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Remote controls

Posted on March 02, 2009 at 23:59:12 by chris

It used to be that remote controls for TVs, VCRs, and so on were fairly basic, and you had to press buttons on the actual device to do some things (like setting timers). Losing the remote control was annoying, but not a big problem.

Now things have gone the other way - without the remote control, it's now impossible to use many functions on devices. We recently lost the control for the cable box. Without it, you can't view the EPG, turn on subtitles (useful late at night when others are asleep), or use any of the interactive digital stuff. You can just about change channels and adjust the volume (the same goes for the TV).

I think it's a backward step that things are now nearly impossible to use if you lose the control, or the batteries run out... I remember once at university going around the town in the middle of the night trying to find somewhere open selling batteries. Someone had turned off the TV or something like that, and you couldn't get it out of standby without the remote. Argh!