I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from people recently about how they’re having a LOT of trouble getting their official (the one with ‘Sony’ on it that Sony guarantees is supposed to work with their own damned system, right?) Sony PS3 Bluetooth headset (usually the Socom one) to connect to their systems, to say nothing of actually getting headsets of other brands to work. I spent about 3 hours trying to get my own to connect so I could play Socom before I finally figured it out (also had two of my friends who were having problems try this, worked for them the first time as well)–the problem is that you think the headset is on and scanning and it’s not (basically–this is likely what’s happening if you end up down at “Plan B”). Ok, first I’m going to give you the standard instructions for any Bluetooth headset–these should work the majority of the time, and if they don’t then go to the second set:
Plan A
- First, note that the headset must be at least a Bluetooth 1.2 compliant headset because older versions won’t have a profile that the PS3 recognizes. Now, put your headset into pairing mode (refer to the instructions that came with it if you don’t know how to do this).
- Next, go into the CrossMediaBar (XMB) menu on the PS3, go to “Accessories Settings” and press “X”.
- Go to “Register Bluetooth Device”. Press “X”.
- A screen should come up for this, press “X”.
- Now it should ask you if you want to start scanning, press “X”.
- It should find your headset, press “X”.
- It will now ask you for the pass key, which is almost always (unless you’ve changed it) four zeros: “0000″. That should end the registration process, but we’re not done yet.
- Navigate back to “Accessory Settings” and select “Audio Device Settings”, press “X”.
- Set the “Mic Level” to 5, and both “Input Device” and “Output Device” to your Bluetooth headset if wasn’t already set that way.
Note that you might have to go through this setup twice, depending on what type of headset you have. The Sony headset only needed to go through it once, but my friend’s Plantronics headset needed to be done twice–no clue why, but it did (don’t give up! haha).
Plan B
- First of all, the headset must be fully charged as most of you know by now. You know this because the red circle on the headset is fully on and not blinking (which means it’s still charging).
- Once your headset is fully charged, connect the USB cable directly to the headset before you connect the other end to your PS3. When you connect the cable to the PS3 you should see the headset’s green power light come on for about 2 to 3 seconds. Alright, now it’s paired.
- Next, go to settings, then accessory settings, and then “Manage Bluetooth Devices”: you should be able to see your headset there. Another way of checking is go to settings, then accessory settings, then audio device settings: talk into the mic, if you can hear yourself, then everything is set and you’re ready to go.