What's a super simple TV system nowadays?

[Muse]

Used to be you turned on your TV with a knob, changed channels with another knob, changed the volume with another... that's it. Then the remote came, then cable (etc.) boxes, VCR's, DVR's, etc. etc.

I visited my mother yesterday and she was trying to get her TV to work. I couldn't even get it to work. She has a biggish (32"??) analog TV and a converter box and indoor antenna, two remotes (TV and converter box). A facilities guy at the place she lives opined that the tube was bad. Even if it is, she needs a TV system she can turn on with one button press of the single remote and move up and down the channel list, that's it.

What do we need? Digital TV? Cable? Keep the indoor antenna?

Absolutely the simplest solution!

 

[NutBucket]

Every TV sold today has a digital tuner. If all she wants it watch broadcast TV then any TV will suffice. Nothing else needed besides the antenna.

 

[Kaido]

Probably just program a jumbo universal remote for the TV & cable box:

http://www.amazon.com/Innovage-Jumbo...dp/B0017LY5CK/

If she needs to control more devices, then a Logitech Harmony setup with the dumb remote: (basic non-touchscreen remote)

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/harmony-smart-control?crid=60

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yep, that is what I thought. Program a Harmony for her.

 

[Muse]

Being as I don't know that the TV is OK (couldn't get a decent picture out of it a couple of days ago), I think the plan right now is to get her a new TV, see if that's satisfactory in terms of reception and if not, subscribe her to cable. If the latter, maybe the Harmony remote is a good idea. Don't want her to have to use two separate remotes. I don't have experience programming Harmony remotes, but I have programmed my MX-700. It's got to be simple for her.

 

[smitbret]

Here's your answer. My 2 year old is currently getting better at figuring this out by the day:

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/harmony-remotes

We use the 700 at my house and my family would die if we lost it.

Whoops, you already discovered this....... Consider this support for your decision

 

[Sidekicknichola]

This bad boy just got announced... could be an option - http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/24/tech/gaming-gadgets/google-nexus-chromecast/

 

[Doppel]

Here's your answer. My 2 year old is currently getting better at figuring this out by the day:

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/harmony-remotes

We use the 700 at my house and my family would die if we lost it.

Whoops, you already discovered this....... Consider this support for your decision

I used this or something like it a bit as a couple of aging family members are using it. It works well, although I mocked one of them asking who he had set it up for him. I guess I'm saying if something changes, a smart tech person will still need to set it up for them/fix it

 

[Muse]

Being as I don't know that the TV is OK (couldn't get a decent picture out of it a couple of days ago), I think the plan right now is to get her a new TV, see if that's satisfactory in terms of reception and if not, subscribe her to cable. If the latter, maybe the Harmony remote is a good idea. Don't want her to have to use two separate remotes. I don't have experience programming Harmony remotes, but I have programmed my MX-700. It's got to be simple for her.

My sister and I went into Best Buy and bought our mom a 50" Panasonic plasma (always heard that Panny's were the best plasmas), and a stand, my sister's aesthetic choice. My sister actually wanted to get her a TV with built in DVD but the sales guy said the biggest they had was 32" or 36" or something.

What we ordered (plus ~42" wide stand): Panasonic TC-P50S60 50-Inch 1080p 600Hz Plasma HDTV

It's going to be delivered Thursday and they're going to haul away her old ~28" CRT TV. I'm going to hook it up to her indoor antenna and see if she gets a lot of stations and decent reception. If not, it's Comcast cable, but I'm hoping we can avoid that added complexity. My sister's insistent that we give her the DVD option, so I probably will have to do that, probably with a universal. Harmony 700? My Mom's really old and I don't want confusion to be part of the scenario. I know there are a ton of remotes out there. Is the Harmony, once programmed, going to be as simple as possible? I figure we don't really need the most powerful remote, just one that makes using the TV's tuner and the DVD player as simple as possible. Maybe a cheap one will be as good or better than the Harmony, what do you think? I don't think I want her to have to use two remotes (TV and DVD player).

 

[KeithP]

Being as I don't know that the TV is OK (couldn't get a decent picture out of it a couple of days ago), I think the plan right now is to get her a new TV, see if that's satisfactory in terms of reception and if not, subscribe her to cable. If the latter, maybe the Harmony remote is a good idea. Don't want her to have to use two separate remotes. I don't have experience programming Harmony remotes, but I have programmed my MX-700. It's got to be simple for her.

Most cable remotes can be programmed to automatically turn the TV on/off with the power button on the remote. Even if you go with cable, I doubt there would be a reason to need a 3rd party remote like the Harmony.

If the the cable company's remote can't be taught to power on/off the TV, couldn't you just leave the TV turned on all the time and let its energy saving functions do the rest?

