Switch 2 Digital and Elderly Parents Ahhhh!!!

rose28454

My brother in law and I went out at the weekend and bought 2 digiboxes for my parents TV's We bought a Bush for the main tv and a cheaper Alba for the other tv. Now every day I have calls from them saying they cant work it. What astounds me is did no one realise that a lot of older people have poor eyesight and would not be able to see the tiny ( and I mean tiny) green and red led's on these boxes. The Alba one is not so bad but the Bush is terrible. My parents are not terribly well off but it seems we will have to get 2 new digital tv's if they dont manage to master the boxes. The other problem is Dad has dementia and I told them just to leave the TV'S on mute if they have a problem and leave them on all day but every time my Mum leaves the room he switches them off. Ahhhh!!!

scotsbob

If they are "terribly well off" why buy Bush and Alba? Would have been better to buy quality receivers.

macman

I think the OP may have missed out a 'not' in that sentence...
What puzzles me is the relevance of being not able to see the LED's on the boxes? Why do they need to do that? The boxes can be left in standby 24/7 (the power consumption is minimal), so all they need to be able to see are the buttons on the remote. Some of which are quite chunky, some of which are tiny.
My Mum had exactly the same issue, so I just had to make sure that I checked the remote before buying the box.

Kurtis_Blue

I install for a hell of a lot of pensioners and do take my time going through the systems, but it is quite a massive leap for some one who is used to a CRT tv with 4-5 buttons.
I am V often called back to explain again or "fix" the system, and I have no problem doing so, but I do feel for them especially when some are house bound.

I have yet to find a specialist system in the UK for disabled, partially blind or OAPS, if anyone has a source please let us know.

rose28454

macman wrote: »

I think the OP may have missed out a 'not' in that sentence...
What puzzles me is the relevance of being not able to see the LED's on the boxes? Why do they need to do that? The boxes can be left in standby 24/7 (the power consumption is minimal), so all they need to be able to see are the buttons on the remote. Some of which are quite chunky, some of which are tiny.
My Mum had exactly the same issue, so I just had to make sure that I checked the remote before buying the box.

Because my Dad has dementia and keeps switching off the digibox and tv every time my Mum leaves the room

macman

But if he switches it off at the remote (i.e. puts it into standby) then she just has to put it back on using the remote. Or are you saying he switches it off at the box?
With the better boxes the display will show the time in standby, and the selected channel number when on, it seems you box is a very basic one that does not have this.

Moneymaker

My mum has a similar problem. It's not what I'd call "dementia" but she has difficulty in learning new things, and the combination of TV and Freeview remotes confuses her totally. The only answer is a Freeview TV with a single remote. And don't even think about a PVR!