Sylvania remote or tv problem

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 08:16:22 -0500, Jim Elbrecht Has Frothed:

Most new universal remotes should have the correct code for a 5 year old TV. My educated guess would be the TV is at fault.

-snip-

Thanks-

My guess was uneducated, but it was the same. My question was is there some way to confirm that without the TV?

Neither of them is very mobile- mom's got a bad knee and dad just broke his hip so it seems to me a remote would be a necessity. But they are old school and have done without it for a couple months. ["We only have 3 channels and don't watch that much TV. . . the volume control would be handy sometimes. . ."]

They are also resistant to change or I'd just show up at their door with a new 27" & tell them I'll get their old one fixed for them. If it *is* the remote, they would rather just have a new remote.

Jim

If you have a camcorder you can usually see the flashes by taping from the front of it.

There are specialty stores on the web that sell remotes.

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:54:00 -0500, Jim Elbrecht Has Frothed:

You can check the remote for infrared output. I have a card that glows when infrared hits it. Or you could record it on a camcorder (look at it through the viewer)since most are sensative to infrared.

If it is the remote, this one will have the exact replacement.

This suggests that the contacts on the remote might be messed up. Could be a combination of dirt and bodily fluids, or possibly the contact material on the backside of the rubber keypad is wearing away.

For the first problem, you can try cleaning the keypad and the circuit board contacts in the remote with alcohol and a Q-tip. For the second, you can buy conductive paint to put on the keypad where the contact material has worn off. That works for a while, then the conductive paint wears off too - DAMHIKT.

Only other thing I ever had go wrong with a remote was a solder joint. Dropped a remote and it stopped working. Opened it up and looked around. Turned out whoever put it together had clipped the leads of the crystal very short before they soldered it in - the shock of dropping the remote was just enough to break the connection. Resoldered the crystal and it worked again.

If I couldn't get the remote to work after trying those 2 or 3 things, I think I would bite the bullet and order a direct replacement remote from the manufacturer. Which is exactly what I did with a JVC remote a couple of years ago, after cleaning several times and recoating the keypad failed to improve it's performance for very long.

Jerry

Hi!

As others have suggested, many video cameras are sensitive to IR. I have a digital still camera that is also sensitive to IR in the "night" or slow shutter mode. While this will confirm that the remote is emitting something, it won't tell you if the remote is emitting anything sensible. Your mentioning that some buttons failed before the whole thing quit makes me think that the remote is to blame.

As for your universal remote problems, I have a Magnavox table TV that has only ever worked properly with its factory remote (not even a learning remote could fool it) and a Kyocera DA-610 CD player that no universal remote has ever been able to control.

I could think of two things offhand. First, look at the back of the TV and see if there is an FCC ID number printed on the back. This will tell you who made the set. You might then be able to cross reference and find another set that would be compatible for test purposes.

Secondly, try taking the remote to a store where TV sets are sold. If the TV that goes with this remote isn't terribly old, you might find that another set will respond to its remote.

Finally, try a few different brands of universal remote.

William

ISTR there is a project for Linux to compile all known IR code sequences.

-snip-

Darn- I already ordered one- but this site has them a bit cheaper. [OTOH- their web designer needs to go to KISS school]

Thanks for the link for future reference.

Jim

I had a Sears Sylvania with a similar remote won't work problem...might have been the same model...the problem was in the set...I gave up trying after going so far as checking the IR pickup from the set...it worked fine but something deeper in was gone and not worth trying to find or fix for me....i checked the pickup out of the set by putting power to it and observing the output with my scope