The Comcast remote and old folks
By adamg - 3/25/05 - 9:27 pm
Steve says the remote for Comcast Digital Cable is awful for old people what with all its tiny, poorly labeled buttons:
...Comcast needs to make a new control for old people that has an ON/OFF button on it, channel up/down, volume control and a number pad. That's it!
Old people don't need the other 365 buttons that you've randomly placed on the remote control.
Old people? I can't stand the thing, either. Half the time, the "All On" button only turns on the TV, so then I have to hit the "power" and the "cable" button at the same time.
Comments
My theory is that people over 45 can't handle gadgets
(I reserve to right to raise the number as I approach and pass that age) ;-)
The All On button cycles through all of the various devices, sending the power on/off signal to it with about a 1/2 second pause in between each signal. If you move away or put the remote down too soon, it doesn't get to turn all the devices on or off. Because the On and Off functions are performed by the same signal, if this happens, then using the All On button will start turning some devices on and others off with each press until you identify which one is out of sync and correct the problem.