new post to old topic

[Wilma]

There is a thread on here that talks about the odd and funny things that people save, but I can't find it, so I am just going to post this here.

One of the odd things that I save is the cardboard tubes that paper towels come on.  And I am finally redeemed for this crazy habit.

I bought a Zenith TV the other day and set it beside the Zenith that I have been using.  We found that one remote controls both sets.  In other words, if I turn one set on the other set turns on, also.  If I change channels on one set, the channel changes on the other set, also.  This is not what I had in mind.  I don't need two sets with the same program. 

Needed:  a solution that would let the remote operate only one set at a time.

Solution:  A cardboard tube that used to hold paper towels.  Sliding the tube over the end of the remote narrowed the signal to the place where it reaches only one set at a time.

Now I am wondering if it is possible to reprogram one of the sets to work off another remote.  Does anyone know if this can be done? 

[Bonnie M.]

I wish I had an answer, but, I have NO idea about such things!  It sounded like the solution you came up with was a good one!

[W. Gray]

Cool solution.

You could reprogram another remote to control your sets, but you would have two remotes doing the same thing and both TVs would respond the same to each unless you used the tube.

I would not know how one would reprogram a TV set frequency for remote operation. I would think the frequency was something the factory set and that it could not be changed.

Maybe some else might think otherwise.

[Mom70x7]

The last time we bought one of those universal remotes, there were a couple of codes that worked on our TV. Do you think it would work if you could program the TV using a different code?

Or am I talking jibberish to you?

Another possible solution: for awhile we watched TV through our VCR, since we didn't have a remote that worked for the TV and we were too lazy to get up to change channels. Can you program one to work through a VHS or DVD player? Would that work?

Or am I back to jibberish?

I've still got one TV I use two remotes on - one to change the channels and the other to turn it off/on with and set the "auto turn-off" with.

[Wilma]

I had thought of maybe seeing if there were more than one code that would work on the new TV.  I know there is only one that works on the older set.

I hadn't thought of going through a VCR.  We did that before we had a TV with the remote.  Right now my VCR is at Janet's and neither set  has a DVD port.

I am hoping to get an answer about reprogramming the TV and if it can be done, I think I know someone that can do it.  I need to talk to him anyway.

[sixdogsmom]

Oh heck Wilma! What's wrong with stereo? 

[W. Gray]

Wilma,

Let us know what you find out.

That little remote is something that we all did without in the older days but cannot do without today. Part of the necessity, though, is all those channels available.

Even when six channels were on the air in the Kansas City area, we did without a remote.

Something else that is just as convenient today is the electronic garage door opener.

[Wilma]

Good news and bad news.  The bad news is that you cannot reprogram a TV to operate off another remote.  It is something that is done at the factory.

The good news is that I no longer have the problem of two sets responding to the same remote.  The old set has stopped responding, period.  My brother tells me that the receptor inside the set has probably weakened so much that it no longer picks up the signal. 

More bad news, the set is so old that a new receptor probably cannot be found.   

More good news, my brother says he can probably find one out of an old set that he has that might fix the problem.

Looks like I need to tell Janet to bring my VCR home.

[Wilma]

UPDATE on Wilma's continuing saga of remote TV.

After two long conversations with my brother, (no one has a short conversation with him), it was decided that the remote receptor inside the set has probably quit working and that I needed to load the set, bring it over to him, and he would do a shade tree job on it.  What is a shade tree job on a TV?  It is when you load the TV in the back of your van with the back of the TV facing the back.  Then when you get there, he can remove the back of the TV and do the job without removing the TV from the vehicle.  Of course, this has to be done on a nice sunny day and he has to know that you are coming and he has to have the part on hand.

Now for the GOOD NEWS.  Since the front has come through and it is colder and the humidity is down and the furnace has been running, the old TV has started accepting the remote signals.  Can anyone tell me if high humidity would cause a problem like this?

I am not complaining.  I am back to the cardboard tube over the end of the remote and aiming the signal in such a way that only the set that I want to change receives it.  I'm happy.

[Catwoman]

Love the ingenious solution to the problem...maybe we need to write YOU as a candidate for being on the School Board! lol