Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Explain odd TV behavior....?

E-Mail my mom just sent me. Wondering if anyone can help me out here:





The tv in our bedroom keeps turning on and shutting off when we walk in and out of the room and in the middle of the night. We walk into the room - it turns on - we start to walk out and ignore it - it turns off. I took the batteries out of the remote thinking it had something to do with weak batteries and electronic eye or something, but before I took the batteries out I mute the tv to answer the phone - it mutes, then unmutes as I'm hanging up.





Any ideas?|||you really need the answer to that?! what you really need is an education.|||Here are a couple of things --





One of her neighbors may have a very powerful remote that can go through her windows. I have one that will go through clothes and still work well, and I've tried it from 40 ft away without any problem. They may be having a little fun with your mom...





Many TV's offer a choice of control patterns (like a channel choice). If your mom's TV has that choice, have her change to another one and see if it goes away for a while. If it does, it's probably her neighbors. If she doesn't have that choice, she might try covering the IR (infrared) sensor, especially at night, to keep the pranksters from doing anything. They'll get bored waiting for their chance to play again (when she finally uncovers the sensor to watch TV) and eventually give up...





Also -- a rare possibility -- one of her neighbors may have an IR illumination unit for night security cameras. Reflections from clothing or ?? may generate pulses that mimic some control functions. Unlikely, especially given the description of actions that follow the movements, but might be possible.|||Playful Poltergeist?





Pax-----------------------

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