How is this simple feature not common yet?

[Trekker4747]

Nearly 20 years ago I had an idea that I thought every VCR and TV set should have: a "page remote button."

You lose the remote? You press the "page remote button" on your VCR and the remote makes a loud beeping noise continually until you pick it up and press a button on it. Simple, right? I mean cordless phones have had this feature forever.

Why isn't this feature on my damn DVD player?! I mean I can't be the only person who has thought of this and it seems to me it'd be cheap to put in to players, TVs, etc. So where is it?

I've currently lost my DVD remote and I have to turn the place upside down to find it when all I should "have to do" is press a button on my DVD player to find it!

 

[sidious618]

I've never lost a remote in my life. I'm cool like that. I may not be able to "catch a ball" or "talk to people" or "operate a car" but I've never lost my remote damn it!

 

[tharpdevenport]

They have telephones with this feature. But cordless telephones I understand because you can take them pretty much anywhere in the house, but a DVD remote? Why would anyone need to take it any farther than the couch infront of the TV?

 

[sidious618]

They have telephones with this feature. But cordless telephones I understand because you can take them pretty much anywhere in the house, but a DVD remote? Why would anyone need to take it any farther than the couch infront of the TV?

I enjoy taking it into the bathroom. I better stop typing now.

 

[Docbrown777]

That's a pretty good idea.

I've never lost lost a remote but have misplaced it for half and hour or so. Just to find out I carried it into the kitchen because I was making a snack at the same time I was watching something.

 

[nevermore]

Oh, I always felt they should have a clapper. You clap, the remote start beeping, like those keychains...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Oh, I always felt they should have a clapper. You clap, the remote start beeping, like those keychains...

That might be a problem during really close sports games, though.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

Like this? It's an aftermarket add on.

The short answer is that there's no demand for it.

A longer answer probably has something to do with the ubiquity of universal multifunction remotes. I would wager a majority of homes have some sort of multifunction remote that takes the place of all their different individual remotes which sit in a drawer gathering dust. Again, a question of demand.

 

[jkladis]

Or this www.keyringer.com.

I know I saw it built-in during the 80s, along with all the other useless technology available with Zenith, RCA and the like. Can't remember exactly.

It's one of those thing that if you had, you would never need.

 

[Rii]

They have telephones with this feature.

The difference being that telephones incorporate speakers as part of their standard functionality, remotes don't.

 

[PlixTixiplik]

They have telephones with this feature.

The difference being that telephones incorporate speakers as part of their standard functionality, remotes don't.

Also, telephones transmit over electromagnetic waves so they can send signals over greater distances. Remotes use infrared so unless you had a relatively unobstructed line of sight (perhaps unlikely if you've lost the remote) it couldn't receive the signal.

 

[Arrqh]

They have telephones with this feature.

The difference being that telephones incorporate speakers as part of their standard functionality, remotes don't.

Also, telephones transmit over electromagnetic waves so they can send signals over greater distances. Remotes use infrared so unless you had a relatively unobstructed line of sight (perhaps unlikely if you've lost the remote) it couldn't receive the signal.

Not to mention that most remotes don't even have a way to receive any sort of signal in the first place (unless they're reprogrammable ones, and then it's back to the IR limitations).

 

[ITL]

I've never lost a remote, but a friend of mine seems to lose his TV remote on a daily basis. Every day it ends up underneath a different chair. Or down the back of the sofa. Or in a different room altogether.

 

[Trekker4747]

They have telephones with this feature. But cordless telephones I understand because you can take them pretty much anywhere in the house, but a DVD remote? Why would anyone need to take it any farther than the couch infront of the TV?

Nevertheless, people still lose them.

After turning the livingroom upside down I finally found the thing buried in the couch cushions. A "call feature" could've saved me 20 minutes of searching.

I mean, "losing the remote" is something that really happens. Granted it's logically not all that far away but they still get lost.

Oh and all of these other things: EM signals, speakers, etc. It's impossilbe to incorporate these into remotes, isn't it?

 

[May 20]

We don't lose the remotes to the grown-ups' TV, but the kids are often misplacing the remotes to the TV they watch most often. I found one in the kitchen pantry a while back. It's really a matter of putting the remotes where they belong when you're not using them, isn't it?

 

[Scout101]

why wasn't the couch the FIRST place you looked? Realistically, where else would it have been? Probably more than 90% of "lost" remotes are in the cushions...

 

[Goliath]

Once I actually lost my TV remote, for good.

I never found it again, despite searching high and low.

Still have the TV, though.

 

[Mr Awe]

Obviously, this is technically feasible. The reason that it hasn't been done is cost. Your typical remote is a very cheap device. Basically it's an IR flashlight. If you could page it, you'd have to add cost for some sort of receiver on the remote and a sound making device. The paging signals and receive would probably have to be radio because often the remote is lost of out site and IR would not work. That would make it even more expensive.

I'm not sure how much that would add to the cost of each remote but so far I guess it's too much to be worth the benefits. Just set the remote down in a standard spot and you'll always remember where it is. A simple, and free, solution.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

They have telephones with this feature. But cordless telephones I understand because you can take them pretty much anywhere in the house, but a DVD remote? Why would anyone need to take it any farther than the couch infront of the TV?

Cordless phones already have the receiver and sound making stuff I mention built in so it's reasonably cheap to add this feature to them.

Mr Awe

 

[Angry Angel]

Would be terribly handy for kids. I have one running around losing it in the folds of the couch or somewhere in his room cause the dvd control became part of his elaborate fantasy and he needed it to function as a control unit in his spaceship (I've had whole keyboards disappearing like that). Best part is when he knows he displaced it and asks me to get up and press play just because he doesn't feel like looking for it