watervole: (Default)
Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2005-08-22 05:08 pm

TV remote controls

Is there a market for greatly simplified remote controls? This came up in discussion recently and it seems that simplfied controls (on/off, channel up/down, mute and maybe volume control) could be useful for people who are getting confused or with very poor sight.

This could be a relatively easy spin-off product from the work [livejournal.com profile] waveney is doing at present as he needs to get a large quantity of simplified remotes for hospital patients. If he has the relevent remote control (which could be mailed if he doesn't have the details already), then it would be easy for him to programme a required set of commands. eg. The three favourite channels could have a button each.

Does anyone need anything like this, either pesonally or professionally?

http://www.livejournal.com/users/waveney/5442.html?style=mine
ext_8559: Cartoon me  (Default)

They already exist

[identity profile] the-magician.livejournal.com 2005-08-22 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I have a couple at home.

One basically has a single row of buttons, power at the top, channel up, channel down, volume up, volume down and mute and that's it I think (it's the one I got for the cheap portable TV that had lost its remote)

One for all do a "TV Zapper" that has
"Power Toggle, Scan, Channel +/-, Volume +/-, Mute and Colour/Brightness Control"
http://www.oneforall-int.com/index.html

And I have a simple remote that works with hifi that doesn't do much more than volume, power, and a very few other buttons (play, stop, forward, back .. and maybe a feature select for radio/CD etc.)



ext_8559: Cartoon me  (Default)

For example

[identity profile] the-magician.livejournal.com 2005-08-22 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
(this one is Ugly!)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50x-MINIATURE-REMOTE-CONTROL-FOR-ANY-TV-BULK-CLEAROUT_W0QQitemZ5799441062QQcategoryZ15065QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

power, channel up/down, volume up/down, mute and setup. For sale at 1.99 each normally, but this auction is 50 units for 25 quid.

Re: For example

[identity profile] waveney.livejournal.com 2005-08-22 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually those would be useless for what I am doing with RWAV.

They only work to preprogrammed codes. The codes are typically for American TVs and little else besides. I actually was controlling two things, the TV and the STB (not that the patients needed to know that), the On/Off and Volume controls where for the TV, the channel change for the STB. I also note that neither the TV nor the STB I used are listed in the list of supported boxes.

But having said all that, yes these are simple remotes, perhaps clumsier than I am using, and probably cheaper.