The Universal Off Button

jcr13 writes "Wired news is running a story about TV-B-Gone, a new weapon in the fight against the pervasiveness of television in our society. With this device, which takes the form of a keychain fob with a single button, you can turn off virtually any TV set. How does it work? By rolling through all known IR power-off codes, one by one, trying codes from the most popular brands first. Personally, I am terribly annoyed by TVs in restaurants and airports: they grab my attention over and over, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, and they distract me from the conversations that I should be having with my human companions. Unfortunately, the TV-B-Gone website seems to have already been swamped by the Wired coverage, so we cannot order these just yet. In the mean time, those of you with DIY proclivities may want to think about wiring one of these up yourself using a PIC chip or other micro-controller." An anonymous reader adds links to mentions at CNET, TV station KESQ and Ananova.

toggle?

[kyoorius]

Wouldn't the remote also turn on all the televisions which were originally off?

but can it be used to turn off

[museumpeace]

tv's that are being used as monitors, say with flight info, traffic reports etc.
OR, if you have a really strong death wish, turn off the Red Sox/ Yankees game at you local bar?
better hide that little sucker in IR-transparent hiding place and keep you cellphone handy with 1-button 911 service programmed into it if you are going around turning off tvs that other people are watching. I was always warned not to get between a dog and its dinner but I think that goes for humans and there TV's too.

Re:toggle?

[cdrudge]

Many devices have a toggle IR code that will do as you say. However, most also include descrete codes that will always turn the device off, or leave it off if it already is off. Home theater buffs who purchase advanced remote controls that have macro capabilities use the descrete codes to program an "All Off" button for instance.

Why the hardware? Palm, etc...

[bennomatic]

There are so many IR-capable palm devices out there that if the guy making it really wanted to have an impact on the world, all he'd need to do is develop a software app and offer it for free. Anyone? Anyone?

Discrete on/off codes...

[Andy Dodd]

They're pretty rare. I have at most one device at home that MIGHT support discrete on/off codes (my old Sharp XG-E660U LCD projector), but I'm not sure since I don't have the remote, and attempting to use remote definitions for other Sharp projectors gets minimal functionality at most.

With your typical consumer-grade TV sets, the only power code is a toggle. So this device is as likely to turn TVs ON as it is to turn them off.

Re:Now

[cayenne8]

I used to have one of those digital watches, that had a remote control built in that would control on/off/channel changing on tvs and functions on VCR's. You'd just point the watch at the unit..and cycle through the different codes manually. Once you locked on..the fun began.

We had more fun one time in a bar...a bunch of us were in there drinking..barmaid came out and we asked that the channel on the main tv be turned to a game. She'd flip the remote...I'd flip the channel back with my watch...she go, I'd go...we'd go through this periodically...she couldn't figure out why the tv was acting so weird. At one point, we had her so confused, we actually got her to take the batteries out of the remote...and try it that way. "Magically" it worked properly..when she'd click a button, I'd do it from my watch.

I don't think we'd all ever laughed so hard. In the end we tipped the poor girl so much money to make up for it...but, man, that was fun. I think we tipped her near $200 or so...it was worth it.

But, always was useful...go into a bar...turn the volume how you like it...change the channel to what you want to watch. I need to find that damned thing, get some new batteries and see if it still works.

Re:Don't stop at just a power button

[cayenne8]

Hehehe...the Borla exhaust system of my car does this all the time. The engine note is so low it sets off alarms that are set too sensitive. It's not too loud...just very low.

Amusing thing is...most of the cars I set of just don't look like a car with that much to protect...

Re:Don't stop at just a power button

[Kreebog]

Thank you... this thing is going to be a horrible irritation :( The first person who turns off the TV on me while I'm trying to catch the weather at the airport is going to get punched in the face.

Re:Now

[cayenne8]

Hey, just simple clean fun in a bar. I forgot to mention at the time most all of us we either servers or bartenders ourselves. Whe showed her what we were doing at the end...and she got a good laugh out of it too.

Sometimes simple fun is the best...lighten up and bit and let your sense of humor loose...

:-)

Re:I can see it now...

[Tehrasha]

Yeah, this thing could be real fun inside a $home_electronics store. ie: BestBuy, CircuitCity, etc..

-Years- ago, I remember a JVC projection screen TV that had a remote the size of paperback book. From across the store, you could change the channel on every JVC TV in their 'Wall of Television' display.

Re:Don't stop at just a power button

[macdaddy]

A paintball gun tends to get their attention. Personally I'd love to build [slashdot.org] a herf [dyndns.org] gun [itglossary.net]. I always wanted to lay into the car of one of those jackasses that would stop at the stoplight outside my apartment complex and crank up the bass. I swear I could see my alarm clock shaking. A herf gun would have made all the difference.

