Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Non-Annoyance TV

Cut your sofa to TV trips by half
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I don't know about you, but I have been annoyed by every single television I have ever come across. Out of the hundreds of televisions I have encountered, every single one, in my view, is stupid.

How many times have you stopped wathing TV, and got off the sofa, realised the telly is still on, and switched it off at the set, and then returned at a later time, sat down with remote in your hand and felt all cosy and settled, and then attempted to switch it on with the remote - disaster: it won't work.

This is because the power switch on the TV set is different to the one on the remote. The one on the set completely shuts down the telly, while the one on the remote puts it on 'stand-by'. Hence, you cannot switch on the telly with the remote if it was switched off at the set. Surely it is obvious to telly designers that we may want to switch the TV to stand-by at the set, thus removing any chance of problems when we come back and sit down.

I propose a button on a TV set which places the TV in stand-by, to avoid this problem. This is so blindingly obvious it probably is half-baked, but i still am yet to discover a TV with this feature.

chard, Oct 28 2002

HB: Real Switch Off Switch http://www.halfbake...itch_20Off_20Switch
28 Oct 02 | The "main" switch on some TVs control the preheater, also known as "standby." [bristolz, Oct 17 2004]

Television Related Fire Hazards in US and Europe http://www.firesafe...tronicEquipment.htm
28 Oct 02 | Apparently television standby related fires are a greater problem in the European countries. [bristolz, Oct 17 2004]

Early 3-in-1 Remote Control http://www.xchange....hoto/3745_photo.jpg
[thumbwax, Oct 17 2004]

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       Not a problem with any of the televisions I currently own. Used to be, when I had to use a cable box as a tuner.
phoenix, Oct 28 2002
  

       These certainly exist as I have one (14" silver matsui somethingorother). My guess is that this is one of many features that don't often get put on devices as increased sales rarely justifies the cost of inclusion.
st3f, Oct 28 2002
  

       Per bliss: my remote operates TV, VCR and cable box, however they've been powered on or off. What's the problem again?
Nick@Nite, Oct 28 2002
  

       Nick: ...and this is relevant to the idea, why exactly?
st3f, Oct 28 2002
  

       Simple solution: just pick up the remote.
Silly person.
NickTheGreat, Oct 28 2002
  

       On some TVs I'm sure this is possible without a designated button. Turn the power button on the set off, and immediately push it back in. It probably won't turn itself back on again because it'll be going through the shutdown procedure stuff, but it should then be in standby mode. Probably not too good for your TV though, so just move your lazy ass back over to the sofa and use the remote to turn it off.
sild, Oct 28 2002
  

       Question? Am I the only one here that has a remote control that actually turns off the TV and doesn't just put it in stand-by?
baron555, Oct 28 2002
  

       [baron555] - can you then not use the remote to put it back on? That must be a bit annoying if you hit it accidentally. It's like having an eject button on the video remote, which an old VCR of mine had. Hit stop an extra time and you've got to get up to put the tape back in.
sild, Oct 28 2002
  

       I've also got a Matsui TV/Video combi with both an on/off switch and a standby switch. The annoying thing about this is that when you use the 'on' switch, you have to wait for the set to go into standby before having to switch it on with the other switch or the remote. Further to this, if you do use the remote, you have to use the standby switch, not a channel key, so to switch from 'off' to your desired channel means hitting a minimum of 3 buttons. Great.   

       If I find the TV set is switched off at the set after I've sat down, I usually ask someone else to do it, or just give up and vegetate some more.
Spooky, Oct 28 2002
  

       [waugsqueke] - almost all TVs are like this surely. Stand-by *is* off. There is just a further "off" mode that stops the set from operating at all. Anal people insist on turning appliances off by this switch when they go out to the shops or something.
sild, Oct 28 2002
  

       [sild] I can turn the TV back on with the remote, and the TV doesn't even come with a stand-by setting. Its just on or off, no more choices.   

       As for the VCR with the eject button, mine has that, but its a separate button, hitting stop twice does not eject the tape.
baron555, Oct 28 2002
  

       You're on a gravy train with biscuit wheels, [baron555].
sild, Oct 28 2002
  

       My VCR would eject the tape if you pressed rewind, fast forward, previous, next or record.
Then I got it fixed.
NickTheGreat, Oct 28 2002
  

       You would think so, except that my DVD player has exactly the problem that is described for the TV. The remote only has stand-by and to turn it off, I have to use the button on the player.
baron555, Oct 28 2002
  

       Oh, boo-hoo. Is it really so difficult to get up off the sofa and press a bloody button?
Fishbone for laziness. Sorry, chard.
NickTheGreat, Oct 28 2002
  

       First of all, David Lynch directed some very entertaining perfume commercials in the 80's (I forget what brand).   

       Having said that, my remote powers and un - powers the tv. No need for stand-by anything. I don't have cable and the components are 10+ years old. No mute button though. On the whole, I'd say you're better off (except you apparently didn't see those David Lynch spots).
snarfyguy, Oct 28 2002
  

       [waugs] turning it off in this way is like switching it off at the wall, oh wait, you guys dont have switches on power sockets either do you? okay then, yes, pulling the plug out.   

       [chard] <morpheus tone> I know exactly what you mean</morpheus tone> have a croissant.   

       [TwoSheds] do you have two sheds?   

       When I first met her my girlfriend always insisted in switching off at wall/unplugging appliances whilst not in use. This was very annoying
Zircon, Oct 28 2002
  

       That AI wouldn't have to do much -   

       IF last programme watched = ITV gameshow THEN viewer = moron, GOTO standby   

       - I'm in the wrong job, I should have been a software engineer.   

       How do I mark for deletion? Double fishbones for an idea both baked AND crap
Spooky, Oct 28 2002
  

       waugs: if you ever spent any time in hotels in Connecticut, you would have come across TV sets that could not be powered on from the remote when switched off at the box. However, that is a brand or possibly model-specific feature, and chard merely needs to look around more before buying a TV.
Nick@Nite, Oct 28 2002
  

       [waugsueke] - sorry, had no idea there was such a distinct difference in this respect between US and UK TVs. Interesting though, huh? Actually, it's not, is it? I can't believe I have spent 20 minutes discussing this! Time to do some work.
sild, Oct 28 2002
  

       Until I saw the above link, I was puzzled by why U.K. television sets would have 'hard' switches which cut power to all circuitry while U.S. sets generally leave the remote-control circuitry powered. Seeing that newer European television sets no longer have flame-retardant cases, however, suggests that 'standby mode' cannot be used nearly as safely with U.K. sets as with U.S. ones. [BTW, I would suspect that in the U.K. a short circuit would release 2-4 times the heat before popping a fuse/breaker as in the U.S., due to the higher mains voltage. That would make the lack of flame-retardant plastics even more hazardous.
supercat, Oct 28 2002
  

       [spooky]: In some countries, television sets generally behave in the manner Chard describes. The real fix, though, is to convince environmentalists to stop complaining about fire-resistant plastics which allow television sets to be safely left in "standby" state.
supercat, Oct 28 2002
  

       Haha! Until I looked, I thought you meant the *other* sort of dating....
NickTheGreat, Oct 28 2002
  

       Yes, I like to cozy up with my links over a nice bottle of burgandy and a candlelight dinner.   

       I decided to start dating my links a couple of weeks ago because I thought that, in the long run, it is helpful for folks to know when they were added. Presumptuous of me, I know.
bristolz, Oct 28 2002
  

       Oh suuuure. Now you claim credit.
bristolz, Oct 28 2002
  


 

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