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January 24, 2016
How to hack your TV remote with tape to make it user-friendly
For years I've been annoying myself by routinely pushing the wrong cable remote button in the dark and finding myself in some hellish virtual place that takes forever to extricate myself from.
A couple weeks ago I had an epiphany and thought to myself, "I'm as mad as hell,
and I'm not going to take this* any more."
So I got out a roll of masking tape and posted the results (above) on Twitter.
*Peter Finch says "this" but the title mistakenly substitutes "it."
January 24, 2016 at 08:01 AM | Permalink
Comments
Back in my youth working retail we sold a remote very similar to what you did. I'd show you on the company's website, but it appears to be broken.
Anyways, the programmable Logitech remotes are worth the cost if you have multiple things to turn on/off. As someone with a home theater, a tv, a roku, and numerous other devices, it's indispensable.
Posted by: Rocketboy | Jan 28, 2016 11:39:12 PM
Flooter — I'll agree with you on this. Which is why I don't watch too much television. I wish I did... it's an easy way to turn off the brain for an hour.
Posted by: clifyt | Jan 26, 2016 1:27:17 PM
I don't know, clifyt, maybe it's just that there's nothing on TV that your ma gives 5 college degrees worth of a shit about watching.
Posted by: Flautist | Jan 26, 2016 6:29:45 AM
Good one Joe, I see your vision on this, however! Might I suggest redoing the entire tape job with high-quality vinyl electrician's tape. It will remove cleanly months or even years down the road. You used masking tape, the stickiest tape there just about is. It will degrade and corrode into a goopy mess in about a month and render every button that's covered useless due to its sticky, gelatinous nature. You still have time to start over now, I plead with you!
Posted by: friskypainter | Jan 26, 2016 12:14:25 AM
This is one of those WHY DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT IT hacks. My mom came to live with me for a few months and I ended up with a laminated chart for her to follow. Literally the ONLY things to think about were the SELECT TV, POWER, CHANNEL, and VOLUME buttons. And literally, the only thing that could go wrong would be if somehow INPUT would be set to one of the HDMI inputs. So I wrote a flow chart on how to fix this (PRESS TV BUTTON, IF TV NOT TURNED ON — PRESS POWER, PRESS BLUE TV INPUT, PRESS 1 [CABLE INPUT], PRESS ENTER).
No matter what I did... it would always result in returning home with my mother in tears screaming I BROKEDED THAAAA TVVVVVV AGAAAAAAIN.
Ya know what? 5 college degrees... you aren't an idiot and know how to read. NO TV FOR YOU.
Why is it so hard for otherwise educated old people to not be able to figure this stuff out.
Posted by: clifyt | Jan 25, 2016 10:24:28 AM
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