The MiL has dementia and it has now got to the stage that she cannot change TV channels - she presses buttons and can end up with Welsh radio, Teletext, Pay-on- demand films on her Virgin cable box. We have parental controls on the Virgin Box to avoid pay on demand films etc - NOT MANY 96 YR OLDS HAVE PARENTAL CONTROLS ON THEM!
What I need is to be able to change her TV from say BBC1 to ITV without driving 4-5 miles, and driving back AGAIN 30 mins later when the TV "is not working".
I know of Sling box but she would need to watch via a PC and for obvious reasons I cannot go that route.
She only watches 2 or 3 x channels so any solution can be based on Freeview, Sky or Virgin, broadband connection can be added to her phone system if necessary, new TV can be purchased, "magic box" can be bought........... any suggestions?
I have googled with no success but there must be something out there...............
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Kill the virgin box, give her a freeview tv, do a tune, then disable all the other channels other than the main 5.
She has dementia, she wont know which channel to watch anyway, and one of those will do.
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Sorry to hear about your Mil FB, my wife is showing signs of dementia and is currently undergoing all sorts of tests. At the moment she has difficulty remembering what was said five minutes ago.
If you have Sky or Virgin I know you can set them to record automatically with the latest boxes remotely, e.g. via an Android or iPhone.
As you have a Virgin box, see here for an example:
www.coolsmartphone.com/2011/07/11/virgin-media-tivo-android-app/
Tivo has this App:
www.tivo.com/mytivo/product-features/stay-connected/ipad/
It needs to be connected via wifi so perhaps a vpn from your house to hers, unfortunately I can't help you on the detail.
It may be worth asking these guys if anyone else has this problem. They may have a solution:
alzheimers.org.uk/
Let us know how you get on!
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You could always move her closer or even a granny flat :-O. I'll get my coat.
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Not sure the iPad app in the second link would work with UK TiVo, the screenshots are the US version.
You are wrong about having to watch Slingbox through PC and that solution would probably work best. Haven't used it with VM TiVo (but you don't mention that anyway?) but I used to use it with a Series 1 Thomson TiVo and standard NTL.
Slingbox allows you to watch TV remotely. My (old version) one had a SCART lead to the telly, an ethernet cable to the outside world (via VM internet) and a lead with the "magic eye" for changing channels.
What was showing on my computer in my hotel room was also showing on the TV at home so I had to be careful to not change channels or start watching something if the family were using the telly.
The Slingbox PC software (which you'd have at your end) allows you to control the TV channels. They also have customised "remote controls" and no doubt have a replica of the VM remote control, and the VM TiVo remote control, so you can manage channel changes remotely.
Slingbox installation was pretty easy IIRC, when you hook it up and have got the PC software on, you go to the Slingbox site and set it all up and that keep track of where your Slingbox is, so all you do is click the desktop icon to launch the software and you are in, watching your own TV with full control.
Perfect solution if you ask me. If you have any questions, I will try to help...
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Been there with my MIL FB every sympathy in dealing with this.
So long as you've shut off paid for services she can leave open for hours then you've done what you can to protect her. If you can simplify the coice to 3 or 4 main channels so you can talk her through changing them on the phone that might help but don't pin your hopes on it.
Is removing the remote so she has to change the channel the way she used to an option?
I don't want to be a gloom monger but our experience was that as the illness progressed she lost interest in the telly. Indeed it's still in her room in the Care Home she moved to but she never tries to use it. I think the set's analogue only; Anglia Sandy Heath has been digital since last March.
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If she's that bad I'd be worried about her safety never mind her viewing habits :-) Can you favourite her channels so that she can only choose between those? Or delete all the others that she doesn't watch from the channel list so again she's limited? This way the channel up and down could only move between the 3 or 4 channels she does watch. You might need a freeview box to do this as I'd imagine VM would like to update channels and force the whole list to reload.
Only way I can think of doing it is with a full on home automation system that you can access remotely. But whether that will let you change channels as well as turn them on and off is another thing altogether.
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Why have Virgin Media at all if she only watches a few channels on Freeview?
I'd drop down to a Freeview solution and get a simple remote with big buttons on it. And only leave channels that she will want. And by not giving her the main remote she can then only change channels.
If a remote with just on/off, volume and channel up/down is still too much for her.... then she shouldn't be on her own.
www.amazon.co.uk/Doro-HandleEasy-Universal-Infrared-Control/dp/B0014F2CJC/ref=pd_cp_ce_4
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i'd be chary of a solution that involved something 'new'. People with dementia don't get anything 'new'.
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Dont get anything old either, unless its 50 years ago.
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My ageing Mothers sole entertainment is the TV. The last TV she had was the cause of many frantic phone calls. The biggest issue was between analogue and digital channels as she likes the rolling news channels which were only on digital. Not an issue now.
