Bad Bluetooth Reception with 8bitdo from Behind TV

deaftlolight

I am using an 8bitdo controller with a Bluetooth dongle. My TV is mounted against the wall so I velcroed my RPi 4 behind it for aesthetic purposes. But unfortunately the reception isn't good for a controller. Is there any way to fix this? I'm not far away, the Bluetooth receiver is just behind the TV. I thought Bluetooth has good range. PS4 and Ps5s don't have this problem! Their controllers have crazy range. How do I get my Bluetooth to work when my RPi is behind the TV? Do I just need a better dongle? Like one with an antenna?

I have the same issue with my rii mini keyboard. It says it's receiver is RF but it has trouble reaching unless I point it and get close.

retropieuser555

@deaftlolight silly question but presuming it's a smart TV? Are their other devices nearby that also are using WiFi and or Bluetooth? Does the TV itself have Bluetooth? Wondering if there's anyway you mitigate the interference you're getting.

Also have you turned on the pi's onboard Bluetooth and made sure it uses the dongle rather than its own Bluetooth?

I've found the onboard Bluetooth on pi4 isn't the best. Once I connect multiple controllers lag can become an issue. But generally a dongle like you have should help.

ByteThis

@retropieuser555 said in Bad Bluetooth Reception with 8bitdo from Behind TV:

@deaftlolight silly question but presuming it's a smart TV? Are their other devices nearby that also are using WiFi and or Bluetooth? Does the TV itself have Bluetooth? Wondering if there's anyway you mitigate the interference you're getting.

Also have you turned on the pi's onboard Bluetooth and made sure it uses the dongle rather than its own Bluetooth?

Did you mean to say turn the onboard Bluetooth off ??

deaftlolight

yes i have turned the onboard bluetooth off

deaftlolight

@retropieuser555 the onboard bluetooth is off. there's some other wifi devices around but none i can avoid turning off. the tv and raspberry pi are hardwired ethernet not using wifi.

mitu

The issue is the BT dongle, once you've disabled the onboard Bluetooth the connection is handled by the dongle - to the RetroPie system it just looks like an USB controller. Get an USB extension cable for the Pi and move the dongle out of the back of the TV.

Did you try the onboard Pi Bluetooth before getting the donlge ? Does it suffer from the same connection issue ?

deaftlolight

@mitu I see, so use a USB extension cable for the dongle.... I was hoping to keep this as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Are theere any good dongles that have better range?