Did you know that the very first TV remote controls were connected to TV sets with wires? It’s true; they were in the shape of a cylinder, rather than a rectangle, and had a little button on the top, and they connected to the TV set with a long wire. To be quite honest, using one of those original TV remotes looked a little bit like you were pretending to be an astronaut launching into space.
It sounds fun now, but people actually really hated these TV remote controls. In 1955, the “Flashmatic” remote control was invented and mass-produced because people were getting so angry with the wire that connected their remote to the TV set. But there were a few major glitches with the Flashmatic: even though it didn’t need a wire connection, it was easily offset by sunlight, or even by lamps which gave off strong enough light rays to disrupt the signal. Basically, unless you planned on watching your TV in absolute darkness, you couldn’t use your TV remote (unless you liked the excitement and mystery of randomly changing channels and volume levels).
Now a days, people are pretty attached to their television remote controls and couldn’t imagine life without them. Cooking dinner while watching the latest Bachelor? Getting ready in the morning and running all over the house to look for your jacket/shoes/briefcase/lunch while also hearing about the day’s news? None of it would be possible without your remote.
Here’s the thing, though: so many people are still frustrated with their television remote controls, and when you have a separate control for every single electronic device in your house, that adds up to a lot of frustration. Many people think that they can solve the problem by buying a nifty new universal TV remote replacement. What could go wrong? It says it does everything!
Yep, these remotes have the capabilities to handle everything, but actually getting them to do everything is another story. Chances are, you’ll end up having to switch between all your remotes anyways, except now you have yet another remote control to keep track of. When will a better solution come along?!
Who knows, honestly. There may never be a perfect solution to these problems. But sometimes, going back to the beginning is the best solution out there. We don’t mean connecting your remote to your TV with a wire (although if you want to do that, we’d understand). We mean settling for the original remotes that came with the devices, and finding replacement TV remotes that are the exact same thing as the original TV remote controls, rather than running out and buying the newest, greatest remote available. Sometimes, simplicity is the best solution out there. Check out this site for more.
