# "Hey, what does this button do?" \*click\* "Noooo, my TV!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 1999, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141 "1999-09-07T23:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/1 "1999-09-07T23:47:00Z")
For the 50th time now, I accidently pressed the reset button on my remote, which makes the colors go back to the factory defaults. While fixing the colors yet again ☹ , I was wondering… What’s the point of the reset button on the TV remote? Why did the television manufacturers decide to put one on the remote? ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/2 "1999-09-08T00:03:00Z")
My remote does not have one. I have to access the color adjustments through an on-screen menu. Nyah nyah. Why not buy a universal remote, better yet, buy a TV that has decent color to begin with? ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/3 "1999-09-08T01:00:00Z")
Louie - is it an RCA? I’ve got a little one that is like that - the reset is too close to the mute button (or, as we refer to it, the clown button) and the factory settings are incredibly dark. It also reverts to those settings if the power goes out - and it forgets all the channels. It’s very tedious to reprogram. ---
**Author:** ![BugZap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@BugZap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BugZap)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/4 "1999-09-08T01:50:00Z")
## What’s the point of the reset button on the TV remote? Why did the television manufacturers decide to put one on the remote? In a way, it’s called ‘bad design’. To make a product a little cheaper, they gotta cut corners somwhere. Remotes with many grand functions are cheaper to produce, than to duplicate the controls on the main board. So they give you this overloaded buttoned monstrosity that the designers just have to fit one more function into, and it becomes crap! And you gotta have it, cause it’s the ONLY thing that can do some functions. All you can do is shop smarter next time, (sometimes the best thing to know, is what you DON’T like, cut your fingernails to fit the teeny buttons, j/k , and maybe open up the control, and find the way to defeat that one dammned switch! (Sometimes all it takes is a piece of scotch tape.) I feel your pain. Hey, any new interns in town? ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/5 "1999-09-08T02:57:00Z")
aseymayo: The one in the living room, yes, it’s an RCA. I keep on confusing it with the Picture-In-Picture button that’s right below it, since they both look the same in the dark. 😛 The one I have (Magnavox) is worse. They got the reset button right next to the channel numbers. Nickrz: Universal remote? Hey, good idea, I forgot about those. The remote I have (Magnavox) has pieces missing from the plastic outside and it won’t work farther than 5 feet away. BugZap: I already did got rid of that button, all I used was a knife to slice it off. But, somehow, the colors keep on getting reset. Argh! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/6 "1999-09-08T03:02:00Z")
The reset button isn’t what irks me–it’s the danged VCR which doesn’t have any other way of programming it than by using the remote. Of course, the remote lasts nowhere near as long as the VCR itself! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/7 "1999-09-08T20:16:00Z")
I happen to like the reset feature on my Magnavox remote. However my reset has a “raised” button around it which makes it harder to reset. You really have to try to do it. ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/8 "1999-09-09T20:36:00Z")
> [@](#): > > The remote I have (Magnavox) has pieces missing from the plastic outside and it won’t work farther than 5 feet away. That’s not a remote, it’s a local. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/9 "1999-09-09T20:44:00Z")
Torq, HA! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/10 "1999-09-10T00:00:00Z")
Reset is nice if you wonder how the factory thinks it should look. Remote fun: Get a universal remote. visit your neighbor, find his tv type. Set the remote to that. Change his channels, etc a few times. Ah haha funny. no? Anyway wait a couple days, see your neighbor, say youd like to buy a tv, I bet youc an get a nice deal on one 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![typertrphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@typertrphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typertrphy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/11 "1999-09-10T00:25:00Z")
Handy? You are sick and twisted, we like that. Okay.Not for nothing? But…take a little glob of Crazy Glue? Let it run into the small grooves around the “ReSet” button,and therefore-frozen. No longer will you hit “reset” instead of"clown"…just an idea. Typer "If you wanna kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel " ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/12 "1999-09-10T16:49:00Z")
Take your remote to a hardware store. Find the bins where they keep loose connectors and such, and locate a washer (might be metal, might even be rubber/plastic) just the right size to cover the button. Also get some rubber cement – at an office supply or blueprint service place. Attach the washer with the cement, so you can remove it if the need arises. As for why it resets ‘spontaneously’ – do the channel settings _also_ reset? Could be your having intermittent power outages occur when you’re not around. ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 1999, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/13 "1999-09-11T02:10:00Z")
Hey everyone, I took Nickrz’s advice and got a new universal remote. Thanks to everyone for the advice. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 1999, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-what-does-this-button-do-click-noooo-my-tv/3141/14 "1999-09-11T03:55:00Z")
typertrphy - um, I’m not allowed to use Crazy Glue. There have been some, er…we’ll call them accidents. And not stupidity - that kind of thing could happen to anyone.