Remember when you had to get up to change channels on TV? Life was so much simpler then.
Actually, in the TV business, life was so much more lucrative and predictable then. You didn’t have to worry about 30 seconds of uninteresting programming driving an audience away. That’s why you could have ‘variety’ shows, like Ed Sullivan, who might have an opera singer, juggler, and Elvis all on the same night.
I digress.
My pocket vibrated last night at the station. Helaine was on the cell phone. The remote for the TV in the bedroom had stopped working. Did I have a clue what might be wrong?
I did. But there was no way to fix it remotely (ha – I made myself laugh).
What probably happened was the code reset button was inadvertently pressed and held. The remote started speaking Mandarin instead of English – or so it would have seemed to the TV.
Do you have the instruction sheet for your remote(s)? Me neither. Though it’s a Magnavox/Philips, their websites had no info.
Google, don’t fail me now.
I popped open the remote, looking for a model number. Of course, there’s nothing but the manufacturers names on the outside. On either side of the battery was a sticker with some numbers and letters. I took a guess and entered “cl015” into a search box.
On the first entry I found pay dirt. The site was remotecentral.com and it was filled with postings like this:
And this:
How many remotes get thrown out every day because there’s no easy way to make them work?
We have at least ten, maybe more. The family room table often holds three – TV, DVD, cable box. And, even though some say “Universal Remote,” they never control all the functions.
So sad.
The correct answer to all the questions was posted by someone going by the name Abrodino. He is today’s good Samaritan in the Fox house.