-KeithP

 

[poofyhairguy]

I would say a Harmony 600 or better would be fine. The 700 is nice because you don't have to keep replacing the AA batteries.

A Harmony is the best case for simple. You have one button that is for TV and one for Watch a Movie. When these "activity" buttons are pressed the remote sends the commands to the right box, aka volume up down to TV and channel up down to cable box.

The only downside to a Harmony is initial setup and cost. But if you can handle it, it is the easiest thing out there.

 

[Slacker]

I have FiOS, the remote for the box does what you said, 1 button turns on both, then just like any other TV you have channel and volume control. There are a bunch of other buttons but you don't need to mess with them.

 

[vshah]

remember with the harmony, the user needs to be "reprogrammed" to continue pointing the remote at the devices until all commands are sent. I still have this problem with my inlaws - they'll press "watch bluray" and then set the remote down on the coffee table immediately, which messes up the system state due to only receiving half the commands. then they have to go through the help button on the remote to fix anything.

harmony should really have a beep or something to indicate that the macro has completed.

 

[Muse]

Most cable remotes can be programmed to automatically turn the TV on/off with the power button on the remote. Even if you go with cable, I doubt there would be a reason to need a 3rd party remote like the Harmony.

If the the cable company's remote can't be taught to power on/off the TV, couldn't you just leave the TV turned on all the time and let its energy saving functions do the rest?

-KeithP

Will have to see how all this shakes out. Since we want DVD, maybe the DVD player remote will turn on the TV Might need a universal, huh? Hopefully the TV will go into something like suspend when given no signal...

 

[Muse]

I would say a Harmony 600 or better would be fine. The 700 is nice because you don't have to keep replacing the AA batteries.

A Harmony is the best case for simple. You have one button that is for TV and one for Watch a Movie. When these "activity" buttons are pressed the remote sends the commands to the right box, aka volume up down to TV and channel up down to cable box.

The only downside to a Harmony is initial setup and cost. But if you can handle it, it is the easiest thing out there.

Why don't you have to replace the AA batteries on the 700? How do they work around that?

 

[vshah]

Being as I don't know that the TV is OK (couldn't get a decent picture out of it a couple of days ago), I think the plan right now is to get her a new TV, see if that's satisfactory in terms of reception and if not, subscribe her to cable. If the latter, maybe the Harmony remote is a good idea. Don't want her to have to use two separate remotes. I don't have experience programming Harmony remotes, but I have programmed my MX-700. It's got to be simple for her.

get the mohu leaf antenna from amazon. i just have it sitting on the floor under my entertainment center and i pull in about 20 channels. If you're in a decent sized city it will work great.

http://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Leaf-Pape.../dp/B004QK7HI8


harmony 700 uses a rechargeable battery pack. i wouldn't worry about it too much just for that reason - the harmony 600 at my parent's house has been going for over a year on 2 AAs.


most TVs have a standby timer and will turn themselves off after a preset interval. but with the harmony you don't have to worry about any of that

1. press watch tv or watch dvd
2. enjoy
3. press power off, everything turns off

 

[Muse]

get the mohu leaf antenna from amazon. i just have it sitting on the floor under my entertainment center and i pull in about 20 channels. If you're in a decent sized city it will work great.

http://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Leaf-Pape.../dp/B004QK7HI8


harmony 700 uses a rechargeable battery pack. i wouldn't worry about it too much just for that reason - the harmony 600 at my parent's house has been going for over a year on 2 AAs.


most TVs have a standby timer and will turn themselves off after a preset interval. but with the harmony you don't have to worry about any of that

1. press watch tv or watch dvd
2. enjoy
3. press power off, everything turns off

I will see first how her rabbit ears antennas are working (she has two of them). Location is about 10 miles from the transmission tower (Sutro in San Francisco), she may get decent reception with what she has.

The Harmony 600 (or 650, don't know the difference), is probably the one I'll order, even if OTA works out OK. Will need to add a disk player, so universal remote is going to be the ticket. Rechargable is one more level of complexity I don't want here. I'll definitely configure (if possible) the TV to shut off if no codes are entered for an hour or two, will see how that works out.

Goddamn Best Buy fucked up the delivery:

1. They were supposed to call me Wednesday and leave a message, being the 4 hour window for delivery on Thursday. No call

2. I call them Thursday am told that delivery is going to be in a tight window from 3:39PM to 3:53PM. Fab, I'll be there. I was there and they didn't come. I call again and am told that they need to reschedule. He doesn't know why. I find out later that they did come and said they couldn't find the location. WTF, how could they have fucked that up? I have had a couple of delivery jobs in my time and never used that excuse to not deliver a package. Maybe it will be delivered Monday, hell if I know. I'm not going to be there waiting next time... the facilities people should be able to handle the situation, store the packages and I will deal with it on my own terms.