Sky+ remote control alternative?

KDB

We've recently switched over to Sky+ as my wife is blind and we wanted to get Audio Description on TV. However, one of the problems my wife has now is actually using the Sky+ remote control. Virtually all of the time, all she wants to do is choose one of her 10-15 favourite channels, but doing this on the Sky+ remote is difficult as she has to remember the specific channel numbers. I know we can define Favourite channels, but if she's watching one of these and wants to switch to the next one, its difficult to go back into the Favourites menu and scroll down to the seventh (or was it the eight?) one.

Do you know of a remote control that will work with Sky+ where you can 'programme' channel 1 to be BBC1, channel 2 to be RTE 1, channel 3 to be UTV, etc., and you can use the Next Channel / Previous Channel to skip up and down between them?

Apologies if this has been discussed to death previously. I've had a look at the FAQs but haven't seen anything relevant.

regards


kieran

Wheels

It might be worth getting a remote where the keys can be programmed to perform specific tasks. For example they either automatically put in the channel number (eg 101) or go through the menu and select a channel at the touch of a button.

I know some of the philips remotes can do this but the one I had was touch screen and wouldn't be much good. Perhaps it's worth checking out their site? I think its a Macro function you need and ideally on the numeric key pad? It might be too much to ask for the Up Down keys to fall into line though as they are usually generic.

Look for a remote that can be trained and learn the keys from your sky, they're the easiest to set up IMO.

fat-tony

The blue (teletext) button on the SKY remote selects the stored favourites in sequence - i.e. press the BLUE then the select button and you are on the next favourite programme. I don't want to appear to trivialise your wife's difficulty with the user interface, but I use this method when listening to radio programmes from the SKY box through my stereo system without having the TV switched on.

bugfreebob

KDB wrote: »

Do you know of a remote control that will work with Sky+ where you can 'programme' channel 1 to be BBC1, channel 2 to be RTE 1, channel 3 to be UTV, etc., and you can use the Next Channel / Previous Channel to skip up and down between them?

I bought a Doro "Easy Handle" Remote Control for an elderly relative at Christmas. It was available in last Argos catalogue, but they seem to have dropped it in latest issue. I found plenty of online sellers that stock it - see below.

http://www.youreableshop.co.uk/product/easy-handle-universal-remote-control-HH/203/153.html

The remote only has 7 buttons - typically used for Volume up/down, Channel up/down, on/off etc. It can learn any existing commands from another remote, so you can program it to do whatever you want.

I found it useful to programme one button to RTE1, as this is the first programme in the index, and to use the channel+/- to navigate up and down from there. Also you could programme another button to toggle from radio/TV as this might be useful for your wife. I haven't actually used this with a Sky box - but it works pefectly with a Free-to-air combo set-top-box for Satellite/Terrestrial. This is a really good product that has been carefully designed for someone with limited vision/dexterity. My relative is elderly and has poor eyesight and has no problem using this. With the ordinary remote, she kept getting stuck in menus etc.

KDB

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

I had thought about scrolling through the Favourites. However, my understanding is that it only works for channels with numbers - if you add an extra channel (e.g. UTV), it won't have a channel number and so can't be selected as a Favourite. If this was just UTV it wouldn't be too bad, but it seems that Sky only include Audio Describe for BBC 1 London, and not through the regional variations. Hence, most of the channels my wife will want to see will be manually added.

The HandleEasy remote looks good, but I think it'll have the same problem: how to make it select the right channel if you press the Next / Previous button?

The easiest thing is probably to get a remote where pushing button 1 will either select a specific numbered channel, or will navigate to the manual channels and select a particular one of those. It means that my wife won't be able to channel hop using the arrow keys, but it would certainly be a lot easier than the current situation.

thanks again


kieran

fat-tony

This would appear to be a real mess of a system. For the Republic of Ireland, the BBC services of BBC3, BBC4 and the regional variations are not carried on the electronic programme guide (EPG), but can only be added as "additional channels" which makes navigation a nightmare for your wife (and also means that you can't record any of these channels via SKY+ (which I've been complaining about to SKY for years - without success)). Each broadcaster is responsible for the audio description service (so SKY look after SKY 1,2,3, Sports, Movies etc. and the BBC provide the service for their channels - but only on the London regional variants - and I assume RTE don't provide AD at all?).

When you remove the viewing card from the SKY box (and switch it to standby and then turn it on again) you will get the BBC and ITV channels on the EPG, but you obviously lose RTE and your subscription SKY channels for the duration.

Either way it's a nightmare - have you been in touch with SKY and asked them what they might do to facilitate you and your wife under their (albeit limited) public service remit? It should not be beyond their technical capability to provide a specialised subscription card which would give you a London post code EPG plus the capability of receiving RTE. I know this is not a standard offering (we would all want it:D), but for flip's sake this is a special set of circumstances!

KDB

Hi again,

An update on this for those that are interested...

I've been in contact with Sky Accessible Customer Services people a number of times. As Fat-Tony says, the London variation of BBC and ITV have Audio Describe, but the Irish variations do not. Sky's initial response was that this is a BBC issue and they are not responsible for what they transmit. I persisted and said that Sky don't provide the London variations to Irish customers, even though they can be added manually as extra channels. These aren't in the EPG, they can't be added to the Favourites, and the menu structure makes it virtually impossible for my wife to be able to select them. I then asked if it would be possible to get an updated subscriber card with the London variations instead of the Irish ones, and was told quite simply No.

