I’ve noticed that all 3 of the HDTV’s in my house have TERRIBLE angles for their IR sensors. They’re all at the bottom left or bottom right of the TV’s, and you basically need to be in a “perfect” position to actually turn the damn thing on like straight in front of the TV. I remember every single CRT TV I ever owned, you could be at a perpendicular right angle to the TV and it would still turn on with the remote, but now you have to be at a less than 90 degree angle directly in front of the sensor to actually hit it.
I have two questions
Has anyone else noticed that remotes for TV’s have gotten worse or is it just me?
Why don’t they just put the IR sensor at the very top of the TV so it has the widest range, as opposed to sticking it in a lower corner which stuff like sound bars could potentially block it?
I had a CRT television that was terrible for recognizing signals from the remote. I got a faceted crystal ball (about 1/2" diameter) and put it in front of the receiver’s lens. Problem solved.
(Later on I opened the TV and found the the inside of the receiver’s window was covered in dust. One swipe with a cotton swab and the problem was REALLY solved.)
My “person cave” HD TV changes channels, display menus etc, are controlled by the cable box/PVR so I just make sure nothing is in the way. Quite simple. However, the OP raises a good point about the TV sensor itself. Mine is easily blocked by my sound bar so I have to make sure it’s moved to the side so as not to impede the “on off” signal for which the TV remote is used.
ive noticed this too we have about 2 years old TCL and if you’re not in front of it it won’t turn on … My question is … where are the buttons? cause if you lose the remote (which Is a Roku remote in the first place)
You’re screwed …
This. I bought an OLED set last year, and the remote doesn’t even use IR. I can face directly away from the TV and block the remote line of sight with my body and it still works fine.
I can control my Roku TV through the Roku app on my phone. It works over wifi. I prefer that over the actual physical remote. I don’t have to point my phone at the TV.
Haven’t noticed this. Both of my two TVs are Insignia, less than 10 years old. Apparently most of the inner components are Samsung, but overall the parts are a mish-mash from different Asian electronics manufacturers.
Anyways, the TVs are different models but use identical IR remotes. I can switch the two remotes and they work fine on either TV. Even works through a blanket most of the time. The range and angle are severely reduced once the battery starts getting low, I’ve noticed.
My most recent Tivos might be bluetooth (I seem to remember having to pair them) but I could be wrong. In any case, every TiVo I’ve owned since about 2002 has used RF. They have IR emitters as well so they can control other things, but RF is nice. As soon as you have the remote layout stored in muscle memory, you can keep it under the blanket with you or behind your head or in another room altogether.
As for the IR issues the OP was talking about, I’m guessing it’s not a CRT vs flat panel issue so much as it’s a coincidence (or a bias) that the transmitter/receivers were better on the older TVs. Other people probably have difference experiences.
There are options, if it really is that bad, you can get an IR Blaster. It’s a tiny IR receiver that you can put in a convenient spot and then, either wire directly into the item you’re controlling (some things have a connection for just that) or you place an IR transmitter in front of the item’s receiver and all your IR commands are repeated.
If you look up “IR Blaster” on Amazon/Ebay, you’ll find a number of variations of it. One word of caution, sometimes you need to create a little ‘shield’ around the transmitter/device receiver to block out signals coming from the remote. Some devices will give you unwanted results when they get identical commands at the same time.