I went one day and the picture was green and pink (no not the Hulk), tube cream crackered. When I suggested that it was time for a replacement she said she was quite happy with what she had.
So being the dutyfull son that I am I went shopping for the easiest remote control which came with a free 42" Toshiba plasma.
Her face was a picture when I wheeled the box in. Soon got used to the bigger size.
Now living round the corner which makes dealing with all those issues so much easier. Errrm too easy :-S.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sun 9 Oct 11 at 23:12
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I know the problem well, as my mother has recently moved into our cottage and has early dementia.
She cannot cope with anything complicated - ie more than about 2 buttons.
She has two radios, tuned to R3 and R4, and can manage to turn either on or off.
We can leave the TV tuned to say BBC 1 and she can press the button on the top and turn it on or off. But if we let her loose on an array of buttons she will fiddle with all of them.
What we need is a basic remote that has only 4 large buttons: On/Off, BBC1, BBC2, Film channel.
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easy, take any of the aftermarket remotes, and remove all the buttons except those you want pushed. leave say
1 2 3 & 4 and on/off
Fixed.
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You think someone would have found a gap in the market for a very basic remote.
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I had those very thoughts some time ago.
We did buy here one of those massive remotes (about 10" long) for Xmas last year. She saw the funny side of it. It does even work.
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>> You think someone would have found a gap in the market for a very basic remote.
>>
I suspect until you have experienced the real situation then the current designs are not based on the real world.
I do not have that "personal" experience but it might creep up on me.
So my guess
Just two buttons. One for on/off and another which just cycles through pre ordained "favourite channnels".
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>> Volume?
>>
Preset -like the viewable channels. The neigbours will like that.
Edit - plus castors on the chair :-)o
Last edited by: henry k on Mon 10 Oct 11 at 10:27
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>> What we need is a basic remote that has only 4 large buttons: On/Off, BBC1,
>> BBC2, Film channel.
A neighbour's son taped off their parents buttons on their remote that they didn't use. The only buttons that now work are channels 1 through 5, the vol up & down, and the on/off. I think he used a cardboard packer between the redundant buttons so that they weren't being pressed down by the tape.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 10 Oct 11 at 10:39
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think I will start a business selling remotes without buttons.
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Someone has already beaten you to it
tinyurl.com/5rebce4 (amazon)
tinyurl.com/6bbg38x (ebay)
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 10 Oct 11 at 10:46
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A cheap portable telly I had years ago had a four-button remote, up and down for channels and volume.
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Good idea.
Fortunately I have the proverbial 13 year old child handy to set the thing up.
We baby boomers are trapped. Too old to learn new tricks, not old enough to sink into blissful oblivion.
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>> Someone has already beaten you to it
>>
Nah! Those are toooo complex. Those are fool proof but....what was I going to add.
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Reminds of the telly we had in digs - a Ferguson of some sort - it had a wired remote - so the location of armchair was dictated by the length of the remote - all you had IIRC was a channel selector and volume keys.
Went to get a paper this morning and the car radio was on R4 - Cliff Richard was on it talking about his mother and her battle with dementia - I think it was Wimmin's Hour may be worth a listen. Very eloquent he was.
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>> Reminds of the telly we had in digs - a Ferguson of some sort -
>> it had a wired remote - so the location of armchair was dictated by the
>> length of the remote - all you had IIRC was a channel selector and volume
>> keys.
We had a rented one from DER. The remote could change the channel or mute the sound and functioned ultrasonically.
Jangling coins in one's pocket could prompt it to change channel!!
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We had a neighbour with the same problem.
Superglued all the buttons except those she wanted - 1 thru 5 - and then also taped the others off.
Belt and braces I know but you can operate buttons through tape..
Worked well until she died.
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Worked well until she died.
How much superglue did you use?
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A friend of mine had a watch which also functioned as a TV remote.
He used it several times surreptitiously in pubs to change the channel while everyone was watching football.
Very amusing, in a childish sort of way.
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I used to get sent on dreadfully boring law courses - one was a three day course to do with PACE when it came out - I noticed that the lecturer had the same video recorder we had at home, cue endless minutes of enjoyment the next day !
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>> a watch which also functioned as a TV remote
One of my friends had that model, his favourite piece of mischief with it was to turn the volume up full on all the tellies in Dixons' window in the evening when they were closed :)
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>> his favourite piece of mischief with it was to turn the volume up full on all the tellies in Dixons' window in the evening when they were closed :)
BBD would have switched them all over to the adult channels ;o)
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>> Worked well until she died.
>>
>> How much superglue did you use?
>>
A glass full :-)
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This is more expensive than the big remote + gaffa tape approach, but may be worth a look as it has a low button count:-
www.rnib.org.uk/shop/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=dr0301
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Changing TV channels - Zero
