TV's - How the hell do old people cope?!

[headcase]

Its not just old people, plenty of IT Pro's cant even do something as simple as a retune

[Mars]

My Nan and Grandad are 90yo. They have an old CRT TV with no digital feed. I'm not sure what they will do when the digital switchover happens but I suspect a freeview box won't be beyond their understanding. There's plenty of people in the family available to help (one of the advantages of being 90yo no doubt).

I gave Nan a laptop about 5 years back. She loves it for games and for typing on Word but she doesn't want it connected to the internet. That's just a bit too far for her.

Grandad has no interest in learning about modern tech but is fascinated when I take my laptop round to show them the latest pictures. He can't believe how many I have on it and each time asks if I have to delete them in order to get more on. The point that HDDs are virtually "unlimited" in terms of the quantity of photos they can hold impresses him greatly. I wish he would allow me to show him the basics of computing because I think he'd enjoy reading up about so many things he is interested in.

[LeoSayer]

My OAP next door neighbour knocked on my door to ask me to re-tune their freeview box when the big switchover happened last year. Trouble is, the way they asked implied that it was my duty as a youngster (I'm in my 40s) to go and do it for them.

Anyway, I obliged and within a couple of minutes I'd got the box discovering all the new channels. I noticed some of the gay channels pop-up and I asked him why they subscribe to all of these (his wife was standing next to him). Both weren't best pleased. My wife told me she could hear my laughing from next door.

They probably won't ask me next time.

[croyde]

I work in TV and to be honest just going to someone else's house and putting on their TV, Sky, Freeview, PVR etc is always a daunting experience as is trying to explain our video set up to a babysitter, house guest etc.

[bigdods]

NiceCupOfTea said:

In the living room we have an old expensive Sony Freeview box with a really good quick rock stable user interface.

We have a couple of newer LCD TVs for the kitchen/bedroom, and the interfaces are pants. ridiculously slow to use, awful TV guides where you can only see one channel at a time, and remotes that look like the buttons were positioned by a 5 year old.

Same here, I have one of those sony boxes in the living room and the kitchen. Last week we needed a new telly in the bedroom so I went for a proper brand (Toshiba) thinking the EPG etc would be good. Its crap compared to the Sony boxes and they are donkeys years old. Going to look on ebay later to buy another sony box for the bedroom as the toshiba sotware is about as un user fiendly as you could get.

[Neil H]

My parents have a fairly old CRT Bang & Olufsen TV (despite my advice that they're a waste of money) and it requires a degree in IT to retune. It's ridiculously unintuitive, even for me.

There's no way they can do it themselves, they're in their 60s now but it has always been the way - since I was at school I was recruited to sort out any electrical device in the house. They're from a different age.

[BoRED S2upid]

They don't. We do. To be honest I have enough problems sorting my own out never mind all the old folkes in my family.

[brickwall]

They don't. All the old people I know recruit someone from a younger generation to do it for them.

[paddyhasneeds]

CaptainSlow said:

paddyhasneeds said:

Just had to sort my Mum's couple of year old Samsung LCD TV out.

Apparently it came up with a "New software available, update Now/Later" so she pressed "Now" and it promptly bricked itself, as in lost all the channels, everything.

Now I work in IT, which isn't to say I know much about TV's but I'd class myself as pretty savvy but within 5 minutes I found myself hitting Google looking for clues on how to retune the thing.

How on earth do the elderly (a stereotype I know as it could just as easily be younger people) cope with these things? I'm sure there's a small fortune to be made if someone came up with a TV that basically "just worked" and had a bloody massive remote control.

OK mine has just done this, any clues how to fix?

If memory serves, about half way up the remote you want to switch to DTV and it will say there are no channels, then you press "D Menu" and go down to the little satellite dish symbol and set the auto-tune in progress.

I'm pretty fking staggered tbh that Samsung or Freeview or whoever makes these "over the air" upgrades does it in such a way that you have no channels afterwards.

[Big E 118]

My mum is pretty good with her TV's, DVD's, PVR, DAB, Laptop, anything with buttons/keys/remotes

Gave her my iPhone when I defected to Android and she just doesn't get touch screen. I thought it would be easy for her but she either tries to push her bly finger through the screen or tap it with a pen!

The amount of times she's said "how do I open that app" pointing to an app icon, "just touch the fg thing!!" (obviously I wouldn't swear at my mum although I'm 6,3 and 16 stone I'm still scared of her clipping me round the ear, as she calls it )

[muppetdave]

My Dad's 62, so not *that* old, but he proclaimed with such pride that when my Mum came down to us one day, he managed to put on a DVD. He can also now read a text message, although replying is currently out of reach!

[clonmult]

muppetdave said:

My Dad's 62, so not *that* old, but he proclaimed with such pride that when my Mum came down to us one day, he managed to put on a DVD. He can also now read a text message, although replying is currently out of reach!

No doubt he'll figure out how to reply within the next few years.

My first employers (I was doing s/w development and PC sales) still had their old business running, doing TV rentals. I was once asked to change a customers set for a newer model. Fine. Until I was told that it was at a local home for the blind.

It was quite bizarre for some old dear who couldn't see past her nose was complaining about the picture quality (!!!!!), and I then had to (literally) hold her hand and tell her which button to press for each channel.

[twiglove]

I had this same problem yesterday with my Samsung, Saw that the update failed and re auto tuned the set.

But I see that this could be problematic for a lot of older people, I mean the update should work and leave the TV in an operational state.

I wonder what monkey checked the update before rolling it out!

[Morningside]

Not as good as the days of CRT.
Number of times I used to say to dad 'Err, were is the red? And why is everything is looking very green'

[NitroNick]

Cotty said:

I should be able to run my TV from the Sky+ HD remote and it does almost everything but not figured out how to control the volume from the Sky remote so have to use the TV remote.

You should be able to set up the sky remote to control the TV volume. Try this web page for instructions and codes. Remote Codes

[jeff m]

I would think it begins with carrying it into the house.

In the States most are sold with free set up. Usually a nerd with thick glasses presses one button to auto find the channels then adjusts the picture for their failing eyesight.

The real problem is old people have suffered the reruns many more times.

[OldSkoolRS]

I don't know who tuned it in for her, but on a recent visit I was impressed to see that my Nana (in her 90's) has just bought a flat screen TV and BluRay player...and knows how to used them.

My 60 something neighbours however, usually ask me round to help retune or other AV related confusions such as why their PVR showed a blank screen (it was set to the line input rather than the tuner ).

[page3]

My parents just use TiVo, which basically sorts out their whole TV schedule for them.

[wibble cb]

muppetdave said:

My Dad's 62, so not *that* old, but he proclaimed with such pride that when my Mum came down to us one day, he managed to put on a DVD. He can also now read a text message, although replying is currently out of reach!

My dad used to sign his texts, and still does his emails, it escapes him that I would only expect it to be him writing them, and that his phone number is programmed in to my phone......

[Pints]

Even back in the 80s, I often got asked by our not-so-very-old neighbour if I could pop round after school to set her VCR machine because it had been unplugged. Even her hubby hadn't a clue.

'Twas always thus and always thus 'twill be.