A Remote TV Question

[Marrow Man]

Actually, this a question about TV remotes!

My wife and I own a Sony TV from about 1999. It works great, and we have DirecTV, so the coming changes in broadcasts will not affect us. However, we do have a small problem.

When we moved from Atlanta to Louisville a year and a half ago, somehow the remote control for the TV was lost. My wife has a hearing loss, so she really needs closed captioning to work on the TV. There is a way to access it via the TV menu buttons (the ones on the front of the set), but with DTV, the CC often disappears when you change channels. She discovered that if you push the info button on the DTV remote (which works as a universal), that makes the CC come back on.

All was well until just before the Christmas. We watched "Prince Caspian" on DVD just before we left. We often manually turn off the CC during movies b/c the subtitles are much better on DVDs. We turn the CC back on after the movie. We did that with PC, only this time the captioning doesn't work. We have tried virtually everything. The TV actually says (in the menu) that the CC is on, but it doesn't work.

My wife really needs the CC. Universal remotes don't work b/c they have no CC functions built in (we've tried this avenue, btw). I only see two solutions: 1) try to get an old remote made for the TV, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that (obviously remotes for a ten year old TV aren't being made anymore); 2) buy a new TV. We've looked at LCD TVs, which would be nice, and Target has a good deal currently with a 32" Sony Bravia for $550. However, the quarterly tax payment is coming and the truck needs a new set of tires, so I'm not sure that dropping that much money on a TV (when the old works perfectly fine, save for the CC problem) is the best course of action.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[jambo]

Go to the TV maufacturer's web site and they may be able to supply one or advise on any solution. Sony handsets changed about 5-6 years ago but it is possible that a new Sony remote may operate the old TV (but then it may not). However using a new sony remote on an old sony TV may mean some of the functions are crossed but you would soon realise this.

I would say 3 things first of all:

1. Have you changed the scart socket on the TV? Some TVs have 2 or 3 scart sockets, try another scart socket on the TV if available.

2. I don't know if DirecTV is the same as Freeview but I am assuming it is a digital set top box. If it is the same as set top boxes over here, CC does not come with every programme on every channel but only when the programme provider provides them. Make sure there is no setting on the set top box which has turned CC off.

3. Otherwise it would seem to me to be the CC card in the TV has failed so even if you did get a suitable remote, if the card has gone a new remote would be ineffective. Take it to a dealer to give you an estimate of the cost but it would take 5 minutes for a dealer to change the card (if he was able to get one that is) and the cost would be his own time plus the cost of the card which should not be that expensive.

 

[Marrow Man]

Go to the TV maufacturer's web site and they may be able to supply one or advise on any solution. Sony handsets changed about 5-6 years ago but it is possible that a new Sony remote may operate the old TV (but then it may not). However using a new sony remote on an old sony TV may mean some of the functions are crossed but you would soon realise this.

I would say 3 things first of all:

1. Have you changed the scart socket on the TV? Some TVs have 2 or 3 scart sockets, try another scart socket on the TV if available.

2. I don't know if DirecTV is the same as Freeview but I am assuming it is a digital set top box. If it is the same as set top boxes over here, CC does not come with every programme on every channel but only when the programme provider provides them. Make sure there is no setting on the set top box which has turned CC off.

3. Otherwise it would seem to me to be the CC card in the TV has failed so even if you did get a suitable remote, if the card has gone a new remote would be ineffective. Take it to a dealer to give you an estimate of the cost but it would take 5 minutes for a dealer to change the card (if he was able to get one that is) and the cost would be his own time plus the cost of the card which should not be that expensive.

Thanks, Stuart. I am unsure, however, what a "scart socket" is.

#2 is something we have checked. We have an older receiver, and CC is not a function that is controllable with that model receiver.

 

[jambo]

A scart lead is a lead with a 21 pin connector at each end. It is like a rectangle with a corner cut out on one side. We call them scart leads over here but would not know if they are called that in the US.

 

[Marrow Man]

I don't think we have those kind of connectors on TVs in this country. We have S-Video cables (which are round with few pins) and single pin video/audio cables.

-----Added 1/9/2009 at 07:16:42 EST-----

OK, we were all ready to buy a new TV because of the lost remote. We even called a local TV repair shop and they said the TV was so old they couldn't order a remote. Then my wife was looking at the local Meijer (similar to Wal-Mart, only smaller) today and found an ancient universal remote (it was the only left, she said) with a CC button. It cost $20, and we figured we could return it if it didn't work.

She brought it home, we toyed around with it a bit, and to a make a long story short (too late!), it worked! No new TV for us!

 

[jambo]

Glad to hear you got sorted out and at $20 that cant be bad. You have probably saved money on the TV too as TVs are coming down in price so by the time you are ready to buy a new one it will more than likely be cheaper than it is today.