So the choice now is (a) give up on Audio Describe, cancel Sky and go back to cable, where at least the channel selection is much simpler, or (b) get a different remote which will be able to select 'normal' channels and extra channels easily.

If anyone knows of any other options, or a good (simple) remote control, I'd appreciate you letting me know.

thanks


kieran

Wheels

This might not be the best solution, but if you want to keep sky it might be the only way to go about it. Order Sky Multiroom, get the second box and card and insist on installing it yourself. You can make use of the box if you wish, but the point once you don't activate the card (i.e. hooking it up the phoneline) it'll work as a FTA card. You'll only receive those channels though.

steveon

Why not try and get an online petition going to try and force sky into looking into your problem a little further, I may not be enduring your predicament but as a sat and tv installer I often come across people who find it difficult to use the sky buttons or see which button to press so I think a remote with larger buttons would be a worthy addiition and one if designed correctly would open the door for Sky to a lot of new customers..

My only other taught for you would be maybe the the sky plus Keyboard remote which may be a bit of a help.. I have posted a link with the best pictures I can find to see will it help you

http://www.sparky-uk.com/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=91

I wish you every luck in your search, and please keep us informed on how you get on..

Regards,
Steve

Wheels

steveon wrote: »

Why not try and get an online petition going to try and force sky into looking into your problem a little further

I think he'd waste less energy and get a better response by going back to cable... Online petitions are great if you want to bring Harold back in Neighbours but most businesses pay very little heed given how easy they are to inflate.

steveon

Well cable may be an ideal solution for now but analogs cable days are over....and wont be long before the box per room will be enforced...in my opinion...

bugfreebob

KDB wrote: »

So the choice now is (a) give up on Audio Describe, cancel Sky and go back to cable, where at least the channel selection is much simpler, or (b) get a different remote which will be able to select 'normal' channels and extra channels easily.

If anyone knows of any other options, or a good (simple) remote control, I'd appreciate you letting me know.
kieran

I wouldn't recommend going back to cable - the analogue service is rubbish and likely to be turned off. Their digital boxes are very poor and have a long time lag when changing channels. The third option is to revert to Free-to-air. Since you already have Sky dish and wiring, you can get all the UK channels already on a Free-to-air receiver. If you get a "combo" receiver such as Clarke-Tech, Technomate or MVision, and a small UHF antenna, you will be able to receive both Irish and UK channels in digital. These receivers allow you to add your own selection of channels, so that navigation becomes very simple - 1=RTE1, 2=RTE2, 3=TV3, 4=TG4, 5=BBC1, etc. You can also navigate up/down on the remote since all the channels can be arranged in whatever sequence you want. The attraction of these Free-to-air receivers is that you are not at the mercy of UPC or Sky in configuring them the way you want. UPC and Sky manipulate the Programme Guide to give preference to the channels that pay them the most - they have little interest in making the guides easy to access - even for people with perfect eyesight. With Free-to-air, you can configure the receiver to your own preferences.

The problem is that you will lose your Audio Description - but you seem resigned to that if you revert to cable also. The Sky box seems to be disastrous for people with poor eyesight.

Kristopherus

Also, please note that you cannot replace the Sky+ remote with another All-in-One remote. Only the Sky+ remote will work the Sky+ box.

John mac

Kristopherus wrote: »

Also, please note that you cannot replace the Sky+ remote with another All-in-One remote. Only the Sky+ remote will work the Sky+ box.

Not true.
I have a Harmony 1000 for my setup one press for other channels. (wouldn't work in this situation though) as its touch screen.
There might be a harmony remote that will work.

KDB

Hi again,

An update on where I've got to, for those that are interested.

I saw Lidl were advertising a universal remote control at the start of last week for €7, so I took a chance on it. The blurb on the box sounded good: memory function, macros, favourites, etc.

- it can be set up to support most TV makes and also the Sky+ box. Certain keys on the Sky+ remote didn't have an equivalent on the new remote, but other keys on the remote can be 'taught' what to send to the Sky+ box. (Hold both remotes facing each other, press the desired key on the Sky+ remote, and the new remote will remember that and send it again whenever a particular key is pressed.)

- it can store up to 15 (numbered) favourite channels, so pressing the favourite button brings you to the next channel in your favourite list. Useful for navigating through the EPG channels.

- it also can store up to 6 macros, where certain key sequences will be replayed in the order in which they were recorded. I've set these up so that macro 1 goes to to the list of manual channels and selects BBC1 London (with Audio Describe), etc.

This works fine, my wife gets the Audio Describe channels and we still have RTE 1, etc.

The remote itself is a little klunky, particularly when recording macros and favourite channels. In the macros, when pressing the down arrow to select a channel from the list of manual channels, it replays it as two down arrows - not great but at least its consistent, so it just means that I've to insert other manual channels between each of the ones included in a macro. Also, the remote controls all the features of the Sky+ box, except turning it on and off - it did this at the start but seems to have forgotten it somewhere along the way.... (This is the only thing we have to use the Sky+ remote for) I'll have a look at some other remotes, probably some of the Harmony ones, to see if one of them works a little better, but at least we have a solution for now.

Thanks for your help and suggestions

regards


kieran

fat-tony

Good that you have been able to lash up some sort of solution - though not ideal. Lidl - they'll be the saviours of us all:) I've more gadgets from them then I know what to do with. Tap and Die set anyone;)

steveon

I'm delighted to hear you found some sort of solution Kieran and hope that Someone is sky is reading these posts and perhaps it might inspire them to take on your plight, it Lidl can make some form of solution for you then surely there mastermind engineers can do so...

well done mate
steve