It happens to everyone sooner or later: you walk by fancy-schmancy universal TV remote controls — a whole display of them, glittering in the fluorescent lighting of a home repair chain store — and you decide to buy one. Look at all the buttons! So many interesting features you never knew your TV could have! You pay way too much for it but you really care, you take it home and get the batteries installed and get all excited about it, you sit down to watch your favorite TV show in the evening, and… your TV won’t turn on.
Don’t worry, it’s not your TV that’s broken — it’s the stupid new universal remote that isn’t working. That’s the issue with these TV remote controls: because they’re set up to work with as many different TV sets as possible, there’s a chance that they won’t be able to control every single feature on every single TV. That means that you’ll still end up using the original television remote controls, DVD player remotes, and any other remotes belonging to your entertainment system, even after you’ve bought the miraculous universal contraption of lies.
Even if you threw away your original remote in a fit of exuberance, thinking that the universal remote would be amazing, you don’t have to live with your decision forever. Replacement remotes for TVs aren’t very hard to come by, and as long as you can figure out the manufacturer’s model number (not the serial number), which is usually located on the remote and/or the corresponding TV set.
Most importantly, you should always remember that no one’s judging you for getting so emotional over TV remote controls. People may act like these devices are things they could live without, but the truth is, most people have at four different devices in just their living room that require remote controls; in other words, remotes are definitely a concrete part of our daily lives. And no one should have to live with a terrible, horrible, no-good universal remote. Ever. For more about this, go here.
