RIP my remote control.

The eight year old Direct TV box has been on the blink giving us sporadic TV in our bedroom lately. They agreed to send a tech out today to check it out. He goes through the all his tests and concludes that the box is faulty (duh). I'm catching the tail end of this on my lunch hour as he proceeds to walk in the front door with a box in his hand containing the new equipment. I guess not fully aware that he is going to take my old remote, I left for work leaving my wife to tend to the rest of the service call. When I get home and lay on the bed, I find this fat, slick, un-user-friendly device that is supposed to be my new remote control. It is not contoured to my hand, the numbers are at the bottom of the remote causing it to fall out of your hand when you manually punch in a channel. There's no way to search the menu without losing almost the whole TV picture. Eight years has passed and technology has regressed!! None of the same video/audio adjustments. . .nothing the same. OK, so I rant and raved for several minutes about the remote until I found that we had no local channels. You know what that leads to. The voice-operated computer menu on the customer service line. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

After giving the customer service agent an earful (politely mind you) about how crappy the new remote was, I was told to give it time and I would get used to it. I did not receive any satisfaction from this, however I got my local channels turned on. I even asked if they could repair my old equipment and return it. Of course that was not an option. I politely told the man that if my other equipment went out, I would strongly weigh the option of going to Dish.

I never knew I could get so attached to a remote control. The old Hughes model was ergonomically perfect for my hand. I could surf with the greatest of ease and find any station with my eyes closed, but now it's gone. Fortunately I still have one in the living room, but feel it is on its last leg.

Please join me in a moment of silence for my long, lost remote. Sorry, I needed to vent a little.

At least you don't have to use one of these:

My roommate replaced our normal remote with one of those jumbo ones for about two weeks. You have to use two hands to hold it. I'm pretty sure we could have flipped it over and used it as a plate....

OK, Dan.  Thanks for some consolation!  It could be worse. . . I guess.

:-/

OK, Dan. Thanks for some consolation! It could be worse. . . I guess.

:-/

It could always be worse.

You could have basic cable....

At least you don't have to use one of these:

My roommate replaced our normal remote with one of those jumbo ones for about two weeks. You have to use two hands to hold it. I'm pretty sure we could have flipped it over and used it as a plate....

I'm still laughing that there is such a thing. ;D

No sympathy here fisher.  I've got rabbit ears and get three channels (four on a clear night).  Those three channels are about to disappear on June 12th when everything "goes digital".  I bought one of those boxes, but got less channels, and I'm not into buying a new/bigger antenna.

So, suck it up, wipe that tear from your eye, put in a lot of practice, and in no time you'll be switching from ESPN to FOX NEWS to the Outdoor Network like old times.  As for me, I'll be staring at a snowy screen in the middle of July, dreaming about the good old days of analog TV.

No sympathy here fisher. I've got rabbit ears and get three channels (four on a clear night). Those three channels are about to disappear on June 12th when everything "goes digital". I bought one of those boxes, but got less channels, and I'm not into buying a new/bigger antenna.

So, suck it up, wipe that tear from your eye, put in a lot of practice, and in no time you'll be switching from ESPN to FOX NEWS to the Outdoor Network like old times. As for me, I'll be staring at a snowy screen in the middle of July, dreaming about the good old days of analog TV.

oh yeah, there is always that situation too, that is definitely worse.

Sorry for your loss.

When I was a kid I had to walk halfway across the room to change the channel. Uphill both ways.

No sympathy here fisher. I've got rabbit ears and get three channels (four on a clear night). Those three channels are about to disappear on June 12th when everything "goes digital". I bought one of those boxes, but got less channels, and I'm not into buying a new/bigger antenna.

So, suck it up, wipe that tear from your eye, put in a lot of practice, and in no time you'll be switching from ESPN to FOX NEWS to the Outdoor Network like old times. As for me, I'll be staring at a snowy screen in the middle of July, dreaming about the good old days of analog TV.

Same here fellow North Carolinian. My dad decided it would be cool to buy a 73" TV with a full surround sound system, yet he won't buy cable or satellite. Don't ask me why.....

When I was a kid I had to walk halfway across the room to change the channel. Uphill both ways.

That's funny, did you live in a trailer with broken jacks? By your Avatar you lost a lot of weight.

Fisher of Men, let me check when I get home but I may have an old Hughes remote you can have. I used to use the receiver as a high def tuner for an HDTV that wasn't HD ready.

I'll check back with you via PM around 5 PM EST.

No sympathy here fisher. I've got rabbit ears and get three channels (four on a clear night). Those three channels are about to disappear on June 12th when everything "goes digital". I bought one of those boxes, but got less channels, and I'm not into buying a new/bigger antenna.

So, suck it up, wipe that tear from your eye, put in a lot of practice, and in no time you'll be switching from ESPN to FOX NEWS to the Outdoor Network like old times. As for me, I'll be staring at a snowy screen in the middle of July, dreaming about the good old days of analog TV.

Same here fellow North Carolinian. My dad decided it would be cool to buy a 73" TV with a full surround sound system, yet he won't buy cable or satellite. Don't ask me why.....

If that 73 was bought within the past year or so it has a built-in digital tuner and you don't have to worry about it.

Fisher of Men, let me check when I get home but I may have an old Hughes remote you can have. I used to use the receiver as a high def tuner for an HDTV that wasn't HD ready.

I'll check back with you via PM around 5 PM EST.

Hey, Eddie.  Really, that's not necessary.  The old remote wouldn't work on the new box anyway.  I was just having some fun venting.  

Preach,

That whole digital conversion thing has turned out to be alot more of a headache than first expected.  First it was to just buy a $50 box with a $40 coupon, then people found out a new antenna was needed.  Awhile back, there was a news story about a woman who needed to get a new "digital VCR/DVD recorder" to record her favorite programs.  All said and done, she was out around $250 for this "simple" digital switch.  

Can you say "racket"? :

When I was a kid I had to walk halfway across the room to change the channel. Uphill both ways.

In a snowstorm no less. Barefoot.

At least you don't have to use one of these:

My roommate replaced our normal remote with one of those jumbo ones for about two weeks. You have to use two hands to hold it. I'm pretty sure we could have flipped it over and used it as a plate....

That's the remote I use in my room haha. I have a problem with losing remotes haha.