What is everyone doing for eledrely customers to control their systems. I have a 87 year old customer that needs an easy way to control her TV, DVD, and Roku. I did a basic complete control system for her son and he say that will be to complicated. He thinks something with an iPad would work for her but I think it will be just as complicated. I look forward to hearing some ideas.

You could make a super simple GUI in www.oncontrols.com

Niles Intellicontroller.

I have lots of elderly clients who will not give theirs up. Go figure.

Each person is different in this respect. Some 80+ users are very sharp, some 50- users are dull. For some elderly users the difference between the TV remote and a cellphone is blurred. (which end do you point at the TV?)

I need to spend some time with the client and observe how they use technology. I try to observe their frustrations, successes, and failures. I may give them a task, designed to fluster, and observe how they handle it. iPads can be great because I can provide large buttons and only the buttons that they will use, however, if they are not comfortable using a pad, this is the wrong approach.

The solution may not be obvious. For example, my father was struggling with his use of a PC. My siblings are all tech savvy, but could not bring things together for him. No amount of instruction seemed to help. Since I am the "expert" and have a bit more patience, I was brought in to help. I simply sat and watched for about 40 minutes, observing the struggle. Then I went to the kitchen to fetch the high tech solution -- a toothpick. His problem was lack of coordination. He was squeezing the mouse, not clicking a button. This meant that there was a high probability that he would right click, rather than left click the mouse. A "double click" might actually be right click, followed by left click and the result could be landing on an unfamiliar screen or an unfortunate reconfiguration. Clicking in an attempt to get out of the mess might randomly result in digging deeper into the mess. Using the toothpick, I disabled the right mouse button (which he would never need) -- problem solved. (switch to a Mac, you say? No, because no one in his support network used a Mac.) (Different mouse? Maybe, but this would have required some coordination retraining and this may not have been successful -- the toothpick solution was instant and permanent -- I was a hero)

I just bought one of these for a clients mother, never put it in. Might work.

[Link: arthritissupplies.com]

Control4 dealer?

If she can physical manage a remote at 87, it's touch feel so can learn layout with out glasses, no pointing, simple batteries.

With the Roku you can direct access the streaming services, label each source to how she understands it (TV, Movies, Netflix for instance, as oppose to Cable, DVD, Roku) and you can setup custom buttons on the remote that go directly to a specific channel, press this button for ABC.

And you can support it from the office if you need to add a channel or make streaming changes.

And you can setup a favorite Internet or Pandora station and offer real simple music.

Even peace of mind for the son where it sends him a text if the TV doesn't get turned on each day. (expand to motion sensor, or contact sensor on the medicine cabinet).

That thing is excellent! I'm guessing it's a very basic IR remote with a fixed database...? But man, talk about nailing the demographic.

I finally fired up the Echo Dot I bought last month and if the functionality is good enough, look into voice control for a simple system. The equipment would still have IR emitters, but the control hub would do the work. It does Pandora, it can communicate with Roku (I didn't get that far last night, but the two Roku I have showed up in the Bluetooth list) and it does stream to my Yamaha MusicCast. With the audio output jack, it doesn't sound bad, either. I'll be testing it with a Harmony Elite and its hub in the next couple of days, so I'll report back here on that.

I miss that brick for older clients. It was the Jitterbug of universal remotes.

I know more than one person way younger than that whose finger sensitivity is impaired. One is an installer. While I can set up a DirecTV without looking at the remote, he has to look at it while pushing the button. Be sure to evaluate this aspect of their remote use, since it's not a problem we'd normally think of.

More than ten years ago, because I thought it was amusing, I bought one of those huge-button remotes, the rectangular model. It did not have the codes for the DirecTV receivers current at that time (this was when different companies offered DirecTV receivers). Be sure you can return the remote before ordering one.

It's made by URC, database probably isn't too bad

A family member gave another family member one of those HUGE remotes.

It was a mistake and made matters worse.


Said family member now uses a MX900 and has zero issues.

Many buttons do nothing, so a slip of the finger isn't a problem.

Oh, two family members, aren't you special. Stop bragging.

If you make her use iPod or smartphone or pretty much anything but a dedicated system controller, there is a special place in hell for you.

Don't be an idiot and use proper equipment. No touchscreen anything. Use hard buttons, be it wall mounted keypad, system controller, etc.

I will kick anyone in the nuts for suggesting and/or recommending mobile devices as primary controllers.

"Press VCR to go to AppleTV". (cuts off tape and digs around for a 3rd D-cell)...