Husband - Alzheimer is mute, immobile can’t use TV Remote, is living in Care Home so no access HELP?

oliveoil54

Hi

Has anyone managed to control their LO’s non smart TV remotely in his Care Home room, using a smart phone?

I have an iPhone and IPad &  recently set up an Amazon Echo Show so I can use the Drop In Facility at anytime and see how he is and he can see and hear me, he doesn’t have to do anything as I control the call and can start and end the call on my iPhone or iPad using the free Alexa App. It’s a great bit of kit which uses the Carehomes free WIFI, which although it works it’s not the fastest.

Husband is mute and immobile and can’t operate his tv remote control, but loves his tv.

The Carers are very good and try and remember to switch it on and find a tv channel they know he likes, but they don’t have the time to continually do this. So a to of the time what was originally an interesting programme choice becomes an awful choice as the next programmes are definitely not to his taste. But as he dang move, hardly talks etc he can’t tell anyone. Using the Echo show I drop in quite a lot and obviously know his preferred programmes.

So the ability to change the channels and the tv volume from my iPhone remotely would be absolutely great. However have seen a few things on Amazon that say that they can do this but the reviews are very mixed and the instructions are very poor for the non techie type person, like me. Plus these things need setting up in the Care home, though thankfully there is a Carer who is a bit more techie minded. The home has Netflix and an Amazon Echo which she has set up as well.

Has anyone got any experience of successfully being able to control their LOs non smart TV remotely via a smartphone? If so what did you use? How easy was it to set up? How easy is it to use? Can you programme it?

I read an interesting thread by https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/members/andrewedmondson.75595/ on this but he had set this all up in his Mother’s home not a Care home setting and  a lot of his description was a bit Too complicated for me to understand.

This is the piece of kit that he is referring to and it’s really cheap to purchase. But most of the comments said the instructions were in Chinese/English and didn’t make sense, so needs a bit of extra setting up.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HPWMWCY/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_ja3LybJXMJRHT

There are lots more on Amazon, but am unsure if they will do what I want?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Controller-Automation-Panamalar-Compatible-Smartphones/dp/B07K8M7HR6/ref=sr_1_2?

Or would it be simpler to buy a smart tv and use an App on my iphone, and would this work in a Care Home setting using their WiFi?

Any advice would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.

JJ_Egan

You want to use a remote app to connect to a TV some distance away from you is the key .

RumRat

I'm thinking something like THIS would do the job.

Robin9

RumRat said:

I'm thinking something like THIS would do the job.

Will these work with non-smart TV's ?

DoaM

I think the idea is that this device acts in place of the normal IR remote control of the TV, so whether or not the TV is "smart" is irrelevant.

RumRat

Robin9 said:

RumRat said:

I'm thinking something like THIS would do the job.

Will these work with non-smart TV's ?

As DoaM says, it's just an IR blaster that's remote controlled. You change the change the channel in the App on your mobile and it acts just as if the corresponding button on the remote was pressed. 
Ideal for old non smart TV's by the look of it......I've not personally used one, so, can't give it any praise. That said, for £20 it has to be worth a shot. You can always return it if it doesn't work.
When I linked to it I didn't realise it was the same as the one in your OP.....Either one of those you linked to will work.
Make sure the care home will allow access to their WiFi.

DoaM

RumRat said:

Make sure the care home will allow access to their WiFi.

As the OP is already using an Echo Show in the care home then I presume that aspect is already resolved.

RumRat

DoaM said:

RumRat said:

Make sure the care home will allow access to their WiFi.

As the OP is already using an Echo Show in the care home then I presume that aspect is already resolved.

Well spotted...

oliveoil54

Thankyou for your answers. My main concern with the Broadlink would be setting it up as it would have to be setup by a Carer and the reviews all complain that the manual is rubbish and impossible to read. 

buglawton

For the price you could buy the Broadlink Mini3 and try it at your home before moving it to the care home, having gained the experience. Though it'll still need to be reset for the brand of TV at the care home. To check it'll work across the internet, turn off the phones WiFi when testing the app.

bob_a_builder

Did you see this one  ?
This one seems to have all the Alexa support all ready and sightly better reviews  ( not as many reviews though) 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085Y3N9K