And if so, why isn’t it now standard on all televisions?
I just gave up on a search for my TV remote and therefore had to “manually” adjust the volume by pressing buttons on the TV.
Why oh why is there not a button on the TV that, when pressed, causes the TV remote to beep loudly? It’s the year 2010… why is this not yet a standard TV function?
Does it exist on any televisions I’ve never seen it…
:eek:
You, good sir, are a genius. GENIUS!
I once bought my wife a device a bit like that because she kept losing her keys. But she lost the little remote you were supposed to press to make the key fob beep. :smack:
Your idea sounds great though.
My cordless phone has that function. I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t work for a tv.
Well, I’ve done some research and have found the following. There is (as would be expected) already a “Remote Control Finder”, but it is sold separately and not actually integrated into the television. Also, your idea has already been suggested here back in Nov 2003. I agree your idea would be great! Sometimes I walk into the kitchen and leave the remote control there and never find it again.
I’ve always thought of that, too. Or more generally, a little pack of small stickers that contain a small microwave pickup (or whatever is the most suitable frequency) and a small speaker that you could stick on to anything, really (like a remote, keys, wallet, etc.). Then there would be a base station stuck on to your desk or wall near your door. Hit the base station and the item would beep for a bit and you could go find it.
The problem would be powering a speaker with a small yet powerful enough battery to allow it to beep loud enough. Though with WiTricitydevelopment coming along perhaps it would be easy to couple to something like that.
Phones, however, are already intended to produce sound – and they consequently have much stronger batteries, to mention just one difference. Remote controls, generally, are not. I’m wondering how expensive it would be to add this feature to a “mute” remote control, and if this may be the reason we’re not seeing it.
Certain Magnavox remotes have had this feature for almost 20 years (introduced in 1993). Check out the old ad on Youtube.
ETA: So the answer to the question is: Yes! It has been done.
I’ve wondered about that too. However difficult and/or expensive it would be, surely it’d be worthwhile adding it to some of the high-end TVs at least? I mean, some of the really big TVs cost over a grand, so a feature which cost an extra twenty quid to fit would barely be noticeable, and if Sony had it and Samsung didn’t on TVs which were otherwise very similar, it would be a strong USP.
Putting the receiver & speaker into the remote would be easy enough.
Adding a transmitter & button to the TV is easy enough.
The real problem is the communcation. If we do it using IR, the same technique the remote uses to control the TV, then the remote will only get the “Beep” command from the TV when it is pointing at the TV and there is line of sight. That won’t succeed in enough *lost remote *scenarios to be useful.
So we need RF. How many of you have WiFi at home that works for 1 or 2 rooms, but not the rest of the house? A bunch. We’d have the same problem. And so the person who’s remote ends up in the kitchen would still be screwed.
So while it could be made to work, it’d still be hit or miss. Unless the finder was a little hand-held gizmo that was normaly docked into the TV’s body. So you could try it while docked and if it didn’t find the remote, you could undock it and carry it around the house, pushing it’s “Find” button in each room.
Which would be awesome until your short attention span caused you to drop the finder the instant you heard the remote beep. Then you’ve lost the finder.
As to why this isn’t a standard feature on TVs today: The first few sets which have it would need to cost an extra $50 for the manufacturer to break even on the cost of the feature. The marginal price increment might well drop to $20 after the feature isc ommon & somebody is making universal chips to deliver the feature. But right now the marketplace is so much about lowest price per diagonal inch that nobody thinks this idea will make them more money. Manufacturers believe that customers will choose the cheaper set without the feature every time.
My cordless landline phone has a button you can press that makes the phone beep if you’ve lost it somewhere in the house. I don’t know exactly how that works, but it does work. It works through the entire flat, but then so does my wifi - my wifi works right out to the end of the courtyard outside.
Maybe eventually the remote control could have an incoming calls only phone connection so that you can phone it to make it ring when it’s lost. I doubt that would be feasible cost-wise now, but eventually it would be. Mind you, I’m surprised smartphones don’t already have the capacity to work as a remote control (with an optional downloaded app) already.
Well, Palm devices have had this feature from the Palm III in 1998 to the Palm Treo 755 in 2007.
Agreed. I bow to your superior invention-itis.
Cool. Is it an app, or is it something physical you have to add, like an SD card?
It’s all a matter of battery life.
It’s very, very hard to make any type of receiver that operates for months on a few AAA cells. The (painfully slow) development of ZigBee might change this - it’s possible to make a ZigBee receiver that will work for a year on a Lithium cell.
It is just an app. The devices had an IR port that was used to sync data with a computer. The port could be programmed to send any IR signals. That capability combined with a completely flexible touchscreen made for a great universal remote. The popularity of bluetooth has eliminated the need for IR ports on most current devices.
I believe those remotes also operated on radio waves instead of RF. This was great because you didn’t have to point the thing at the TV to change the channel or volume. Terrific if you’re lying in bed or on the couch, especially if your hands are under a blanket.
Those were actually quite nifty remotes. I wonder why they’re not used any more, or if they are why TV manufactures don’t use them as a selling point any more.
Would there be any issues with assigned frequency ranges and interference with cell phones, cordless phones, wifi, etc? My understanding is that these types of devices can only operate in certain fixed ranges, assigned by the FCC/CRTC/whatever. Perhaps, even if the battery issue was resolved, getting legal permission to manufacture TV remotes that can be beeped on a certain frequency would mean using a range that’s already assigned to other devices? That would be a pretty big hurdle to getting these things on the market.
Not really. Seeing that it’s already been done the hurdle has already been jumped.
I have no idea what frequency they were using on those remotes though.
If this were done, it still wouldn’t find the remote if you left it inside the refrigerator. I understand that this is a common place to leave the remote, although I’ve never done it myself. The RF won’t penetrate the metal walls of the fridge.
You’d also want to put this feature on cable boxes, since many people have to use its remote, instead of the TV’s.