Infrared controllers for lighting

Sparkingchip:

My dad’s Alexa is paired with my phone, I have his complete playlist.


“Alexa, play Winifred Atwell”.




 

I finally got the Freeview catch up working on his Panasonic TV last night, it kept saying there was not an internet connection when you went back on the TV guide, although the apps worked.


After numerous attempts over the last couple of months I switched the WiFi router off, did two dry retunes with the aerial disconnected, then reconnected the WiFi whilst the router was rebooting, then reconnected the aerial and retuned the TV, finally getting Freeview to accept that there’s an internet connection.

However I then had to sign back into BBC and ITV using my mobile phone, because he doesn’t have a device to use to link accounts.


Older people, such as my dad who is in his nineties really need someone to act as their IT department to set up and run their TV for them, generally many of people like him normally spend hours a day watching TV and even more during lockdown. But even a “simple “ TV is no longer user friendly, the days of the TV aerial guy putting an aerial on the chimney and tuning the TV being all that was required for the life of the TV have gone, all the TVs need retuning every so often and little bits of routine maintenance.


If you start to add in electric front door access controls with a audio visual link,  an electric bathroom door, heating lighting, and so on and so forth you begin to wonder if the end users will need IT support on an almost daily basis.


I have very mixed feelings about connecting everything to work through a phone or tablet and still think an override switch on the wall has a lot going for it.

Sparkingchip:

My dad’s Alexa is paired with my phone, I have his complete playlist.


“Alexa, play Winifred Atwell”.




 

I finally got the Freeview catch up working on his Panasonic TV last night, it kept saying there was not an internet connection when you went back on the TV guide, although the apps worked.


After numerous attempts over the last couple of months I switched the WiFi router off, did two dry retunes with the aerial disconnected, then reconnected the WiFi whilst the router was rebooting, then reconnected the aerial and retuned the TV, finally getting Freeview to accept that there’s an internet connection.

However I then had to sign back into BBC and ITV using my mobile phone, because he doesn’t have a device to use to link accounts.


Older people, such as my dad who is in his nineties really need someone to act as their IT department to set up and run their TV for them, generally many of people like him normally spend hours a day watching TV and even more during lockdown. But even a “simple “ TV is no longer user friendly, the days of the TV aerial guy putting an aerial on the chimney and tuning the TV being all that was required for the life of the TV have gone, all the TVs need retuning every so often and little bits of routine maintenance.


If you start to add in electric front door access controls with a audio visual link,  an electric bathroom door, heating lighting, and so on and so forth you begin to wonder if the end users will need IT support on an almost daily basis.


I have very mixed feelings about connecting everything to work through a phone or tablet and still think an override switch on the wall has a lot going for it.