Re:Now

[The Spoonman]

I've never seen anything with a button that turns a tv off but not on

Most modern IR-controlled electronics have discrete On and Off signals, they're just generally not used. Some remotes, such as those from One-For-All support these discrete codes. They're very useful for setting up macros. For example, one of my macros is set to send "On to TV, Input 2 to TV, On to Amp, On to DVD" if I want to watch DVDs. If I used the generic "Power" button, I couldn't use this macro when I was already watching TV because it would turn off the TV and the amp, but turn on the DVD player. In a similar vein, I have a "System Off" macro that sends discrete off signals to every piece of equipment in my rack.

Re:DMCA

[cft_128]

IR is so totally hackable. You'd just make the "Universal Remote" record the IR strobe sequences for each button and then play them back. And that technique works even if they make a different remote for each individual television.

That assumes that two way communication is not enabled with the remote, like the rolling codes that car alarms use. Two way communication would actually be handy, think about PVRs sending state information to the remote so it can reconfigure its buttons or be an auxiliary display.

Re:Don't stop at just a power button

[NitroWolf]

But isn't that just what the guy is trying to avoid by turning off televisions? He wants to sit in a public place and not have the TV blairing at him the whole time.

Try as I might, I can't think of a single public place that has a TV blaring in it. So what public places have a TV that would be affected by this device? The only public places I can think of a TV being are places with HUGE TV's that are controlled from a control room.

Every other place I can think of that has a TV that would be affected by this is on private property. I believe you are confusing what constitutes a public place with being "out in public."

If you don't like the TV's, then DON'T patronize those private properties. Simple as that. Switching off TV's that don't belong to you would probabaly be a misdemeanor in most places, if someone were to really push the issue.

TV Remote Control Watch

[santos_douglas]

This reminds me of a product I thought was cool in a geeky sort of way, a TV Remote Control Watch like this Quemex. [physlink.com] It lets you control volume and channel. I don't know if it's as universal as the device listed in TFA, but someone could easily devise one. It's sold to the super lazy couch potato who's doens't even want to reach to the coffee table for the remote, but I always thought it would be pretty cool to have on those rare occassions when you're stuck in a waiting room or something with a TV stuck on QVC or something.

I surprised at the posters getting all upset about this type of device. Yes it would be rude to mess with people in a crowded place like a bar or whatever if its obvious they're watching it. But how is an open IR receiver any different from say an open WAP? It's their fault if they didn't think about the possibility of someone using it in a way they didn't envision.

That's how WOZ got started..

[icecow]

That's how WOZ of Apple got started :)

He made a TV signal scrambler and tricked other people in the room into posing strange ways to get tv signal.

Turned passive TV watching into an external social event.

dumb maybe. couldn't resist writing it out

Re:Wow

[artemis67]

It's all about turning a buck. Do the people who are making this really care how rude it is to turn off someone else's TV? Hell no... these people would probably throw throw their own mother in the trunk, drive her down to the river and toss her in if they could make a few bucks off of it.

This is the same mentality of those people who mass-marketed laser pointers to kids... yes, the same ones that you aren't supposed to stare directly into, but you know that every kids who gets one, the first thing he's going to do is shine it in his friends' eyes.

Re:TV isn't a right

[osobear]

...in the airport, where I'm forced to wait...

No, you're really not. If the freakin' TVs are such a huge problem for you then don't go to the airport: don't fly! No one is forcing you to go to an airport.

If you say that your employer is, then get a new job! If your friends do, get new friends! Yes, this is all way too extreme over a few TVs but if they bother you THAT MUCH then maybe drastic life changes are needed. Or maybe just see a therapist.

Re:Now

[menscher]

A real geek would have done it with an HP-48 calculator.

Been there, done that. Was useful in the dorms at college. When my roommate was playing his radio too loud, I'd just work out a calculation on my HP-48. White walls reflect the IR signal well, so I didn't even have to turn around to lower his volume a bit.

Oh, and it was also helpful for controlling the TV in the lobby. Especially when there was something better on a different channel.

Oh lighten up

[scruffyMark]

i personally have no desire to watch CNN for four hours, but you don't have the right to deny someone else the ability to do so if the TV's already on and that's what they want to do.

OK, let's follow that. If you and I are in an airport terminal, the TV's on, neither of us wants to watch CNN for the next couple of hours, and there's nobody about, we don't have the right to turn the damn thing off, because we might be denying some hypothetical future passing sap the ability to watch drivel for hours to numb himself to the misery of his existence?

At some point, you've got to have some balls, and make choices based on what you want. If you look around, and nobody's watching the TV, and it's annoying you, and nobody has a remote to turn the thing off, act. Be a man. Or a woman for that matter. Take action to make your own life more livable. If you turn out to be wrong, and someone you hadn't noticed gets upset because the TV went dark, then you can turn the frigging thing back on - a toggle can make two sorts of changes, you know.

No, it's not my TV, and it's not my bar, or my airport (well, insofar as I pay taxes to support the municipally owned airport, it is actually mine). But I'm in it, and I will endeavour to make it more pleasant for myself, especially if there's no evidence that doing so will make it less pleasant for others.