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Remote controls both TV's
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Post 1 made on Thursday May 16, 2019 at 14:35
srmd
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2019
7
Hello,

I am the Maintenance Director in a Long Term Care Facility and we are having a HUGE problem in our resident rooms.
As you may have already guessed, either both remotes control both TV's... or one remote controls both TV's.
Our cable supplier, Spectrum, recently 'upgraded' the network to carry HD. Which meant we had to now have all DTA's in our rooms with a 'universal remote.'
In several rooms (upwards of 30 different rooms) we are having this issue.
I have this issue in several rooms whether the TV brands are different or not.
I do understand that in some cases TV codes overlap because of the RF issue within the programming. It's my understanding that the federal govt. maintains these codes and that only 'so many' (only 16?) codes have been released into the general public for civilian use. So, RCA might put code *1234 on every 5th TV made, and LG might put code *1234 on every 10th TV made. Is this correct?
I'm having this issue in so many rooms that swapping TV's with new ones would be cost prohibitive (and could potentially still have the same effect) if the latter is true. Also, trying to figure out what remotes work with what brand is going to be mind-blowingly time consuming and tedious.
Is there any other way to correct this issue? Adding in another piece of equipment and/or something aesthetically pleasing to the remote itself to quelch this problem? I've read where some people had used some sort of peel and stick label over the remote sensor to weaken the RF signal enough that it didn't effect the other TV in close proximity. However, the down side to doing that, is that you would have to be VERY direct with the TV you wanted to actually control, and make sure that it is pointed directly at the TV sensor etc. I fear doing this would only add to my numerous maintenance calls in the run of a day with "remotes that don't work."
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all so much!
Shawn
Post 2 made on Thursday May 16, 2019 at 19:12
davidcasemore
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
January 2003
3,352
There's a lot to unpack here.

The Federal Government has no say on your particular problem. They do regulate the frequencies which can be used for consumer products, and these devices must comply with FCC rules as to not cause interference on other equipment. (they don't define "interference" as something controlling more than one TV - they just want to make sure the policeman or fireman can talk on their radios and that airplanes don't fall out of the sky).

That being said, some set-top boxes have a couple of code sets available to avoid this issue. You would need to study the owner's manual.

The other thing you need to know is how are these remotes communicating?

1. They could be IR which requires you to point the remote at the equipment. Sometimes this blast of infrared light can bounce off of walls and send the command to another piece of equipment but it's most likely to happen if the equipment is visible from one spot.

2. They could be RF which doesn't need to be pointed at anything and could control equipment in several rooms that are near enough to receive the signal. These are the remotes that would be more likely to have more than one code set available.

If you can't change the remote code set, or if the remotes use IR, your next step would be to install an IR Routing System (Google it) which would be much less expensive than new TVs and set-top boxes.

Other people on this forum could be of more help if you were to provide model numbers for the TVs and for the set-top boxes.
Fins: Still Slamming' His Trunk on pilgrim's Small Weenie - One Trunk at a Time!

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