solution I would love to know.