# Mum's haunted television **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812 "2002-05-31T22:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/1 "2002-05-31T22:57:27Z")
So today Mum tells me that her television has been turning itself on lately. Specifically, it turns itself on and changes the channel to channel 11, every Monday through Friday at 10:30 am. Weird. I’m sure there’s a good explanation. I know my own TV has a sleep function that turns it **off** after a specified amount of time… are there any TVs that you can program to automatically turn themselves **on** and change the channel at a specific time of day? (and what would be the use of that function?!) 😕 It doesn’t seem to turn itself off, because if she’s out for the day she’ll come back and the TV is still on. Obviously this isn’t very earth-shattering. Not like she could record it on the camcorder and submit it as evidence of paranormal (uh… yeah sure we believe that there isn’t a person with a remote control behind the camera :rolleyes: ). But, darnit, unexplaned phenomena _bug_ me. So, someone explain this for me. Please? ---
**Author:** ![Beerman63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@Beerman63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beerman63)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/2 "2002-05-31T23:19:44Z")
Does the tv have a remote? Is it infrared or RF? There are all kinds of things that could set off an RF(radio frquency) type,like garage door openers and such. We had one when I was a kid that would change channels when the phone rang. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/3 "2002-05-31T23:33:43Z")
Yup, TV has a remote. Standard issue infrared, not RF. (I just got her a replacement one recently, so I know) Thanks, though, that was a good idea. I’ve often been tempted to take my remote and walk around town, to see if I can change the channel or mess with the volume for any televisions I can see through the house windows. Never did, though. I should add that she lives out in the woods, no neighbors in sight. So, sure, someone could be sneaking into the woods and aiming their remote control through the window. But, :rolleyes:. It’s almost easier to believe it’s Grandmother’s ghost or something. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/4 "2002-05-31T23:52:39Z")
Does she by any chance have a “smart” satellite box? Some satellite boxes have an autosynch feature that automatically updates time and channel information in the remote control console. I’m not positive, but I think wireless WebTV consoles have a similar feature as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/5 "2002-06-01T00:09:14Z")
My mother had an RCA TV that did that. I talked to an electronics repairman about it and he said that particular model (and others made by the same manufacturer) had a faulty control module that would develop a short and behave in the manner you describe. My mother’s set would turn itself on and off or on and scan channels for a couple of minutes before turning itself off. She ended up getting a new TV since repairing the “haunted” one would have been too expensive. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/6 "2002-06-01T00:24:17Z")
**Inky** - Yes, she does have satellite. I dunno what kind. But how would that turn on the TV? Does the satellite box emit an infrared remote signal to update the TV? Does it make a difference that channel 11 is a cable channel, not a satellite channel? **BlueSky** - That sounds about right. Maybe it’s turning to channel 11 because she always leaves it on channel 3, and it gets a short to turn itself on and go up 8 channels. The 10:30am M-F thing is still weird though. Maybe I should hang onto this spare television that I was going to put up for the community yard sale… ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/7 "2002-06-01T01:14:14Z")
My TV also does that, although the times and channels are more or less random, I think. It’s happened in three different apartments, so I just figured that whatever part responds to an “on” command was over-sensitive and was being tripped whenever there was a minor power surge. The same thing might be happening if your local power company does some kind of maintenance or soomething at 10:30 every morning, but I don’t know why it would choose a particular channel. ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/8 "2002-06-01T01:15:02Z")
I have a TV that I can set to come ON, I have 2 as a matter of fact. A JVC and a cheap tv/vcr combo thing. You can set them to come on to a specific channel at a specific time. Get this, You can set it to come on only ONE day or EVERY MONDAY THOUGH FRIDAY. It acts as an alarm for the work days. I used that function all through college. I would check the functions of the TV. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/9 "2002-06-01T01:19:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* > **Inky - Yes, she does have satellite. I dunno what kind. But how would that turn on the TV? Does the satellite box emit an infrared remote signal to update the TV?** Yes exactly. The smartboxes update the time, channel position and switching information in the remote unit via IR. My friend kept getting “incomplete transfer” prompts from his Palm Pilot when it was in his living room. Turns out his Dish Network box was triggering the Palm’s IR business card swapping feature. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/10 "2002-06-01T01:40:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beerman63 \* > Does the tv have a remote? > Is it infrared or RF? > There are all kinds of things that could set off an RF(radio frquency) type,like garage door openers and such. We had one when I was a kid that would change channels when the phone rang. That would have been one of the old “ultrasonic” remotes–I grew up in a TV repair shop and quickly learned to change channels by jingling keys or coins, or by whistling (though that was more difficult). This does sound more like a feature that’s gotten switched on, though. What’s the brand and model number, **Nardo**? I can probably find out if the TV has such a feature if you can provide that info. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/11 "2002-06-01T02:18:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GopherGod72 \* > **A JVC and a cheap tv/vcr combo thing. You can set them to come on to a specific channel at a specific time. Get this, You can set it to come on only ONE day or EVERY MONDAY THOUGH FRIDAY. It acts as an alarm for the work days. I used that function all through college.** Perfect. That explanation fits all of the criteria. I have no idea what the model happens to be, but I can easily imagine that somewhere in the juggling of the 4 different remotes for the TV, VCR, Satellite, and, um, whatever that 4th remote is 😕 she likely programmed that feature without knowing it. **Inky’s** explanation also makes sense, but this one is easiest to verify. I’ll fetch the brand and model number first thing in the morning… ---
**Author:** ![Gregor\_Samsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@Gregor\_Samsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gregor_Samsa)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/12 "2002-06-01T02:20:15Z")
Just out of curiosity, what’s on channel 11 at 10:30 a.m. Monday to Friday? ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/13 "2002-06-01T03:19:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pipeliner \* > \*\*Just out of curiosity, what’s on channel 11 at 10:30 a.m. Monday to Friday? \*\* I knew it was only a matter of time until someone asked… 10:30am is Judge Judy. Which Grandma watched religiously until the altzheimer’s got the best of her. =/ But she always watched it on the small TV in her room, not the TV in the living room. ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mums-haunted-television/111812/14 "2002-06-01T22:18:31Z")
not strictly on topic, but perhaps a warning for the future; [http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,723742,00.html](http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,723742,00.html) > [@](#): > > The BBC is trying to force viewers to watch Caroline Aherne’s TV comedy, Dossa and Joe, by sending viewers copies of the show. > > The programme has attracted fewer than 1.5m viewers and now the BBC has come up with a controversial way of trying to boost audience levels using new video recorder technology. > > Using the new generation of video recorders, which are connected by telephone line to a central database, the BBC was able to “download” the 30-minute programme to up to 50,000 households > > But the experiment has caused fury among viewers, who branded the BBC’s move the equivalent of a “spam” or junk mail.