My mother is in a SNF.  Each room has two residents and two of the same flatscreens.  Other than masking tape or electircal tape over the IR receiver  window on the TV, any suggestions so that one resident's remote does not control the other resident's TV.

Looking for suggestions that do not require any additional equipment, extenders, etc.  Do not know models or make of flatscreen.

Thanks 

I have taken a ball point pen and cut a section of the tube (about an inch) off the pen and glued it to the end of the remote over the IR emitter so that it narrows the width of the signal coming from the remote.

Use hot glue, initially, and then if it works good then go for Gorilla Glue for the final install of the tube.

I haven't tested this, but seeing as how you have limited the options to no extra hardware...

Nail Polish blocks IR light and is probably found in the facility.

Paint nail polish on the emitter window of the remote covering almost all of it but a small area in the middle. Make the uncovered area smaller and smaller until the desired effect is achieved. Might be more robust then the glued on pen technique.


It's a long shot, but most LG tv's allow you to set the remote code-set from within the menu.

What's the make of the TVs?
I use LG in those type of installs and they can be set to different addresses in the service menu so that doesn't happen. (as long as you use the little accessory remote)

Back in our Tv repair days, we used to take the inner tube of a roll of paper towels & put it over the end of the remote. This focused the IR signal into a narrow beam. Did this in the shop where all the repairs were being test run. This made allowed us to change channels on same brand TVs 1 at a time. Since we were an warranty repair shop for many brands, it was common to have multiple of the same model test running side by side.